Much talk continues to circle around the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS). Farm organisations have been picking out holes in it, while farmers wonder and raise questions themselves about it.
Questions revolve particularly around the genotyped ram action in the SIS. This is an action that farmers must complete at least once during the duration of the scheme, and those whose reference number is in excess of 150 ewes must complete this action twice.
As part of the action, if you are farming a lowland flock, the ram must be four- or five-stars on the replacement or terminal index and have a genomic evaluation with Sheep Ireland at the time of purchase. It also must be a type one, two or three for scrapie.
No genotyped rams four or five scrapie genotyped rams will qualify.
If you are farming a hill flock, if the ram is a hill-flock breed, the ram only needs to be DNA sire-verified by Sheep Ireland and be a type one, two or three for scrapie at the time of purchase.
Hill flocks are not limited to purchasing hill bred rams, they can purchase lowland bred rams but must meet the same criteria lowland flocks have to meet.
Queries from farmers
Farmers could put forward their queries at a Sheep Ireland regional meeting last week in the Ellison Hotel in Castlebar. One question that may be of particular interest to many came from a farmer who is not a member of LambPlus and doesn’t do any performance-recording on his farm. He asked:
If I buy a five-star ram, does that ram remain a five-star animal for the next number of years even though I’m not performance recording?
Answering this question, Sheep Ireland’s Kevin McDermott said: “No, there’s no guarantee that animal will remain a five-star animal for the duration of the scheme.
“The ram, on the day of purchase, has to be four- or five-stars in order to qualify for the scheme.
“The person that you bought that ram from will more than likely continue to performance record, where his mother will more than likely lamb down again, and his father will have produced more lambs.
“We will then find out more information there and that will feed back into what we know and about that ram that you purchased.
“Even if you don’t record any information, the farmer that sold you that ram will be and that’s where we will continue to find out more about the sire and dam of that ram you purchased,” McDermott added.
“And that will ultimately influence the ram that you bought and his evaluations for the years to come.”
The follow up to that question was:
Could I sell this ram to another farmer the following year at a mart and say that he was a five-star last year and would he qualify for the next farmer for the scheme that bought him off me?
“This is where the Ram Search comes in, where you as the seller and buyer can see what star rating a ram is by plugging in the ram’s ID, where you will get the most up to date evaluation of that animal,” McDermott answered.
However, McDermott did say that in the vast majority of cases, a ram’s genetic evaluation (star rating) will stay the same.
Sheep Ireland’s David Coen added that it’s up to the seller and buyer to ensure that the ram indeed has a four- or five-star rating on the replacement or terminal index and have a genomic evaluation with Sheep Ireland at the time of purchase.
McDermott followed this up with an example saying: “Just say you went out on August 1, and bought a ram and he was five-stars and then for whatever reason, come October, and just say you have an inspection, the ram is three-stars at that point in time.
“You will still be okay because the day you purchased that ram he was eligible and met the requirements of the scheme.
“That’s all that matters, if the ram was eligible the day you bought him.”
Another question from the floor on the night was:
If I already have a four- or five-star ram on the farm, will that ram suffice for the scheme?
The answer here is no. The ram has to be purchased into the flock on the year that you select to carry out the action. It can’t be a ram you already have on the farm.