Updates to Birth Weight and Lambing Ease EBVs

Signet has recently updated their genetic evaluation to enhance the breeding values for two traits that influence the level of intervention required at lambing time.

Birth Weight EBV – an indicator of size at birth and thus an indicator of ease of lambing; with large single lambs tending to require more assistance
Lambing Ease EBV – a direct indicator of ease of lambing

What’s new?

Data validations have been reviewed and relaxed to include records from more lambing events.
Lambing ease scores are no longer adjusted for birth weight in the analysis. This means the expression of the EBV is more informative to ram buyers.

If we look at data collected in Charollais flocks we can see that over 80% of lambing events are unassisted, but through the selection of rams with positive lambing ease EBVs this figure can be increased further.

Posted by Laura Eyles on 26 Jan 2024

Articles, News, Sheep

About the author

Laura Eyles

Laura has joined the Signet team as a breeding specialist, she comes from an agricultural background having grown up on a sheep farm in Cornwall, where they keep commercial ewes and run a small flock of pedigree Charollais sheep.

Laura has a strong interest in animal breeding and genetics having studied Animal Science (BSc Hons) at Harper Adams University. During her time at Harper, she spent an industrial placement in Cumbria working for a sheep breeding company and some of our clients may recognise her from this role. Since graduating she has worked for a large cattle breeding company before joining us at Signet to lead on a number of Signet’s sheep breeding projects.