Sheep Breeding In U.K.

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31007, 12 March 1966, Page 9

Sheep Breeding In U.K.

(From Our Own Reporter)

LONDON, Feb. 25. Computer-bred sheep are coming on the market in Britain—a new breed based on years of genetic research and tests aided by electronic computers. Last year a trial consignment of 1000 ewes was sold and this year there will be many more available.

The new sheep, called the T.C. One, is the result of an alliance between Thomber, one of Europe’s biggest and most progressive poultry breeders (producing more than 12 million chicks a year in their hatcheries) and wellversed in modern genetics, and Oscar Colburn, the famous sheep breeder who produced the Colbred, the first new sheep breed in Britain for over a century. On a recent visit to the headquarters of Thornbers Ltd., Mytholmiroyd, Halifax, Yorkshire. scientists told me how the T.C. One ewes were the result of analysing the breeding records of nearly 25.000 sheep by electronic computer. It is claimed that the breed will produce up to 35 per cent more lambs than the good traditional breeds, that they are good mothers, and that they produce vigorous, fast-maturing lambs. It may mark the start of a revolution in British sheep farming.

Economic sheep farming in the future will depend on multiple births of fast-mat-uring good quality lambs. There may be a move towards “intensive” farming of sheep in Britain—Thornbers pioneered many of the developments in the new methods of intensive poultry farming. The T.C. One ewe is of course a hybrid—the result of many carefully planned and tested multiple crossings of established breeds. The new-styte farmer may buy a flock of ewes for breeding lambs which will all go to the butcher .When the ewes’ fertility tolls with age, he will replace them, probably with a better and newer type. The days of breeding his own flock will be over

Before Thornbers joined forces with the Gloucestershire firm. H. A. Colburn and Son in 1963, they had been engaged in work aimed at producing a superior ram which would transmit required growth rate and carcase conformation to its off-

spring and produce superior fat lambs.

Colburn had been working on the female side of breeding; trying to increase breeding prolificacy, milking rate and other factors in ewes. His new breed, the Colbred, created considerable interest among farmers because of its superior lambing performance.

The joint company’s breeding programme is believed to be the biggest in the world In spite of a higher than normal price (£l3 10s per ewe) the demand for the first. 1000 T.C. One ewes was so great that orders had to be limited to 15 ewes a customer and even then more orders had to be turned down than could be accepted. “This year we will have many more to sell,” said a Thornbers spokesman. “But sheep are only just developing to be a commercial aide of our business.” "The potential for this type of work is high because, though farmers are traditionally conservative, there is a £lsm market to be won.” Progeny Testing The company is now progeny-testing 1000 rams of all the basic and various experimental breeds, located on 200 farms throughout Britain. Carcase measurements of the progeny are taken at the various meat outlets and results fed into the computer. Thomber-Colburn hope to breed-in even better multiple lambing characteristics into a ewe—perhaps from the Finnish Landrace which can produce 2.5 lambs per mating, allying this with the best meat and wool qualities. At the moment wool is being relegated to a secondary characteristic and the main interest is in meat quality. The Colbred produces a silky type of wool which does not compete with basic wool breeds. The Colbred ram has been mated with mountain breeds to produce halfbreds giving increased lambing percentages. The halfbreds have been crossed with lowland sheep like the Southdown to produce better fat lambs. The company aims to speed up its breeding programme by artificial insemination and even by transplanting ova from one sheep to another. Development of reliable artificial insemination methods for sheep could end the need to keep expensive rams and so make sheep farming more profitable, it is considered. The importance of a computer in appraising results is the speed and ease with which such a large number of evaluations are compared and sorted to list the superior breeds for any of a given number of characteristics.