MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Project to improve Falklands sheep approved by Agricultural Advisory Committee
A plan designed to make a significant impact on both wool fibre and meat production from Falklands sheep was approved on Tuesday by the Falkland Islands Agricultural Advisory Committee.
The Sheep Improvement Project (SIP), which will now start on the 16th April 2005, involves using the best ewe genetics available in the Falkland Islands in combination with "farm choice" frozen semen from, primarily, New Zealand and Australia, with the aim of generating in excess of 2500 elite rams and ewes for Falkland Island farms in 2005.
Rams generated from the project in 2005 would be used in 2007 to mate with ewes from privately owned farms to produce commercial lambs with significantly enhanced wool and meat characteristics. It is possible that some ram hoggets could be used in 2006; however this would depend on them being mature enough for use.
Ewes generated from the project would become the future ram-breeding nucleus for the Falkland Islands.
The Polwarth ewes of the Falkland Islands National Stud Flock, maintained by the Agricultural Department at Saladero on East Falkland, are likely to provide the bulk of the ewe genetics used in the 2005 programme, with the best 160 ewes in total (approximately 20 ewes from each of the eight stud families) being selected and made available for fresh embryo collection.
It is proposed that the estimated 400/450 ewes remaining in the National Stud Flock should be exchanged, for a period of 12 months, for 2,400 ewes belonging to adjoining farms belonging to Falkland Landholdings Corporation, the Government-owned farming company, which manages farms at Goose Green, North Arm, Walker Creek and Fitzroy. Two thousand of the Falkland Landholdings ewes will be used as recipient ewes for embryos from the Department of Agriculture. These will be implanted as follows:
- 500 Polwarth embryos - 500 Polwarth x Poll Merino embryos ? Poll Merino sires selected to provide very large framed, easy care lambs with fibre diameter of approximately 20/21 micron - 500 Dohne Merino embryos to give an improved dual purpose meat/wool animal - 500 SAMM embryos
Post implantation the National Stud Flock stud ram team will be used as "chaser" rams over all recipient ewes. Ewes marked by the rams will be returned to Falkland Landholdings at the earliest opportunity and Falkland Landholdings ewes that lamb at the Agricultural Department's farm at Saladero will be exchanged for the National Stud Flock ewes after weaning in early 2006.
Introducing the scheme, which he said had the ability to massively speed up the rate of progress of farm breeding plans, Falkland Islands Senior Agricultural Advisor, Mr.Neil Judd, said that it was all about producing enough elite animals to make an impact on wool fibre and on meat production. The aim was to get as many generated as possible. For this reason, he was anxious that while the costs of the programme should be covered by the charges levied on participating farmers, there should be no charge made for the use of the government-owned, Polwarth and Corriedale ewe genetics.
While approving the implementation of the Sheep Improvement Plan, some Committee members felt that there should be a token charge for the use of National Stud Flock embryos to avoid seriously undercutting those private farms who might also be involved in embryo production. In the end, as a compromise, it was agreed that a charge of £5 per embryo would be made in addition to the cost of participating in the programme.
John Fowler (MP) Stanley
Top Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesCommenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!