Host farms needed to gather commercial lamb data for RamCompare project
RamCompare, the UK’s national progeny testing initiative, is seeking new commercial farms to join the project this season across England and Wales.
RamCompare “host” farms provide around 300 commercial ewes of a uniform breed type which are mated to terminal sire rams provided by the project using single-sire, natural-service mating groups or artificial insemination (AI).
Jointly funded by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) and Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC), RamCompare aims to gather valuable performance data from commercial lambs to drive improvements in the sheep industry.
Bridget Lloyd, RamCompare project coordinator, said, “This is a great opportunity for host farms to benefit from using top genetics within their flock. They have the chance to use rams with high health and genetic merit within their flock, they will get support to benchmark their flock performance against other project farms and the opportunity to engage with a small group of innovative likeminded farmers.
“The insights gained from the project have contributed to the development of Signet’s national terminal sire evaluation, helping commercial farmers select superior, performance-recorded rams whose progeny can produce higher-value carcasses and reduce production costs.”
All rams selected for use must rank within the top 20% of performance-recorded terminal sires. Throughout the process, farms will collect detailed data using electronic identification (EID) from birth to slaughter. This ensures lambs are reared as a single management group within a fast-finishing system.
To be considered as a host farm, the following requirements need to be met:
Provide 300 commercial ewes
Use high-index, performance-recorded terminal sire rams supplied by the project
Ewes must be single-sire mated
Data must be collected on lambs using EID from birth to slaughter
Lambs will be raised as one management group within a fast-finishing system
Optional artificial insemination can be organised for 90-120 ewes as part of the project. Host farms will receive funding to support data collection.
If you meet the criteria and are interested in participating this year, or know of a commercial farm who may like to get involved, please contact RamCompare project coordinator directly for more information on Bridget@Bridget-Lloyd.com or visit ramcompare.com
Nominations for farm recruitment close on Friday 16 May 2025.
After finishing university, Bridget worked on two well-known sheep research projects operating out of Aberystwyth University; the Longwool project and the Welsh Sheep Strategy.
In the year 2000, Bridget took a leading role in Cymru Breeding Services, (later Innovis and now known as AB Europe). Bridget was centre manager specialising in ovine fertility, operating a stud for 100 rams and coordinating four vet teams. She has specialised in ovine fertility and has worked closely with pedigree sheep and their breeders throughout her career.
With an extensive background in the sheep industry she now runs RamCompare. Her main responsibility is to liaise with project farms and abattoirs to ensure the data submitted is accurate and delivered on time, as well as co-ordinating the communication plan and ram nominations....and hundreds of other things.
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