Shropshire-based sheep and arable farmer Hayden Woolley and Farmgene vet Ian McDougall are conducting trials to identify the most productive, low-input sheep for the UK. Ultimately, producing and selling performance-recorded stud stock.

Seven years ago, Hayden began phasing out his Romney ewes after bringing in EasyCare in a bid to reduce costs, as the wool produced didn’t cover the labour costs of crutching and shearing. The results were encouraging, but Hayden and Ian believe there are greater benefits to be had from enlarging the breed’s gene pool to prevent inbreeding and improve key productivity traits.

Zeroing in on the most productive wool-shedding breed

Meeting when Hayden’s flock were chosen to supply embryos to a New Zealand breeder, his hands-on expertise and 4,000 ewe out-door lambing flock, combined with Ian’s wide experience of flock genetics, deliver a wealth of know-how. Combine this with iLivestock’s easy and accurate data capture capabilities to monitor and measure progress, and the pair aim to zero in on the most productive wool-shedding breed for UK farmers.

“Scale plays an important part…”

In genetic trials Ian knows, “Scale plays an important part. The more sheep you can choose from – assuming you select wisely – the more that should result in some exceptional animals being bred.”

Hayden comments, “My main motivation for this project is helping others. I started sheep farming with 60 sheep, and I made every mistake known to man.”

Also with an eye on the future, Hayden continues, “When subsidies go, sheep farmers will need an answer.”

Improving lamb quality, growth, carcass quality and weight

The goal is to find the two best composites: a wool-shedding terminal sire and a wool-shedding maternal sire, improving lamb quality, growth, carcass quality and weight. The breeding to find an improved genetic mix has been:

• 1,280 ewes had embryos implanted or were artificially inseminated. Two highly productive south Australian rams came from two different wool-shedding breeds raised with rainfall and grass viability similar to that of the UK.
• 1,130 ewes were artificially inseminated then split into six groups for repeats to be mated with high-index UK EasyCare and New Zealand Wiltshire chaser rams. Around 70% of ewes held to artificial insemination.
• 600 ewes were single-sire mated to Exlana rams. Plus, 150 embryos (pure Australian White and Australian White cross Nudie) were implanted.

The ability to quickly and accurately record data on each lamb in the field is key to the operation and iLivestock cloud-based platform helps ensure that all critical data is easily captured and accessible via iPad. To create breeding values, all captured data is being sent to Signet and NZ Sheep Improvement Ltd. “I want to farm them as commercially as possible and let the good sheep rise to the top,” says Hayden, and, to help find the right combination of highly productive traits, a holistic view will be taken of the results.Ian adding, “There is no point in having an EasyCare maternal flock that is too lean and has oversized lambs. The beauty is that we are not restricted by breed or a brand, so we can let the winners win.

”By 2026, Hayden and Ian hope to have a composite breed that will be a reliable wool-shedding year-round breeder, capable of lambing in the autumn and able to thrive on regenerative arable systems and cover crops. For the future, Ian is also looking at low carbon footprint breeds in New Zealand, where research into low-methane emission traits in sheep is well advanced. Plus, Australian breeds that are proving more resistant to worms. Adding, “Breeding is a journey, and you never get to the end, but if you are making progress along the way, that is what matters.”

As featured in Farmers Weekly | 'Breeders step up hunt for wool shedding genetics' | February 2023 | Photo credits: Farmers Weekly

Cornish farmer Steve Penberthy is one of the early adopters of iLivestock. With a fulltime job, next to his sheep farming business, welcomed faster and simpler methods to help him run his sheep farm. Ultimately, to spend more time on his other passion: surfing. That’s where iLivestock came in 🌊🏄📱🐑

On Trewithick Farm, he runs a commercial flock of 150 Suffolks, Dorsets, and Lleyns ewes; and a pedigree flock of Suffolk, Charollais and Texel ewes. Steve uses most - if not all - features in the iLivestock platform as a simple method to manage his pedigree flock of Suffolk sheep and keeping note of the pedigree line.

Key app features that Steve uses:

• Breeding
• Medication
• Weight recording
• Smart grouping
• Compliance
• Reporting

The integration with eWeigh in his Rappa yard means that he can record commercial weights of the lambs throughout their growing time up until they go to market.

Get in touch

Do you want to discuss with our Support Team what other features are worth recording to manage your flock or herd on the go? Please get in touch.

As of today, iLivestock now also integrates with Gallagher W0 and Tru-Test S3, on android as well as iOS. This means we now offer a full range of EID reader equipment integrations. To our knowledge, we are the first to integrate with Gallagher W0. But there is more: we’ve enhanced the workflow for customers using a Tru-Test EziWeigh 7i, improved the Bluetooth connection and fixed a few login bugs.

We hope you'll enjoy the product improvements and that it will speed up your animal recording 🐑📱🐏🐄📓

Get in touch

Do you want to discuss with our Support Team what this means for you and your set-up? Please get in touch via the support chat in the app.

First-generation farmer Andrew Powers embraced technology to manage and run his farm of 350 New Zealand Romneys and contract flock of 700 Highlander ewes in Ledbury, Herefordshire.

Key app features that Andrew uses:

• Medicine records
• Moving records
• Breeding records
• Dag score collections
• Blow fly strike

In this video he shares his experience working with iLivestock 🐑📱🐏

Get in touch

Do you want to discuss with our Support Team what other features are worth recording to manage your flock or herd on the go? Please get in touch.

Join us at the Welsh Winter Fair 2022, our last show this year.

📅 When: 28-29 November 2022, 8AM - late
📍 Where: Royal Welsh Showground, LD2 3SY
👀 Find us on stand 142 in South Glenmorgan Hall

🤔 Why attend?

• Meet our team in person
• Get face-to-face support
• Superb livestock
• Livestock auctions

🚜 Looking for more reasons?

• Over 1,000 competitions
• Cookery, produce, handicraft and floral art
• Christmas gifts and late night shopping
• Santa's Grotto and Reindeer
• Musical entertainment
• Fireworks

🍔 Not to mention:

• Catering facilities second to none
• Savoury delights and tempting treats

Get that festive feeling with a visit to the Winter Fair.
Click here for visitor info & to buy your ticket.

We look forward to seeing you! 🐂🐑🚜🎄