Introducing Cambridge Sheep Genes to improve Lambing %

MF 135 Man

Member
Trade
I very nearly bought some Cambridge last year (was virtually in the truck when family issues stopped me)

Can't comment on breed but the society man is a very approachable chap, very easy to chat to & will see you right. I have his details if you wanna PM.

Have you considered lleyn?? Not quite as prolific (a good thing most say) easier to source, and keep that all important white face!!!


Could you send me the details please? might be worth a chat.
 

Dodge777

Member
Location
Co Down
Is there much belclare sheep of there? A lot of farms in ireland have introduced belclare into their flocks to increase prolificy and are getting good results
Don't think there are many over the water but we have tried a few here this year. Will see how they get on in a week or two.
 
The first flock of sheep I lambed were Suffolk x Cambridge. Then put to a meatlinc. As I recall they were fairly good. Those that were 3s were left as such but got the better grazing and a bit of extra grub. A extra day or 2 in the individual pens as well. Those 3s were crept straight away and were being drawn at the same time as the singles. Wouldn't neccesarily be keen to do it now but was great 20 years ago.
 
Is there somewhere you can PCR test for GDF9? There are hyperprolific strains of Roussin that lamb at close to 300%.
Your best bet is Zoetis in NZ using their sheep 5k test.
It gives you Myomax, Lambmax(gdf9), loinmax, Inverdale, Booroola, and if the parents have been done it will confirm parentage. If you've the right breed and the right linkages it will also give you Molecular bvs.
Cost is NZ$43.
 
There is finnish landrace in there but a couple of the major prolificacy genes came from the Lleyn
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3534649/

The GDF9 gene with the smaller effect probably came from the finn, the other from other breeds. We've just identified a variation of the Booroola gene in Finns as well. It's a different gene to the merino Booroola gene, and as yet there as been no validation of it but two of my high NLBbv rams carry it and don't carry gdf9 so I suspect it has an effect similar to gdf9
 

Newby

Member
Location
East Yorkshire
Your best bet is Zoetis in NZ using their sheep 5k test.
It gives you Myomax, Lambmax(gdf9), loinmax, Inverdale, Booroola, and if the parents have been done it will confirm parentage. If you've the right breed and the right linkages it will also give you Molecular bvs.
Cost is NZ$43.
Can they test from a standard blood card?
 

Sandpit Farm

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Derbyshire
Your best bet is Zoetis in NZ using their sheep 5k test.
It gives you Myomax, Lambmax(gdf9), loinmax, Inverdale, Booroola, and if the parents have been done it will confirm parentage. If you've the right breed and the right linkages it will also give you Molecular bvs.
Cost is NZ$43.

This is interesting. Aren't some of these genes only expressed if homozygous? If so, will the test establish if an animal is homozygous?
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
There is finnish landrace in there but a couple of the major prolificacy genes came from the Lleyn
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3534649/
The GDF9 gene with the smaller effect probably came from the finn, the other from other breeds. We've just identified a variation of the Booroola gene in Finns as well. It's a different gene to the merino Booroola gene, and as yet there as been no validation of it but two of my high NLBbv rams carry it and don't carry gdf9 so I suspect it has an effect similar to gdf9

Hmm, so a Lleyn breeder claims the prolificacy came from the Lleyn and a Finn breeder claims the Finn sorted it.

Any Clun breeders on here?:D
 

George C

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Bath
Hmm, so a Lleyn breeder claims the prolificacy came from the Lleyn and a Finn breeder claims the Finn sorted it.

Any Clun breeders on here?:D

Only going on the conclusions from the paper I quoted above ' It was concluded from these findings that the Lleyn breed was the most likely source of the FecXG and FecGH mutations in Belclare and Cambridge sheep'

Happy to be corrected by a Clun breeder or Finn breeder or Charolais breeder ;)
 

beynon

New Member
Don't think anyone has looked at Clun or Llanwenog for relevant mutations as yet and it may be too late at least in the case of the Llanwenog, litters are now history.

Is it possible to say where the mutations came from in the Cambridge without having looked at all the different foundation animals, of 50ish years ago? The Lleyn has probably benefited from introgression more than any other breed in the last 50 years.
 
Hmm, so a Lleyn breeder claims the prolificacy came from the Lleyn and a Finn breeder claims the Finn sorted it.

Any Clun breeders on here?:D
All could be correct given that there is 4 genes involved. The smaller effect GDF9 is believed to have originated in Finns and got in to Norwegian whites, Texels and Cambridge sheep from them. The other end genes likely came from the other breeds as they've never been found in Finns but have been found in other breeds.
 
Yes it shows if they're Heterozygous or Homozygous. All of the above genes express them either as dominant genes (Inverdale and Booroola for nlb) or incomplete dominance for the rest. Booroola is dominant for NLB but incomplete dominance for ovulation rate.
 

George C

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Bath
Don't think anyone has looked at Clun or Llanwenog for relevant mutations as yet and it may be too late at least in the case of the Llanwenog, litters are now history.

Is it possible to say where the mutations came from in the Cambridge without having looked at all the different foundation animals, of 50ish years ago? The Lleyn has probably benefited from introgression more than any other breed in the last 50 years.

I read quite an interesting paper about the make up of Welsh breeds a year or so ago.....hang on a minute... just looked it up...thought your name rang a bell ;):)
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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