Breed strategists air exasperation over sheep 'traditionalists'

Further proof was provided yesterday on the financial benefits for sheep farmers from investing in high-quality performance recorded rams but those producers using such sheep expressed frustration at colleagues who stuck to tradition when it came to breeding.

Speaking in Ayrshire, Rod McKenzie, development manager for the Scottish Sheep Strategy which is part of the Quality Meat Scotland's work, said that farmers would use every reason other than genetics to explain why their flocks were doing badly or were performing well.

He added that some pedigree breeders tended to spend too much time concentrating on showing stock when they should also be gathering information on factors such as growth rates so that they could provide more information to buyers.

He was speaking at the end of a five-year project where the introduction of high-performance tups had increased the income of the farm.

Maimie Paterson, chairwoman of the strategy team, admitted that she was initially sceptical of the benefits of using rams with recorded superior traits but she stated: "You cannot argue with the figures.

"They are providing better returns and putting more money in the bank."

Texel breeder Richard Oates, an advocate of providing more information to those buying his tups, said he could not understand why the industry was not now moving forward with the information that pedigree breeders could now provide.

He was also disappointed that the latest version of the Texel breed handbook, which was almost 200 pages long, carried only three pages on the importance of performance recording.

Oates also claimed that one of the other main terminal sires in the United Kingdom, the Suffolk breed, "had lost its way" by concentrating on "show looks" and by doing so had lost its pre-eminence in the industry.

However, Dr Lewis McClinton, the Suffolk Sheep Society secretary, countered, saying: "If you concentrate on figures alone you may well end up with monsters."