Breeding Programme Statistics as at August 2010
Genetic Make-up of the Flock
Males
All lines



Currently 423 males shown as alive
146 are fully registered
76% are 3 years old or younger
Year of birth
2010 (to 18/8)
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
No birth notified
94
131
115
172
140
170
146
178
191
154
No still alive
93
102
48
80
31
14
14
7
2
3
Line 1



76 have significant line 1 genetics (17.9% of flock)
20 of these 76 are fully registered
88% are 3 years old or younger
Year of birth
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005 or earlier


No alive
32
24
3
8
6
3
No registered
2
4
1
4
6
3
235 have some line 1 genetics (55.5% of flock)
Of ram lambs born in 2010 72 have some line 1 genetics (76.6% of the crop)
Line 2



58 have significant line 2 genetics (13.7% of flock)
31 of these are fully registered
74.5% are 3 years old or younger
Year of birth
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005 or earlier

No alive
25
4
6
6
3
13
No registered
9
1
4
3
3
13
ALL members of the flock have some line 2 genetics (100% of flock)
Line 3



32 have significant line 3 genetics (7.5% of flock)
12 of these 32 are fully registered
77.7% are 3 years old or younger
Year of birth
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005 or earlier


No alive
3
6
7
5
4
7
No registered
1
2
1
2
1
5
401 have some line 3 genetics (94.8% of flock)
Of ram lambs born in 2010 90 have some line 3 genetics (95.7% of the crop)
Females
All lines



Currently 1667 females shown as alive
1383 are fully registered
49.5% are 3 years old or younger, 70.7% are 5 years old or younger
Year of birth
2010 (18/8)
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
No birth notified
192
223
244
250
253
264
244
244
226
No still alive
192
221
221
191
179
175
137
102
68
Line 1



231 have significant line 1 genetics (13.9% of flock)
850 have some line 1 genetics (51% of flock)
Of ewe lambs born in 2010 168 have some line 1 genetics (87.5% of the crop)
Line 2


202 have significant line 2 genetics (12.1% of flock)
ALL members of the flock have some line 2 genetics (100% of flock)
Line 3



152 have significant line 3 genetics (9.1% of flock)
1411 have some line 3 genetics (84.6% of flock)
Of ewe lambs born in 2010 189 have some line 3 genetics (98% of the crop)
Breeding Performance
Ownership profile
We have 135 flock numbers that have owned animals over the last 5 years. Of these 21 no longer
have any ewes on the register. We currently have 83 ewes belonging to non-RBST-members (down
from 165 in 2009) and 11 (down from 45) ewes are listed under ‘purchased in 20nn’ so have not
been included in a registered flock.
The profile for flock sizes with ‘alive’ ewes is:
160
135
140
120
100
80
63
60
40
21
20
8
16
11
10
6
0
zero
2 or less bt 2 and bt 10 and bt 16 and bt 30 and over 50
10
16
30
50
total
The number of flocks with over 50 ewes has increased from 4 to 6 but we are still extremely
dependent on small flock owners with 78.8% of flocks under the original minimum flock size for a
viable flock for the ‘breeds at risk register’.
Breeding/Non-breeding Ewe profile
At the moment only 27 of the 104 flocks with live ewes have birth notified lambs in 2010 during
2009 46 of 108 flocks birth notified lambs and three of these were flocks from non-RBST- members.
Overall in 2009 there were only 268 unique ewes with birth notified lambs inspite of the register
showing 1516 live ewes. This indicates only 17.7% of our ewes are being used for pedigree breeding.
55 rams were used giving a ratio of 4.9 ewes per ram, again an indication of small breeding flocks.
So far in 2010 the offspring of 203 unique ewes have been birth notified and 38 rams used. The
oldest ewes producing lambs in 2010 were born in 1999.
Registration profile
No of lambs registered (birth notified or fully registered) by year
Year of birth
Ewe
lambs
Ram lambs
2010 (18/8)
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
192
223
244
250
253
264
244
244
226
94
131
115
172
140
170
146
178
191
Likely ram
lambs not BN
Probable crop
size
Assume 150%
ewe no
98
384
256
92
129
78
113
94
98
66
35
446
488
500
506
528
488
488
452
297
325
333
337
352
325
325
301
Assuming the assumptions are correct (that ewe/ram no should be equal and 1.5 lambs per ewe is
correct average) we are barely holding numbers.... and unless there are a lot of flocks left to register
we are losing ground.
400
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
CONCLUSIONS AND ACTIONS

We have pretty much secured the genetic diversity of the breed we just need to:
o
o

We need to find out why so few of the ewes are being used for pedigree breeding
o
o
o

Continue to actively select rams with some (even if not significant) Line 1 genetics
We need to remove the 20 remaining rams with NO line 3 (only 2 are registered and
under 5 years but we do have birth notified younger ram lambs we need to avoid)
Are pedigree lambs being produced for meat and not notified?
Are flocks cross-breeding ?
Are the ewes not being breed at all?
We need to agree a 5 year strategy to increase the number of ewes producing notified,
pedigree lambs so we are aware of the real flock size of the breed and take action if the
numbers are actually falling.