Fall Speakers Series

Breeders and buyers will not see the EPD and index values increase as much as with a fixed base; however, they have the great advantage of not experiencing large variations in breeding values every 10 years. Annual adjustment of the reference population will avoid large variation in the breeding values (e.g. avoid a 10 index points loss when updating the reference population when using a fixed base (graph 2).

The genetic gain trends show good improvement over 10 years, but the indexes and EPD values are much more stable when the reference population is updated. These decreases happen every year, at the time of the new reference population integration, but are very small.

FIXED BASE

• Animal performance is compared to animals born in 2010. • As long as the reference population remains 2010, the average breeding values of new lambs tend to increase. • When updating the base, breeding values of each animal will decrease significantly. • Updated every 10 years.

ROLLING BASE

• Animal performance is compared to animals born 10 years ago. • When updating the base, breeding values will decrease a bit.

• Genetic gain will be less noticeable when looking at the individual breeding values. • Updated every year.

In order to prevent breeders and buyers from being disappointed by large variations in their animal breeding values every 10 years, the GenOvis program will move to a rolling base starting January 2021.

Reference population in rolling base to be implemented in GenOvis

YEAR

2020 2021 2022

REFERENCE POPULATION

2010 2011 2012

Thus, every January 1st, the reference population used in the calculation of breeding values will be moved by one year to always use animals born 10 years ago as a reference point. A variation in breeding values will be observed once a year in January, when the update is done, but the magnitude of change will be much less than updating the fixed base every 10 years. In addition, animals will now be compared with newer animals and genetic evaluations will better reflect the genetic potential of lambs born during the year. This will be a great improvement for users. OSN

OSF 2020 Fall Webinar Series

OSF Annual Conventions is being replaced with a series of webinars this fall.

Our keynote speaker is Dr. Neil Sargison. Neil is Professor of Farm Animal Practice at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies and Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, Scotland. He has substantial practical experience of farm animal veterinary practice, working with beef cattle and small ruminants in the north east of Scotland, New Zealand and Midlothian. Neil has developed a specialist interest in small ruminant health and production. He has written a textbook, ‘Sheep Flock Health - A Planned Approach’, which outlines a practical and rational approach to the diagnosis and management of sheep diseases, and has contributed papers to other sheep, cattle, animal welfare and veterinary parasitology textbooks. Neil’s principal research interests and primary undergraduate teaching responsibilities are in the field of veterinary parasitology, and he has published widely in this field. Neil stays active in veterinary professional development as well. He is president of the European College of Small Ruminant Health Management, former president of the Sheep Veterinary Society special interest division of the British Veterinary Association. Past Scientific organiser of the 9th International Sheep Veterinary Congress, 2017.

In the Fall Webinar Series Neil will address the topic Can

we use disease incidence to fine-tune our on-farm flock health management?

Other Fall Webinar Series Topics

• Lamb Survival in Intensive Rearing Conditions • Improving performance & profitability with on-farm data,

UK experience • Effective Management Options for Iceburg Diseases (Maedie

Visna, Johnes, Caseous Lymphadenitis)

Webinars will be held on Thursdays (noon or 7:30 pm) beginning the first Thursday in November.

Look to the Messenger, social media, email, and OSF the OSF website at www.ontariosheep.org/events for full details as they are finalized. OSN