International session Focus on Eyþór Einarsson1, Eyjólfur I. Bjarnason1 & Emma Eyþórsdóttir2 1The Icelandic Agricultural Advisory Centre 2The Agricultural University of Iceland Sheep farming in Iceland Sheep farming provides the basis for year • Number of winter fed sheep has around habitation in many rural areas. been stable at 440 – 480.000 for the last 25 years • 2422 flocks in December 2016. • 195 sheep average per flock • Iceland is „sheep nation“ • ≈ 338.000 inhabitants (1.1.2017) • 1,4 sheep per person • 20 kg sheep meat per capita Sheep farming in Iceland

MEAT PRODUCTION IN ICELAND 2016 • Sheep meat is the largest meat DIVISION BETWEEN PRODUCTION SECTORS Horse production sector in Iceland with 3% Beef 34% of the production 14% Sheep • In 1996 sheep meat was 47% of 34% the meat production

• Total production of sheep meat- Pig 10,400 tonns 20% • Export about 4,000 tonnes per year Poultry 29% The production system

April– May - June Lambing Normally inside 1-7 days after birth June – Sept. Nov - May Sheep on common Feeding – mostly indoors mountain pastures. Farmers making hay.

Aug – Sept - Oct Sheep gathering. Slaughter time Lambs slaughtered directly or on pasture for 4 to 6 weeks. The Icelandic sheep

• North European short-tailed breed • Brought to Iceland with the for more than 1.100 years ago • Isolated breed with none or little influence from other breeds The Icelandic sheep

• Double coated fleece • Both horned and polled types • Variation in colours, most sheep are white (82%) • Main emphasis on improving carcass traits, milking ability and fertility • Mature ewes weigh 150-160 lbs. and rams 200-220 lbs. The Icelandic Leadersheep

A unique breed in the world! The Icelandic Leadersheep

• Sheep with special leader characteristics • This breed had an important purpose in former times • Population size is around 1.500 individuals • Many flocks have 1 – 5 leader sheep among the „regular“ sheep The Icelandic Sheep Recording System

• Long tradition of sheep recording in Iceland • Natural mating was the ”breeding goal“ since Iceland was settled until 1900 • First sheep breeding consultants in Iceland around 1900 • Their knowledge based on visit to Scotland • Dr. Halldor Palsson was the leader of sheep recording around 1940 • Oldest sheep in pedigree data was born 1907 • Oldest information in the sheep recording database since 1953 • Calculated by hand the first years The Icelandic Sheep Recording System

• History of Recoding System • Computer database since 1977 • On a web client since 2006 • Each farmer has access • Record information about his flock • Have access to variable reports

• Information about 90% of all sheep in the database What do we register ?

• All animals have individual ID- numbers based on birth year, sex, flock and number within the flock • Sheep that are moved between flocks keep all information • Due to costs EID tags are still uncommon • But possible in the database What do we record ?

• Recorded information: • Optional: • Date of birth, litter size, sex and • Weaning weight, ewe weight, colour pregnancy scans • Dam and sire ID • Ultrasound measurements of • Slaughter date, carcass weight, muscle and fat of breeding EUROP scores candidates • Cause of death (slaughter, culling, other losses) The breeding work

• The Recording System (Fjárvís) is base for all breeding work • Ultrasound scanning and live judgement • About 65,000 lambs are scanned per year (10%) • Selection of replacement animals • Progeny testing for weight and carcass quality Averages of rams lambs sired by AI ram

Total Year Number of lambs LW UMD UFD UMD shape Leg score score 2003 4.955 48,0 27,6 3,2 3,7 16,8 81,7 2010 6.266 47,0 29,1 2,7 4,1 17,4 83,1 2017 4.690 48,2 30,4 3,1 4,1 17,7 84,3 Information from slaughterhouses • EUROP classification Fjarvis.is - Database • Individual information for all carcasses sent automatically to the database • Carcass weight is used for calculation BLUP EBV CW and of breeding values, not life weight EUROP score • Differences compared to breeding work in other countries • Live weight of replacement lambs converted to carcass weight Sheep Slaughterhouses farms • Ewe production index is the selection All lambs with trait, based on lamb carcass weight individual ID Disease regulations • Due to risk of spreading the scrapie disease is Iceland divided into several isolation zones • Movement of live sheep between zones not allowed • In some cases is movement of live sheep across flocks within zone prohibited • AI is often the only option for farmers to get new blood into the flock Artificial insemination • The first sheep AI trial was made 1939 • Regular every year since 1963 • Around 30.000 ewes inseminated annually • Mainly with fresh semen • Farmers inseminate their own sheep • Breeding season is Dec. 1 – 21st • Non-return rate 66% with fresh semen in recent years • Some farmers get up to 90% non- return rate every year • Costs 6-7 £ per ewe Artificial insemination

• Approximately 60% of replacement ram lambs and 15% of replacement ewe lambs are sired by AI rams • Selections of AI rams are based of information from the sheep recording system Fertility • Breeding goal: 2 lambs per adult ewe and 1 lamb per one year old ewe. • A gene causing increased ovaluation rate, is known (Thoka gene) • The Thoka gene has been imported to Cheviot in Scotland • Confirmed mutation in the gene GDF9 Fertility

• The average ewe delivers 1,81 lamb born. • 30% of farms (with 100 ewes or more) have more than 1,9 lambs born per ewe joined. • The average ewe delivers 1,64 lamb for production (replacement or carcass) Milking ability and growth rate

• Breeding goal: Maximize growth rate so optimum carcass weight can be attained on summer pastures • Results from 2016: • Adult ewe with twins weaned 33,8 kg calculated meat production • Average carcass weight was 17,0 kg • Average age at slaughter 140 days Carcass traits

• Breeding goal: All carcasses should reach conformation class E, U or R and fat classes 2 and 3 • In 2016: 553.000 slaughtered lambs Conformation class Fat class E 3% 2 46% U 32% 3 40% R 58% Total 86% Total 93% Development of carcass traits

• Since 1999 carcass weight has increased (15 kg to 17 kg). • Score for conformation has risen from 6,34 to 8,97 • Fat in carcasses has declined

Development of phenotype records EUROP score and carcasses weight. (Conformation: E=14, U=11, R=8, O=5, P=2; Fat: 1=2, 2=5, 3=8, 4=11, 5=14). Sheep economy

• The sheep farming is currently in a crisis in Iceland • Farmers price for meat dropped by 30% from last year • 2015 – 4,3 £/kg • 2016 – 3,8 £/kg • 2017 – 2,5 £/kg Research on sheep breeding

Hestur experimental farm Progeny testing of rams in Iceland

• Initiated by Dr. Halldór Pálsson in 1957 • Among the first organised progeny tests in sheep in the world • Methods developed on the basis of Dr. Pálsson research at Cambridge • Emphasis on carcass conformation – many measurements on individual carcasses • Rams that scored high for slaughter lambs further tested for daughter productivity • S. Thorsteinsson presented this work at SBRT in 1995 Progeny testing at Hestur

• Progeny tests with similar organisation are still run at the research farm Hestur • Ultrasound has replaced many carcass measurements • Top rams selected for AI in most years Ultrasound measurements of lambs

• First used at Hestur in 1991 • Results showed high correlations with carcass measurements of carcass measurements of the loin • Used in regular breeding work shortly after and ever since • Advisers travel between farms with the equipment and advise on selection of breeding rams (and ewe lambs) • Measure fat and muscle depth at the 3rd lumbar vertebra Recent reports on carcass weight and quality A review of genetic studies up to 2010

• Genetic parameters of EUROP scores and ultrasound traits 2001-2013 • Genetic trends • Usefulness of UMD and UFD as correlated traits for carcass quality

Genetic trends of ultrasound and carcass traits

EUROP EUROP fat Confor- mation

UFD UMD

(Jón Hjalti Eiríksson, 2014) Main results (Eiríksson & Sigurðsson, 2017)

• Heritability estimates are medium to high – little change • Genetic correlations between muscle and fat scores seem to have decreased from 2006 • Suggested reasons are changes in EUROP classification and/or selection of rams for AI with high EBV for both traits • Genetic correlations between EUROP scores and corresponding ultra sound measurements are high • Genetic trends are positive for all carcass traits • Including ultrasound traits as correlated traits in breeding value estimation will reduce bias due to unequal proportions of slaughter lambs between progeny groups Image analysis of lamb carcasses

Prediction of EUROP scores: • 82% for conformation score ; ~7% upward bias of VIAscan • 73% for fat score; 3% upward bias Prediction accuracy of Lean Meat Yield: • VIAscan: 57-58% • HCW+GR+EUROP: 55% • Automatic prediction of LMY is provides an opportunity to the industry but development has halted due to high costs Heritability and genetic correlations between selected traits Trait VIA_ VIA_ conf. fat %LMY UMD UFD Leg score

VIA_EUROP_conf 0.32 VIA_EUROP_fat 0.33 0.29 %LMY 0.46 -0.61 0.46 UMD 0.47 0.05 0.37 0.42 UMF 0.16 0.59 -0.40 0.11 0.42 Leg score (15-20) 0.70 -0.21 0.44 0.62 0.12 0.40 Genetic parameters of maternal traits

Prolificacy – NLB by parity

rg below

Ewe production index

by parity, rg below Weaning weight and carcass weight

Preliminary results from a new analysis of large data (average from 10 single trait analyses) (E. Albertsdóttir, unpublished)

2 2 Trait h a h m ram Weaning wt. 0.15 0.11 -0.60 Carcass wt. 0.24 0.14 -0.60 • These estimates are lower than previous estimates of direct heritability of weaning weight but higher for carcass weight. • Estimates for maternal heritability are similar to those reported by Einarsson et al. 2015 • The negative correlation between direct and maternal effects appears very high. Thank you for the attention!