Teagasc imports ‘genetically elite’ NZ sheep to view Irish performance

Teagasc has imported genetically elite Texel and Suffolk sheep from New Zealand to evaluate their performance in Irish farmland, sheep farmers have heard at a seminar in Athenry, Co Galway.

Teagasc’s move is partly a response to the decline in Mediterranean markets for lamb from Irish hill flocks. Irish lamb exports to the combined Portuguese and Spanish markets are down by 87% in recent years.

Ireland’s national agri-food and research authority, Teagasc used the Athenry seminar to focus on its approach to evaluating the newly-imported breeds against contemporary Irish Texel and Suffolk sheep. Teagasc plans to use this trial as an aid in evaluating the replacement breeding index to ensure that animals deemed to be of high genetic merit for maternal traits are generating more profit at flock level.