The power of pedigree

Ever wonder what the impact of going from syndicate sire groups to full pedigree has on your data in Sheep Genetics - here is a snap shot of what it looked like for one of our clients.

Background – we submitted the data to Sheep Genetics (21st November 2021) using the syndicated groups mated to the ewes while we waited for the DNA Parentage to come back.  So the initial data submission had all the 2021 drop progeny being sired by the syndicate group of rams (3 to 5 rams).

We then submitted the 2021 drop with the DNA Parentage results, sire and dam on the 7th December 2021.  The only difference between the two data sets was pedigree.

The difference between the two results highlights the importance of full pedigree, with the MP+ moving from 156.7 to 173.1 (16.4 index points) and the DP+ moving from 148.3 to 166.3 (18.0 index points).  Not only did the indexes change significantly so did the trait ASBVs for example yearling weight (YWT) moved from 1.3 to 5.3 and yearling clean fleece weight (YCFW) moved from 19.2 to 25.4.

It should be noted that all of the 2021 drop had been Genomic tested which would not have been included in the Sheep Genetics run on the 21st November.

Genetic trend table - 21 Nov 2021 - Syndicate sire pedigree only

Genetic trend table - 7 Dec 2021 - full pedigree (sire and dam) + 50k genomics