A 2011 Genetics survey was circulated to GenOvis participants and to the general industry in English and in French. This survey was done to gather information for the research project “Genetic evaluation and selection tools for profitability improvement in Canadian sheep production” underway at the Center for the Genetic Improvement of Livestock at the University of Guelph with funding from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture Food and Rural Affairs, the Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency and the Centre D’expertise en Production Ovine du Quebec.
The response to the survey was excellent with a total of 375 surveys completed. 78 GenOvis participant surveys and 297 industry surveys were filled out. The average flock size of those participating was 208 ewes with representation from 9 different provinces. In general the survey illustrated that there are still many different production systems and breeds of sheep being used across Canada.
A few important highlights are:
- 83% of general industry respondents are interested in buying performance tested animals provided they are the breed they use and tested for traits that are important on their farm.
- 62% of all respondents have an annual production system
- 61% of all respondents use pasture and confinement.
- 56% of all respondents say the main objective of their flock is to produce market lambs.
- 41% of all respondents sell market lambs live with many selling lambs graded, direct as cuts or direct as freezer lambs or some combination of these.
- The top three breeds represented across all respondents are: Dorset, Rideau and Suffolk sheep.
- 56% of general industry respondents buy performance tested animals.
- 83% of general industry respondents would use a performance tested ram finding website.
- 81% of GenOvis respondents would prefer standard indexes rather than customizable indexes. Customizable indexes would be interesting but the resulting problems with understanding and use across flocks could be more detrimental than helpful. Indexes designed specifically for a breed could be useful.
- 61% of GenOvis respondents are satisfied with the current indexes. Others would
like more traits included, the emphasis changed or the results to be less variable.
Thank you very much to all those producers who filled out the survey and provided feedback and many valuable comments.