| Article Index |
|---|
| Recording Your Flock |
| What you need to know |
| What you need to do |
| What you want to achieve |
| Costs and Benefits |
| Getting Started |
| All Pages |
3 - What you want to achieve
Most people have a vision of what they want their flock to be like and what market they are aiming for. Everybody, however, wants their flock to be profitable and the majority of people feel that they must still keep on trying to improve what they are doing.
Many pedigree breeders are extremely able and have been successful in breeding what they think is their ideal sheep through visual appearance and reference to blood lines or pedigrees. However there are traits in sheep which have significant economic value which cannot be detected by eye alone.
In a commercial situation it has been proved time and time again that it is the total weight of lamb sold each year which has the biggest impact on the profitabilty of the enterprise.
The traits which are measured and used to calculate the overall index are
- Eight Week weight
- Mature Weight
- Litter size
- Maternal Ability
- Scan Weight
- Muscle Depth
- Fat Depth
Many people use the individual traits to help them achieve their aim, and this often means that the ideal sheep for their purpose at the time does not necessariliy need to have a very high index.
