J P Hanrahan
The Belclare breed emerged from the sheep genetics programme that was established by The Agricultural Institute (An Foras Talúntais) in the 1960s. The information available at that
time showed that the average number of lambs reared per ewe in lowland sheep flocks in
Ireland was about 1.20 compared with 1.50 for lowland flocks in Britain (~25% higher). It
was known that litter size has a major effect on the biological efficiency of lamb production
(weight of lamb weaned divided by weight of food consumed by ewe and her lamb(s)); 40%
greater for a ewe that reared 2 lambs compared to a ewe producing a single. It was also
known, from farm accounts, that an increase of 0.1 in lambs reared per ewe joined increased
gross margin per ewe by 11%. Thus, a major focus of the sheep genetics programme was to
identify ways to enable a rapid improvement in litter size, thus the number of lambs reared
per ewe joined. A specific aim set out in 1962 was to ‘combine the desirable features’ of
animals ‘with useful characteristics’ into a new strain ‘so that it is uniform and highly
productive’.
The Belclare breed was the eventual realisation of this objective. The animals ‘with useful
characteristics’ that were identified, through the genetics research programme came from the
following sources:
A High Fertility line developed in the late 1960s from foundation ewes that had given birth to 4 or more lambs or had produced 9 or more lambs over 3 consecutive seasons, and were sourced from farms throughout the country, regardless of breed type.
A Fingalway flock developed from crossing the Galway breed with Finnish Landrace sheep imported in 1966.
Lleyn sheep derived from foundation animals selected for high litter size from recorded flocks of the breed in Caernarfonshire and Anglesey in north Wales.
A line of Finnish Landrace sheep developed by selection for high ovulation rate.
Texel sheep.
The contribution of the various breeds to the composition of the Belclare has been estimated
from pedigree information and is shown in Table 1. The small contributions attributed to
Cheviot, Suffolk and Border Leicester originated from the High Fertility line as did the
‘unknown’ breed. The latter reflects the fact that the breed composition of some High
Fertility foundation stock was not fully known.
Steps in developing the Belclare
The Galway was the predominant lowland breed in Ireland in the 1960s. A Galway Breed
Improvement Scheme was initiated in 1969, in collaboration with breed society and some
non-registered Galway sheep breeders, to increase litter size by selection. At the same time
research had shown that the cross between the Galway and Finnish Landrace breeds yielded a large increase in litter size compared to the purebred Galway. This led to the development of an interbred flock of Finn×Galway (Fingalway) sheep for research purposes, and to on-farm production and evaluation of Finn×Galway ewes by participants in the Galway Breed Improvement Scheme. Fingalway rams were offered for sale at the Athenry sales of the Galway Sheep Breeders’ Society in 1972, 1973 and 1974 and a Western Sheep Breeders’ Co-op (WSBD) was established in 1974 in Co. Roscommon, whose aim was to actively develop the production and use of ¼Finn×¾Galway ewes as the basis for sheep farming in the region. The ¼Finn×¾Galway was described as an “Improved Galway” and was evaluated under commercial conditions at the Blindwell test farm of An Foras Talúntais between 1977 and1980. The evaluation showed that the number of lambs reared per ewe joined was 0.29 greater for Improved Galway ewes than for contemporary Suffolk-cross ewes, and 0.32 greater than for Galway ewes.
Experience during the initial years of the promotion of Fingalway rams as sires of flock
replacements led to the realisation that there was significant farmer reluctance to use
Fingalway rams, related to concerns about animal appearance (type), especially fleece
characteristics, and variability. This led, in 1975, to an investigation of the Lleyn breed, local
at the time to Caernarfonshire in north-west Wales. The Meat and Livestock Commission in
Britain facilitated access to data on individual ewe performance records from Lleyn flocks;
analyses of these data led to the importation of a highly selected (on litter size) set of ewes
(n=13) and rams (n=4) in 1976. It was estimated that the genetic merit of the progeny of these foundation stock was 2.4 for litter size. The small flock developed from this foundation was crossed with the Fingalway and High Fertility research flocks and the progeny were then
interbred and evaluated. The product of this combination of genetic material became known
as the Belclare Improver. The goal was an average litter size of at least of 2.1, so that ewes
sired by rams of the composite breed would have the genetic capacity to yield an average
litter size of 1.8 under typical farm conditions. The performance of Belclare Improver ewes in
the research flock at Belclare met this target, which was also achieved under commercial
conditions at the Blindwell test farm where their average litter size for 1981 to 1984 was also
2.1. Over the same period, at Blindwell, ewes sired by Belclare Improver rams out of
Galway and Cheviot dams averaged 1.81. These daughters of Belclare Improver rams ewes
were referred to as ‘Improved Galway’ and ‘Improved Cheviot’, respectively. A similar
performance was recorded for these ewe types was recorded on 8 farms in Galway/Roscommon and on 6 farms in Co. Wicklow. The superiority of Improved Cheviot
ewes over the widely used Suffolk×Cheviot was demonstrated at the Knockbeg sheep unit
where litter size averaged 2.0 versus 1.75 for adult ewes in 1990 with corresponding values
of 1.86 and 1.59 for the number of lambs reared per ewe joined.
The output being delivered by the “Improved” ewe types at Blindwell and in commercial
flocks, and the improving prospects for the sheep industry at the time, led to a surge in the number of requests received at Belclare Research Centre for Belclare Improver rams. Such
was the demand that limited available number of rams were sold, by lottery, over the years
1980 to 1985. The applicants came from all over the country; every county, except Donegal,
Sligo and Limerick, was represented in the destination of these rams. Because of the interest
that had developed, the limited size of the research flock and the desire to enable interested
farmers to meet the demand, ewes and ewe lambs from the research flock were sold in 1983
and 1984 to 14 farmers who undertook to produce ram lambs for sale. The Belclare Sheep
Breed Society emerged from this group in 1985; number of breeders had increased to 33 in
1989. The average litter size for Belclare ewes in these flocks over the period 1985 to 1989
was 2.04.
The final phase in the development of the Belclare breed involved the infusion of Texel genes
- driven by evidence from research in An Foras Talúntais and elsewhere that this breed had
less carcass fat than many other breeds, combined with good carcass conformation. In
addition it had an appearance that was compatible with the Belclare but prolificacy that was
akin to that of the Galway. The infusion was enabled, without detriment to prolificacy, by a
line of Finn sheep (Finn ↑OR ) that had been under selection for increased ovulation rate since 1976. The objective was to increase ovulation rate so that the proportion of Finn ancestry required for a ‘specific increase in ovulation rate’ in a cross with a low-prolificacy breed, such as the Texel, would be halved. This target was reached in the mid 1980s and the
evaluation of ¾Texel×¼Finn ↑OR ewes began in 1987/88. The first ewes representing the cross of Belclare Improver with ¾Texel×¼Finn ↑OR rams were born in 1989 and this combination
was referred to as “Mark-2 Belclare”.
The results showed that the infusion of
the ¾Texel×¼Finn ↑OR genetic material did
not adversely affect reproductive
performance. The conversion of Belclare
ewes in breeders’ flocks to “Mark-2
Belclare” began in 1990 following
discussions with the Breed Society, who
selected a panel of ¾Texel×¼Finn ↑OR
rams for use on members’ flocks. This
process was continued until all flocks
were enabled to exploit the new genetic
material. This represented the end of the formal process of Belclare breed establishment.
The recorded information on litter size between 1993 and 2007 is plotted in the above graph and shows clearly that the average for of pedigree flocks is close to 2.1. The process of converting the flocks of the breed society members to the Mark-2 type Belclare was essentially complete by 1996.
Conclusion
The evidence outlined in the foregoing indicates how the objective (set out in 1962) to
‘combine the desirable features’ of animals ‘with useful characteristics’ into a new strain ‘so
that it is uniform and highly productive’ was delivered. It should be evident from this account
that the development of the Belclare to its present position in the national sheep industry
would not have been possible without the trust of the members of The Belclare Sheep Breed
Society over the years and their commitment to improve uniformity and growth rate.