Sheep Flock Improvment Program (SFIP)
The Sheep Flock Improvement Program (SFIP) is a home test genetic improvement program designed to assist Ontario purebred and commercial sheep producers in the evaluation of potential breeding stock and to provide a measure of the comparative productivity of ewes in the flock.
The SFIP program provides information that producers can use to improve the genetic merit of their flock and monitor performance, and maintains a large database of the performance records of tested sheep breeds in the province.
The performance of an animal that you see and measure is a result of both the genetics of the animal and the animals' environment. For example, animals with exactly the same genetics will perform differently if they are fed differently and animals that are fed exactly the same will perform differently due to genetics.
The program evaluates the differences between animals that are caused by genetics. Therefore, groups of animals must be treated or managed the same in the same environment to attempt to evaluate the differences caused by genetics. This is called a contemporary group or a management group. A management group consists of lambs that were born within 30 days of each other, are located in the same place and have received the same care and management. This ensures that most of the differences observed between animals are due to genetics.
In order to participate in the program, some basic information must be collected on the animals, i.e., sire, dam, foster ewe and lamb identification, lamb birthdate, breed of sire and dam, sex of lamb, born as and raised as. All animals must be individually identified by tag or tattoo. The weight information is optional. Weights can be collected at birth, 50 days (35-65 days) and 100 days (85-115 days). Lamb reports are issued after the 50 and 100 day weighings if weight information is sent in to the SFIP office.
The weighing portion of the SFIP program is divided into a supervised and unsupervised program. The program operates exactly the same except that in the case of the supervised program an official weighperson supervises the weighing of the lambs and in the case of the unsupervised program, producers weigh the lambs themselves. In either case, the producer must have an accurate scale suitable for the weighing of sheep. It is recommended that producers selling breeding stock be enrolled on the supervised program. The supervised program provides increased credibility particularly with people from other countries and when an animal has an exceptionally good weight.
Ontario Sheep Health Program (OSHP)
The Ontario Sheep Health Program is a flock health management program designed to: improve the health of the Ontario sheep flock, improve the productivity of the Ontario sheep flock, promote on- farm quality assurance to assure a safer and healthier product for consumers, and promote a better working relationship between veterinary practitioners and sheep producers.
The goal of the OSHP is to improve flock health and productivity by advancing flock health management practices, and by facilitating goal setting through the examination of basic productivity measures. By developing a stronger working relationship with your flock veterinarian, improvement in flock health practices can be implemented in a scientific and economical manner. In addition, the program promotes on-farm quality assurance in order to improve the quality of the lamb and mutton marketed to consumers.
Health Certification The word "Healthy" is quite ambiguous. A healthy flock is one that is not emcumbered by disease that limits productivity. This often involves proper routine vaccination and de-worming programs. It may also involve identification and removal of animals infected with production limiting diseases such as Johne's disease, Caseous Lymphadenitis or Maedi Visna. But disease is not always caused by an infectious agent. For example, poor nutrition of the gestating ewe will cause pregnancytoxaemia that may result in the loss of the lambs and ewes. It will also cause increased early neonatal lamb death because of inadequate birth weight and fat stores which increase the risk of hypoglycemia and hypothermia. The intent of a flock health management program then is to not only assure that important infectious diseases are controlled, but also that management is optimized for health of the flock.
This voluntary program is administered by the Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency. It was developed by researchers at the University of Guelph as part of the Ontario Lamb Improvement Breeding Strategy. Its development was funded by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, The Federal Government of Canada and Ontario Sheep Marketing Agency. At this point, it is unique to Canada, although similar programs are being developed here in Canada, as well as in the USA. There are plans underway to develop a national Quality Assurance program for sheep flocks.
The Ontario Sheep Health Program is divided into four sections. A questionnaire covers the four areas of flock health regarding Flock Health Management, Biosecurity, On-Farm Quality Assurance and Flock Productivity. Please contact the OSMA office for an application form.
John and Eadie Steele have been following an active Scrapie survellance program since 2004. They are currently enrolled in the Volunteer Scrapie Flock certification program.
