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All OLIBS ewes are single sire mated and recorded on the Ontario Sheep Flock Improvement Program. Ewe lambs are bred at 7 months of age to lamb at 1 year old. Replacement ewes are selected for maternal traits under intensive management conditions, i.e. fecundity and 50 day lamb weights. The genetic worth of the OLIBS ewes is established by SFIP records and EPD's.
 
The OLIBS Flock is also recorded on the Ewe Byte computer program. Ewe Byte is a comprehensive sheep management system designed for health, lamb production and pedigree tracking. It provides extensive action lists, reports, including graphical presentations. Also provided are in depth life history reports for ewes and rams, including lifetime productivity and health. Ewebyte farm records can be easily downloaded into the Ontario Sheep Flock Improvement Program for calculation of adjusted weights and multi-trait indexes as well as EPD's.
 
Texels EID 1
  
Texels EID 2
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Ewes pasturing Turnips
  

To facilitate all of the record keeping, the Steele's and Stoltz's have implemented a system of electronic identification in their sheep ear tags. The ADAMatic system of electron RFID tags is currently in place.
 

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 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.
 
Ewe Byte
 

Ewe Byte is a comprehensive sheep management system designed for health, lamb production and pedigree tracking.
 

Ewe Byte provides extensive action lists, reports, including graphical presentations.
 
Ewe Byte provides in depth life history reports for ewes and rams, including lifetime productivity and health.
 
Ewe Byte is suited to an international sheep industry. It manages data in kilograms and in pounds.
 
Ewe Byte provides access to North America's largest database, the Ontario Sheep Flock Improvement Program, for calculation of adjusted weights multi-trait indexes and EPDs.
 
  • Calculates performance indexes for within-flock productivity measures
  • Single animal or group entry for pen &
  • subgroup, disposals, cull marks, market & selection marks for lambs
 
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