Lambing accounts for over 25% of the annual labour requirement on a sheep farm, so any steps that can be taken to reduce labour is really important. On part two of the Teagasc Virtual Sheep Conference hosted by Damian Costello, Sheep Knowledge Transfer Specialist in Teagasc, attendees heard from Áine O’Brien, Post-doctoral Researcher on Sheep Genetics and Genomics with Teagasc, who outlined how you can reduce labour at lambing by improving lamb vigour and ewe mothering ability through breeding. The conference also heard from UK Vet Ben Shrugnal who presented on Texel throat or laryngeal chondritis, an obstructive disease of the upper respiratory tract in sheep, and outlined how more genetic work is required in order to select sheep at lower risk of developing the condition

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