List of Producers Participating in the SFIP

Sheep Flock Improvement Program (SFIP)

What is it?
SFIP is a performance recording program provided by Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs to all sheep producers in Ontario who wish to enrol. It is a tool which collects, summarizes and makes data on individuals comparable so that producers have information upon which to base decisions.

Performance recording is something that most people do in some form. Most producers know which ewe is the best in the flock and would like a flock of those ewes. This is the basis of performance recording. SFIP keeps data on individuals and calculated individual lifetime data, average flock data, breed data and across flock genetic evaluations for some traits.

What can it do?
The program provides several reports as follows:

1) Lamb Report
This report lists lambing data collected by the producer, adjusted weight records so lamb are comparable and ranks ewes and lambs.

Across flock genetic evaluations are available for:

• birth weight maternal
• birth weight direct
• 100 day weight
• 50 day weight direct
• 50 day weight maternal
• number born and number weaned

2) Animal Certificates
These reports are available in three formats:

• showing an individual's performance as a lamb and pedigree information.
• showing all of the progeny of an individual and their performance
• showing a summary of the program performance on an individual

3) Inventory and Selection Worksheet
This report lists lifetime summary information for all ewes in your flock.

4) Flock Evaluation
This report summarizes the average performance of the flock by breed. It shows the averages by:

• age of ewe
• current year
• previous year and
• compared to the Ontario SFIP average for the breed

5) Annual Report
This report shows the average performance for all breeds tested in the year and contains a producer directory.

The SFIP program is a useful tool for evaluating your production and assisting you in meeting your goals. The records can be used to determine the level of production in your flock and monitor whether changes made in management or genetics have affected the productivity of your operation.

The program is compatible with the on-farm computer program Ewebyte. Data can be transferred between the systems via disk or email.

Advantages to participating in a central database:

• across flock genetic comparisons are possible using flock values,
• can ensure that a purchased animal will increase the performance of your flock
• provides breed information to use in promoting your breed as well as providing information to establish how good an animal is in the population

How much work is required?

Lambing information collected by producers:

• sire identification
• dam identification
• foster ewe if any
• lamb identification
• lamb birthdate
• breed
• sex of lamb
• born as
• raised as

Optional weight information:

• birth weight
• 50 day weigh (range 35-65 days)
• 50 day weigh date
• 100 day weight (range 85-115 days)
• 100 day weigh date

* optional carcass information

• loin depth - realtime ultrasound measurement
• fat depth - realtime ultrasound measurement

*On-farm live animal measurement of loin depth and fat depth is available from Rebecca Parker (905) 263-2421

How to enroll?

For more information on the SFIP program, please contact:
Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Rural Affairs
Agriculture & Rural Division, Sheep Flock Improvement Program
1 Stone Road, 3rd Floor, NE
Guelph, Ontario N1G 4Y2
519 826 3240 or 1-888-466-2372 x 63240