The Shout about the Sire campaign was launched by AHDB at the 2019 British Cattle Breeders Conference, with an aim to increase the number of known sires being recorded on cattle passports. The campaign has mainly been based on social media, with support from a number of industry stakeholders, and has successfully encouraged the conversation on the importance of sire recording in the cattle industry, allowing us all to unite in sharing one consistent message.

When the campaign was launched, sire recording data from the British Cattle Movement Service (BCMS) was available for the years 2010 to 2017, with 23% of sires being recorded on average across that time period. Having reviewed the data up to the end of 2019, AHDB is pleased to say that the percentage of sires recorded each year is increasing, with 30% of sires recorded for cattle born between 2012 and 2019. Accounting for the upwards trend in recording seen in year on year from BCMS, the Shout about the Sire campaign has been directly responsible for a 0.7% increase in recording during 2019.

Historically, the trend for sire recording across the calendar year shows a higher percentage of recording taking place in the first half of the year (covering the spring calving period), with lower levels tailing off in the second half of the year. In this part of the year, the increase in recording as a direct result of the Shout about the Sire campaign increases to 1%.

These increases in recording will improve the data used in the National Beef Evaluations, which currently use commercial carcase data to estimate breeding values (EBVs) for carcase weight, fat, conformation, days to slaughter and average daily carcase gain. At the present time, approximately 30% of the data received by abattoirs is excluded from the evaluations due to sires not being recorded.

By working together to share the message through social media and industry stakeholders, the campaign will continue to have positive impact on the level of sire recording for UK. 

For more information visit https://ahdb.org.uk/shout-about-the-sire

Visit https://ahdbbeef.egenes.co.uk/ to search the database for carcase EBVs from the AHDB National Beef Evaluations.

Having difficulty remembering who sired who? Order a copy of the AHDB Suckler Breeding Plan to put up in your office and keep track from https://ahdb.org.uk/knowledge-library/suckler-breeding-plan-for-better-returns

Want to get your company involved? To request a press pack, contact alex.brown@ahdb.org.uk