NSA Breed Society Forum 2018

Date: 3rd May 2018

NSA was joined by breed societies and industry representatives for 2018’s annual Breed Society Forum, this year hosted by NSA South East Region at Chalgrove, Oxfordshire.

The event kicked off with a welcome from NSA South East Region Chairman Nigel Durnford before NSA Chief Executive Phil Stocker briefed the forum on recent NSA activity including updates on Brexit and recent NSA work on the Heritage breeds project.

Phil reports: Our annual breed society forum was, as ever, a really worthwhile event. The morning session included an interesting insight into markets from Rebecca Oborne, AHDB Market Intelligence, reporting on the predicted impact of Brexit on the sheep sector. This was followed by attendees taking part in an information gathering workshop led by Sam Boon, AHDB Breeding Senior Manager and Kim Matthews, AHDB Head of Animal breeding and Product Quality, seeking thoughts from those directly involved in the industry on the current and potential genetic resources in the UK for a Defra funded research project delivered by AHDB and SRUC. Following a quick lunch the group heard from sheep consultant Lesley Stubbings on the latest findings from the Ram Longevity project and finally from Sam Boon once again who delivered an update on the RamCompare project. I am sure all in attendance will have taken something of interest away from this year’s forum and I thank those who joined us for such a valuable day.”