New fleece of life for sheep project

A European sheep network has been given a new lease of life after securing funding for three years.

SheepNet, which involved partners in seven countries including Scotland’s Rural College, has evolved into a new knowledge sharing network thanks to funding from Horizon 2020 – the biggest EU Research and Innovation programme.

The Eurosheep network, which will run for three years from January 2020, aims to improve the viability of sheep farms by improving their technical performance.

Led by the French Livestock Institute, it will focus on flock health and nutrition, and flock management, and will involve eight countries representing 80 per cent of European sheep production.

Following a similar structure to SheepNet, EuroSheep will use national and international workshops to structure and facilitate knowledge exchange both nationally and internationally.

Initially, EuroSheep will identify farmers’ needs in terms of nutrition and health management for their flocks. It will then collect and create a reservoir of scientific knowledge, technical solutions, and tips and tricks that address the needs identified by each country.

Dr Claire Morgan-Davies, a Livestock Systems Scientist at SRUC’s Hill & Mountain Research Centre, said: “Eurosheep aims to bring together all the stakeholders involved in the sheep sector, including farmers, advisors, vets, teachers and researchers.

“The objective is to exchange existing knowledge between stakeholders at all stages of the sheep production supply chain in the different countries, focusing on the two main themes, in order to enable mutual benefits to all involved in sheep production within the EU.”

EuroSheep, which involves partners in Ireland, UK, Spain, France, Italy, Hungary, Greece and Turkey, will run from January 2020 until the end of December 2022.

Posted by SRUC on 16/12/2019