Tickets are on sale for the 2024 SBRT Conference taking place on the 15-17^th November 2024 at the central location of the Radisson Blu Hotel East Midlands, Derby, DE74 2TZ.

Please use the links below for the programme and online ticket purchases:

• The full conference programme is now available
• Online tickets are on sale now or for group bookings please contact me directly
• We have developed some social media graphics (see enclosed attachments) which we would be happy for your organisation/breed society to use to help us promote this event!

What to expect over the weekend:

The conference will cover specific sheep breeding topics within the wider role of genetics, the essential building blocks for the future of the UK sheep industry. Over the weekend attendees will gain insight to sustainable solutions, industry resilience, policy direction, profitability, breeding to meet market demands and reputation of the sector. 

Speakers join us from across the UK industry and beyond, alongside a host of farmers to share ideas, objectives and challenges from their organisations, research projects and individual on-farm experiences.

The conference will start at 2pm on Friday 15^th November and runs through to lunchtime on Sunday 17^th November. We look forward to welcoming you there for part or all of the conference!

A brief taste of the programme follows:

Friday afternoon – Breeding sheep for the environment

Speakers from AbacusBio, ADAS, Farming Connect, Innovis, ProHill Group, Sheep Ireland, SRUC and Teagasc will cover the following:

• Environmental breeding goals for maternal and terminal sheep.
• Observations from an international aspect and recent research studies.
• Genomic and phenotypic advances in hill and maternal breeding programmes.
• Highlighting breeding objectives, genetic advances and lessons learnt.

Saturday morning – A breeding vision for the market 

Speakers from ABP, Euro Quality Lambs Ltd, Langrish Farmers, Lambplan Australia, Livestock Information Ltd and Morrisons will cover the following:

• A retail focus exploring the green credentials of lamb – delivering a sustainable, quality product to our consumers.
• What drives meat processors and how breeders are rewarded for their product.
• How breeders can take control of their genetic direction and select animals to achieve breeding and marketing objectives.
• Economic drivers of wool quality for increased productivity, sustainability and resilience of the industry.

Saturday afternoon – Breeding drivers for the future

Speakers from AHDB, British Texel Sheep society, EGENES, Euro Quality Lambs Ltd, Lambplan (Australia), Nottingham University and SRUC will cover the following:

• A panel of experts will share their views on a number of topical issues.
• A genomic focus on the future for sheep breeding with updates from current research projects.

Sunday morning – Using breeding programmes and technology to select for specific systems

Speakers from AB Europe, Farmgene, NSA, The Roslin Institute, Liz Genever and independent farmers will cover the following:

• Advances in reproductive technology – embryo transfer, sexed semen and surrogate sires.
• Exploring progress and consequences using high value genetics.
• Focus on emerging systems in the UK with farmer insights to the challenge of selecting sheep to suit a multitude of different systems with alternative demands.