Data to identify key drivers of animal growth and carcass quality for temperate lowland sheep production systems

Abstract

With the growing demand for animal-sourced foods and a serious concern over climate impacts associated with livestock farming, the sheep industry worldwide faces the formidable challenge of increasing the overall product supply while improving its resource use efficiency. As an evidence base for research to identify key drivers behind animal growth and carcass quality, longitudinal matched data of 741 ewes and 2978 lambs were collected at the North Wyke Farm Platform, a farm-scale grazing trial in Devon, UK, between 2011 and 2019. A subset of these data was subsequently analysed in a study to assess the feasibility of using a lamb's early-life liveweight as a predictor of carcass quality [1] . The data also have the potential to offer insight into key performance indicators (KPIs) for the sheep industry, or what variables farmers should measure and target to increase profitability.