NSIP – The National Sheep Improvement Program

What is an Estimated Breeding Value or EBV?

Estimated Breeding Values, often referred to simply as EBVs, are measurements of certain economically-important heritable traits. Based on data collected on participating farms, EBVs are a measure of an individual animal’s performance, but also incorporate performance of related animals in that same flock, as well as related animals in other participating flocks. Scientifically based, EBVs have been tested in several breeds in a wide array of management systems across the U.S. sheep industry. The use of EBVs has been demonstrated to enhance economically-important decisions over visual appraisal alone.

“The backbone of America’s future commercial flock will be a ewe with parasite resistance, low maintenance costs, high fertility/prolificacy and good mothering ability. The National Sheep Improvement Program makes it possible to identify those animals.“

– Dr. David Notter
Professor and Sheep Geneticist
Virginia Polytechnic Institute

Learn More
Estimated Breeding Value
Understanding Sheep EBVs

How Are EBVs Used?

Some producers of purebred breeding stock use EBVs to identify the superior animals in their flocks. With that information in hand, they can breed the best to the best and improve certain traits.  This can rapidly accelerate genetic progress in their flock and ultimately in the breed. In addition to specific EBVs, certain traits have been combined (i.e., indexes) to facilitate selecting breeding stock that is better suited to particular environmental or management situations.  Using EBVs, however, is not limited to producers of breeding stock, operators of commercial flocks know well what traits are important to their bottom line and can use EBVs to select superior replacement ewes or new sires with the genetics they need.

“By purchasing breeding stock with EBVs, commercial producers can focus on specific traits for genetic improvement and thus enhance their flock’s productivity and profitiblility.”

– NSIP.org