The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

- maintain biological diversity- improve the quality of agricultural products- contribute to increased diversification- reduce inputs and production costs

GENRES: conservation, characterisation, collection utilisation of genetic resources in agriculture

proposal for a targeted action: Heritage Sheep Breeds of Europe

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

• genetically distinct• geographically concentrated• environmentally adapted

Heritage Sheep Breeds

local breeds, important to regional economy and culture

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

disease entering their geographical locationgenetic erosion through Scrapie eradication

replacement by high-input, non-adapted breeds

Heritage Sheep Breeds across Europe

threat to the sustainability of rural communities

URGENT ACTION NEEDED

"breeds at risk" from

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

- no protection provided - unlike the numerically scarce rare breeds

- FMD illustrated vulnerability to disease

- low incidence of ARR prion allele, high proportion of type 3 (neither ARR nor VRQ)

- recognised regional significance for economy, culture and environment

- readily definable group, geographically concentrated

- immense local "word-of-mouth" knowledge of the breeds, very little as yet formalised

Heritage Sheep Breeds across Europe

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

A new trans-national Targeted Action

SHEEP

Sheep Heritage: European Excellence and Protection

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

Targeted Action (73% of budget; Community contribution 50%)

selection criteria:- relevance to objective- technical quality- ability to carry out action- European added-value

Concerted Action (9% of budget; Community contribution 80%)

Accompanying Action (8% of budget; Community contribution 80%)

actions promoting the ex situ and in situ conservation, characterisation, collection

and utilisation of genetic resources

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

- diversification of production- improved product quality- sustainable management- improved quality of the environment- identification of products for new uses/markets

preference given to the use of genetic resources for:

Heritage Sheep Breeds - economic and environmental sustainability of the regions and promotion of diversity

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

SHEEP: a proposed trans-national programme:

- builds on the foundation established through the ERFP Scoping Study and the ECONOGENE Framework 5 activities;

- combines in situ conservation and socio-economic studies with ex situ cryoconservation;

- establishes a European network and database in conformity with DADIS, EFABIS;

- supports enhancement of profitability of local breeds, linking the Heritage Breeds with: products, environmental value, contribution to rural cultural diversity, development and tourism

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

SHEEP: a proposed trans-national programme:

- integrates local and regional knowledge with ERFP national co-ordinators, academic and technical specialists;

- a ‘flagship’ programme, extending existing national activities into a trans-national action: to utilise knowledge and experience of Heritage Sheep Breeds, their value and their products to regions across Europe;

- establishes a protosystem of trans-national guidelines and framework for cryoconservation that can subsequently be applied across more member states.

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

The SHEEP programme:

- highly focussed and highly effective to ensure success within the constraints of available funding

- proposed initial Working Group of 6 nations (each with relevant experience): France, Greece, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Germany and the UK

- establish the guidelines and framework rapidly as a foundation for bringing in additional nations

• consists of ERFP national coordinators, ECONGENE specialists, management team representatives, international experts for the

programme

• chaired by UK ERFP national coordinator

- provides links to wider academic and agricultural communities and national policy makers; provides advice and reviews progress annually; ensures integration with

international initiatives

Programme advisory board

• consists of representatives of core countries, specialists for each work- package

• chaired by SHEEP programme coordinator

European working group

- coodinates field studies, desk studies and database across Europe to ensure milestones and deliverables are met; coordinate trans -

nationally through receiving updates from local management teams

Local management teams- coordinates at grass- root level; provides information on local breeds

and related issues – products, value to the environment, culture and diversification

• consists of local representatives, breed societies, technical experts; one team/country or group of member states

• chaired by EFRP Coordinator / their representative

annual meetings

quarterlymeetings

regular meetings

as required

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

The SHEEP programme:

Suggested work-packages

1 database production and integration

2 standardisation of protocols and health regulation issues

3 breed characterisation and socio-economic analyses

4 ex situ cryoconservation and practical genebanking

5 in situ conservation work and design of marketing strategies

6 management and co-ordination

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

The SHEEP Programme

Workpackage 1: Database production and integration with existing frameworks

Involvement of an IT specialist, building on work already started in the scoping study

The database will include fields and ontology to ensure full integration with the on-going EFAB.IS database and future national databases

Costings will include hardware, maintenance and development work

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

The SHEEP Programme

Workpackage 2: Protocol and health issues

Currently, there are no common health or quality control standards for sheep semen collection across Europe. Given that sheep diseases and prevalences vary in each country, it is imperative that semen is collected, transported and stored using a common set of guidelines to ensure appropriate containment and elimination of the risk of disease spread.

The scoping study is collecting information on national guidelines as well as EU regulations

These data will provide the foundation for Workpackage 2

Costings will include a desk-based study

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

The SHEEP Programme

Workpackage 3:Heritage Breed characterisation and socio-economic information

Characterisation and breed information across European countries has already started in the scoping study

The work will build on this preliminary characterisation, expanding breed information to include pedigrees of selected rams, etc; socio-economic information will be collected for the regions in which the Heritage Breeds are based, including the role of the breed in the rural communities; these data sets will be linked to GIS

Costing will include desk-based study and travel

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

The SHEEP Programme

Workpackage 4: ex situ cryoconservation and practical genebanking

This forms the heart and purpose of the project: ex situ conservation of Heritage Sheep Breeds across Europe

The work will include the taking and freezing of semen, blood and other tissue samples to ensure protection of the breeds and the availability of DNA samples for future molecular screening of disease and/or traits of value

Costings will include collection, equipment and maintenance;samples will be stored in duplicate at separate sites

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

The SHEEP Programme

Workpackage 5: In situ conservation programme and marketing work.

The market potential and utility of each Heritage Breed and their various products will be analysed for regional, national and international value; opportunities will be identified to increase the breeds’ economic viability

Costs will include desk-based study and travel

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

The SHEEP Programme

Workpackage 6: Organisation and management of the project.

Local Management Teams will be responsible for grass-root level work nationally, gaining and co-ordinating information on local issues and breeds and interacting with breed societies for the collection of sheep tissue samples and semen

A European Working Group will ensure continuity across different member states, review pan-European progress quarterly and coodinate activities to ensure local milestones and deliverables are met

A Programme Advisory Board provides links to wider scientific communities and national policy makers; provides advice and reviews progress annually; ensures integration with other international initiatives

Overall management of the project will be the responsibility of the UK and The Sheep Trust who have completed the foundation work for the proposal and are leading the ERFP scoping study.

The Sheep Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee. Company Number 4284999, Charity Number 1094514. Registered office University of York, PO Box 373, York, YO10 5YW.

A new trans-national Targeted Action

SHEEP

Sheep Heritage: European Excellence and Protection