Cloud-Lines is not just about breed societies. Leading livestock & rare-breed consultant, Ruth Dalton, uses Cloud-Lines as the tool of choice when conducting critical breed planning & genetic diversity analyses for her clients. Ruth spent a decade working for the Rare Breed Survival Trust, before her extensive consultancy work, so has a vast wealth of experience in rare & native breeds and the best techniques to ensure a sustainable and diverse population.
Ruth’s most recent client has been the Manx Loaghtan Sheep Breeders’ Group, who represent the interests of this “At Risk” native rare breed. Native to the Isle of Man, but kept by breeders across the British Isles, this important primitive sheep breed has been brought back from the brink of extinction in the 1950s. The work to conserve a rare breed, however, is never done. As new methods and tools emerge, groups like the MLSBG have been keen to embrace them for the future benefit of their breed.
Ruth has been able to use the advanced metrics and tools built-in to Cloud-Lines – such as our innovative “Stud Advisor” – to advise on the best possible matings within the breed, to ensure the maximum possible genetic diversity. This algorithm output is based on a traffic light system with red matings being undesirable, and with amber and green matings increasingly desirable. These Cloud-Lines tools will enable the MLSBG to coordinate future breeding programmes with their members, safe in the knowledge that the Cloud-Lines system is continually guiding them in the best direction for genetic diversity within the breed. Cloud-Lines also makes it very easy to import & export data, making it perfect for analysis of these large data sets.
Further conservation tools and breed population reporting features will be added later in 2021, making Cloud-Lines totally unsurpassed in the market.
Ruth Dalton: https://www.ruthdalton.co.uk/
Manx Loaghtan Sheep: http://www.manxloaghtansheep.com/