Scotland to be part of €2 million EU SheepNet

A €2 million European Union (EU) project to increase lamb survival rates, funded under Horizon 2020, has been announced.

Scottish farmers and researchers will work with people in Spain, Romania, Italy, France, Ireland  and Turkey to reduce lamb deaths.

Between 2 to 6 million lambs in the UK die every year before they are three days old.[1] 

The new project, known as SheepNet, will speed up the process of finding solutions to this problem by sharing scientific and practical knowledge between researchers, farmers and advisors across Europe.   

The SRUC is one of seven partners involved in the project.

Dr Claire Morgan-Davies, from SRUC, said:

"This new network is really about farmers-driven innovation to improve sheep productivity. It will establish durable exchange of scientific and practical knowledge among researchers, farmers and advisors across Europe."

This project builds on the work that is already being done in Scotland to improve lamb survival. The Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund is investing £81,000 in the Live Lambs project where farmers, vets, researchers and advisors come together to think of new ways to increase lamb survival.

The Knowledge Transfer and Innovation Fund is linked with agricultural European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI). Projects they fund share information about their work on the EIP-AGRI website, making it easy to find out about other projects in the EU which are working on similar areas. This can help people find the partners they need to bid for Horizon 2020 funding.

More information about the SheepNet project can be found on the Horizon 2020 website.

For more information about the Live Lambs project in Scotland visit the SRUC website.