BASCO
Beef and Sheep Data – future secured in UK
17/10/05
Two
major players in the livestock industry have joined
forces with a recently created UK livestock database – which
has been awarded nearly £1/2
million government backing.
MLC Signet has signed up a long term agreement with
BASCO Data Ltd., whereby the industry owned database
will be the platform for carrying all Signet’s
performance and pedigree records.
Professor Geoff Simm
 |
The Genetic Evaluations for all Signet’s breeding
services will, with effect from 2006, be carried
out by SAC’s Genetic Evaluation Unit, based
in Edinburgh and led by Professor Geoff Simm.
BASCO was created as a joint venture by the Limousin
Cattle and Suffolk and Texel Sheep Societies, initially
to replace their existing pedigree data bases. The
recent award of a £453,700 grant - the biggest
ADS (Agricultural Development Scheme) grant ever
awarded to the beef and sheep breeding sectors will
mean that pedigree data, performance records and
health information will be held on a single database
for the very first time in the UK.
Steve McLean
 |
BASCO’s business manager, Steven McLean says
he is delighted with the grant: “This enables
us to provide to the whole of the beef and sheep
sectors in the UK and beyond with the world’s
most sophisticated livestock data base, written on
the GT-X platform and designed as a multi-user, multi-hit,
web enabled application.
He continues: “DEFRA’s backing allows
us to enhance our basic data-base, delivered to our
5,500 members last year. It is also the catalyst
for the integration of performance recording into
an ‘industry owned’ structure, fast forwarding
the delivery of a much more sophisticated performance
package. We are now in a position to invite all UK
based sheep and beef breed Societies to take advantage
of BASCO’s exciting developments.”
Delivery of the BASCO system is by British Company,
Graham Technology, the Glasgow based suppliers of
futuristic data systems which power Egg online banking
and Argos to name but two household names.
Dr Duncan Pullar
 |
MLC’s Beef and Sheep Industry Development Manager,
Dr Duncan Pullar, acknowledges: “We are delighted
to be working closely with BASCO Data and SAC. Co-operation
will reduce costs and paperwork long term for all
sectors of the industry, at the same time as providing
a state-of-the-art database.
“Using a single source of pedigree and performance
information will provide pedigree and commercial
producers with fast access to reliable information.
There is no doubt future profitability of beef and
sheep businesses will depend on selecting the right
animals for the job. BASCO Data will be a very valuable
tool to identify breeding requisites, unlocking marketing
power and ultimately profitability,” adds Dr
Pullar.
Head of SAC's Sustainable Livestock Systems Group,
Professor Geoff Simm says, "With genetic evaluations
for beef, sheep and dairy all being consolidated
into one centre of excellence in Edinburgh, and beef
and sheep records being stored in the same database,
the UK breeding industry is equipping itself to face
the increasing demands for recording in the future.
Professor Bill McKelvey
 |
"The future will see a need to record many
more traits such as those involved in health, fertility,
product quality and welfare. BASCO is to be congratulated
in making this all possible and SAC look forward
to contributing to its future success and the farmers
it serves.
Professor Bill McKelvey, Chief Executive of SAC,
welcomed the development. He says “SAC
is pleased to be involved in this major new industry
initiative. We see this as a stepping stone which
will enable the industry to take greater control
over its future and create a platform that allows
it to respond to market signals more quickly. Significantly,
this is a UK driven performance recording system,
using UK animal models , designed for UK livestock
producers "
ADS grant set to progress BASCO
BASCO has been successful in obtaining an ADS grant
from DEFRA of £450,000
this will enable BASCO data-base to be enhanced over a three year term. It is
believed that this is the single largest grant given to the beef and sheep sectors
in England.
MLC Signet has agreed a seven year contract with BASCO under which the BASCO
database will be used to store all Signet’s performance data.
BASCO is a web-enabled database, founded by the Texel Sheep Society together
with the Suffolk Sheep and British Limousin Cattle Societies. It is accessed
both by office users and members over a secure on-line network. The technology
being utilised has significantly increased administration efficiency within the
individual Society Offices and over time, with increased member interaction,
will enable the Societies to become more cost effective.
Texel members who have the BASCO disk have the choice to:
- Fill in your
birth notifications, registrations and annual returns in the normal way,
via paper and post
- Or fill in the forms over the
Internet on-line
The information you have submitted
is only released to the flock book when The
Society has validated it.
- You are invoiced
- You have paid your invoice
- What if I don’t
have a computer?
Don’t worry you can continue to send
you pedigree registrations in to the Society office,
as you always have done.
- What if I register
something incorrectly?
Firstly you are not registering; you notify by
submitting the relevant information. Only the office
can register data, once they have validated your
information.
- Can I change a notification I
have made online?
Not online, you have to telephone, write, e-mail
or phone your Society office.
- Can I print off
pedigree certificates?
No, only the Society Office issues pedigree certificates. However you are
able to print off individual extended pedigrees of any registered animals.
- Can the extended pedigree include other information?
Yes for example flock health status; genotype, plus performance information,
how many times that animal has been sold and for how much (should
you wish this to be disclosed).
- How many generations will the extended
pedigree have?
It will be a five -generation pedigree.
- Will anyone on the Internet be able to see my flock details?
No, in the formative stages the BASCO data-base will only be accessible
to members of the three founder societies with their personal pin
numbers
- Will all members see all my data?
No they will only be able to see the information
that is currently available in the flock book.
Only you will be able to access your personal
records.
- How much will BASCO data cost me?
Nothing. It is free to all members within the
three shareholding Societies.
News Release 19/11/2004
BASCO – launches with an eye to the
future
 |
| Guests and journalists 135m (443ft) in
the air, at the launch of BASCO - the
database with "an eye to the future." |
Beef and sheep recording in the UK stepped into a
new era today with the launch of
BASCO Data Ltd (Beef & Sheep Company).
The London Eye was the futuristic venue for the launch
of BASCO Data, which has already loaded 1.5 million
animal records from three founder breed Societies
onto a web-enabled database. This has established
the Limousin Cattle and Texel and Suffolk sheep as
leading terminal sire societies with “an eye
to the future.”
Speaking at the launch Sonia Phippard, DEFRA’s
Director of Sustainable Agriculture and Livestock
Products (SALP) praised the initiative’s collaborative
approach: “I am sure that the web-enabled database
that BASCO has developed will become a major tool
in support of those that are keen to take their sheep
and cattle breeding forward to support commercial
producers in the challenge that they will undoubtedly
face post CAP reform.”
Sonia Phippard highlighted DEFRA’s commitment
to assisting the livestock sector to adjust to the
new demands created by the need to farm in an environmentally
and socially sustainable way, while making a living. “This
inevitably means the breeding objectives for our
main sheep and beef breeds will need to be adapted
to ensure that they are producing what the market
wants in an environmentally sustainable way.
“
We are keen to see the particular needs of theUK
industry and rural environment being met by home
based genetic
recording and evaluation systems. We have a rich
heritage in livestock breeding in this country, it
is important that we remain at the forefront and
ensure thatUKlivestock production remains competitive
in the future.”
It was Dr Mike Coffey of the SAC’s (Scottish Agricultural
College) initial assessment of the needs of the breed
societies
which led to the formation of BASCO. “The collaborative
approach has resulted in an infinitely superior system – light
years ahead of anything affordable by an individual
breed Society. We searched the world for the right
system, our pre-requisites included BASCO ownership
and control of the intellectual property, which in
effect means UK ownership and control.
Dr Coffey continues: “For the 5,500 members
of the three Societies we have a secure web-enabled
pedigree database. However BASCO will go much further
and rapidly expand to include performance data and
health data, with direct links, for example to the
BCMS and the NSP. It is an objective of BASCO to
improve the use of information to enable the production
of market facing meat.”
Already MLC recording subsidiary, Signet, has indicated
that it soon wishes to use the system to handle all
its own data. Says Dr Duncan Pullar, of MLC: “We
are delighted to be part of this exciting and revolutionaryUKdevelopment.
The database will open links between pedigree and
commercial data, reducing industry costs while providing
quality customer service through interactivity and
flexibility.”
Following the global search, the database was supplied
by Glasgow based Graham Technology – the brainpower
behind Egg Banking and Argos Online. GT’s project
manager explains: “Creating IT solutions is
about creating a system which minimises inputs and
maximises outputs of information – so that
pedigree and commercial producers can present animals
more closely aligned to the markets needs, from genetic
traceability to performance accountability. The system
has limitless horizons:”
A point Dr Coffey takes up: “as increasingly
sophisticated genetic tools become available, the
BASCO database will be ideally placed to exploit
them – it’s keeping an eye to the future.
The system will now be made available to all beef
and sheep Societies in the UK. - already a number
have made their interest clear in it. |
