SMALL changes can make big differences and sheep farmers in the North are being offered the chance to be at the forefront of those changes.

The Northern Uplands Sheep Strategy is looking for two demonstration farms to illustrate best practice and results from applying modern breeding and flock management techniques.

These include performance recording, artificial insemination, gross margin benchmarking, scrapie genotyping, faecal egg counting, feed/forage analysis and blood profiling.

In recognition of the farmers' commitment to providing this service, the costs of all activities are supported by the strategy and an annual payment is also made to each farm.

NUSS guidance group chairman, Carl Stephenson, said: "This is an ideal opportunity for a forward-looking farm to be involved in up-to-the-minute techniques and technologies, using small changes to make big differences.

"The farms are not required to be 'showcase' units, although they must be representative of the area they are in. Ideally, they will run a pure-bred Swaledale flock and/or a pure-bred Blue-faced Leicester flock, perhaps alongside larger crossbred flocks.

"Flocks wholly or partly re-stocking after foot-and-mouth would be very welcome."

A meeting will be held in May to explain the srategy fully and the role that the demonstration farms play. Any farmer wishing to register interest and reserve a seat, should contact Alison Nicol, NUSS co-ordinator, on 07885 255621 by April 30.

The Northern Uplands Sheep Strategy is a partnership for breeding improvement of all hill and longwool breeds between the North of England Mule Sheep Association, Northern Uplands Moorland Regeneration Project, Defra and the Meat and Livestock Commission. Its objective is to increase the number of lambs meeting market specifications