LambPlus Multibreed ram sale

• The deadline for entries for this sale is Monday 15th August. Substitutes will be allowed up until Monday 22nd August at which point the final sales catalogue will go to print. No substitutes will be allowed after this date. These dates will be strictly enforced.
• Our final sales catalogue will be based on the genetic evaluation run of 22nd Monday. All entries must meet the sale entry criteria based on this evaluation run. This sale will hopefully continue to attract a large number of commercial sheep farmers as it has for the past number of years. The sale itself takes place in Tullamore mart on Saturday 27th August.

RamPlus

• Progress with the RamPlus pilot for 2016 continues this week. A number of the Texel rams available to breeders for AI this year will be on show at the Texel Premier sale in Blessington this Saturday (13th August). These rams are high index, high accuracy% bloodlines which are available to all breeders using AI this season.
• The benefits of using such semen are many. Breeder benefits include access to high index rams which will breed progeny that will undoubtedly be of interest to commercial sheep farmers in 2017/18. Improving flock linkage will be another major benefit. The group of breeders that make the decision to use these rams will ensure that their flocks are very well linked to other Texel flocks. Being well linked is critical to maximise the accuracy of genetic evaluations being provided for any flock.
• Apart from LambPlus Texel breeders, the main beneficiaries will be commercial sheep farmers who will have greater access to well proven, high index CPT sires. Irelands future rate of genetic gain is directly correlated to the use of high index, high accuracy% rams so our target going forward will be for more pedigree ram breeders to use these types of sires. The industry as a whole will benefit hugely.