OLDS, Alta. – An average price of $578 made for the strongest sale ever for the Western Suffolk Sire Reference program.
Held June 28 in Olds, overall improved ram prices were a boost for a beleaguered industry still recovering from last year’s drought in Alberta and the recent loss of export markets caused by Canada’s bovine spongiform encephalopathy case.
The high seller was a ram lamb consigned by Robby Fyn of Linden, Alta., which sold to Ohio buyer Murray Harold for $1,475.
The ram must stay in Canada until the United States lifts its ban on ruminant exports caused by a single case of BSE May 20.
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“It better open soon,” said Fyn after the sale. He raises 360 ewes with his wife, Phyllis, and this was the first time he had entered the sire performance program.
“I was really honoured to join.”
The program has been running for six years and comprises Suffolk breeders working to improve their breeding stock. The main goal is to improve lean meat growth in lambs by using high performing and proven sires.
The program has posted year over year improvements, said co-ordinator Cathy Gallavan of Sundre, Alta.
“We’re going for more lean meat on the sheep without the extra fat because consumers don’t want that fat,” she said.
When the program began in 1996, 100 was established as the index for an average ram. This year’s top lamb came from Walter and Delilah Strand of Lethbridge and sold for $1,425.
Born this year, it indexed 182, combining high performance in weight gain, muscle and fat depth as well as lean and fat weights.
Producers who enter rams in the program breed 15 ewes to one of two reference sires, which are rams chosen by performance group members because of superior growth and carcass characteristics.
Program rams are weighed and their fat and muscle depth are measured by ultrasound on a regular schedule. Pedigree information is also submitted for further data analysis to develop a lean growth index.
Analysis is provided with a special formula that calculates expected progeny difference data and growth performance for the rams and their relatives. An EPD is considered the best way to measure superior genetic stock for specific traits like muscle and fat depth.
The program has measurements on nearly 3,200 lambs that were weighed and tested with ultrasound since 1996.
Before the sale, a veterinarian examines the animals for soundness and they are blood tested for ovine progressive pneumonia and brucella ovis, two serious sheep diseases.
