OLDS, Alta. – The ninth annual western super sire event has grown from a small contingent of performance-tested Suffolk rams offered for sale to a multi-breed program of high end ram lambs.
This year’s sale on July 1 in Olds saw 41 rams sold for an average price of $530.
The high seller was an Ile de France ram from Ian and Deb Clark of Bentley, Alta. It sold for $2,000 and is going to Forsyth Ranch Ltd., in Tompkins, Sask.
This breed is large, smooth-bodied and polled. Originally from France, it is known for high growth rate and high fertility. It is often used as a terminal sire and can breed out of season producing three sets of lambs in two years.
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Another high seller was a Charolais ram from Dan Sinclair of Bowden, Alta. Keith Bjorgum of Camrose, Alta., bought it for $1,100.
The high selling Suffolk went for $920 from Strand Suffolks at Lethbridge. OC Flock Management of Bowden purchased it on behalf of a Chilean group that intends to place the ram in a semen collection program.
The top indexing ram of the sale was also from Strand Suffolks and sold for $700 to W.H. Lingley of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.
Since the performance program started in 1996, nearly 4,000 rams have been measured and recorded.
All lambs in the program must have a lean growth index that exceeds the average for the program in the year the animal was born. The lean index must exceed 140.
The goal is to produce more lean meat and less fat per carcass. The lean growth index is used to find the best animals that provide the greatest increase in lean weight with the least increase in fat. The index shows how much greater these animals are over the average of a rating of 100. The lambs in this program averaged a 157 rating.
Ultrasound is used to assess carcass composition measuring muscle depth and the loin eye muscle. This information is used to calculate expected progeny differences, which estimate the difference between the performance of an animal’s offspring and the performance of an average animal in the same population.
A positive EPD means the offspring will have measurements larger than average, while negative means it will be smaller than the average.
For example, a ram with a negative EPD for fat depth will produce lambs that are leaner than average.
