The inaugural Lambplus class at the NSBA Red Mills Championships 2019 took place on Saturday 8th June. The purpose of this class was to showcase 5 star rams to potential commercial purchasers who hailed from all over the country. The criteria set out for entries to this class was breeders who muscle and fat scanned their lambs in 2018/2019,  who had a DQI of greater than 70% on June 5th and had 5 Stars on the Terminal or Replacement index. Judging the class on the day was Mr Simon Mosse and Mr Brian Nicholson, who done a fantastic job and after in-depth deliberation reached a decision on the winner of this elite class. The winner was Mr Jim and Frampton Jeffery. The judges made their decision not based on the genetic evaluation of this animal alone, but on its physical attributes also. Upon inspection physical checks on areas such as teeth, feet and legs, head, neck and shoulders and confirmation were looked at. The purpose of this class was to celebrate the Irish breeders and sheep that are helping to create a more profitable and sustainable industry by driving the rate of genetic gain in the right direction. Almost 50% of performance data used in genetic evaluations comes from commercial farms such farms such as CPT, Teagasc Better Farms, Ovidata and agricultural colleges around the country. This event held in Cillin Hill, Kilkenny, was an opportunity for commercial farmers to come and have a look at what genetically elite rams is on the market ahead of the 2019 breeding season.

There was a wide variety of breeds entered including; Charollais, Rouge de l’Ouest, Suffolk, Texel and Vendeen. Brian and Simon had placed animals from 1st to 5th (winning breeders follows on consecutive order ); Jim and Frampton Jeffery, Richard Allen, Sean O’Connor, Paul O’Gorman, Ciaran Coughlan. The prize fund was issues for 1st at €300, 2nd place at €200 and 3rd place at €100.

Please download the catalogue of the rams entered in the LambPlus Interbreed Class here.