Sheep Ireland’s Elite €uro-Star Multi-Breed Ram sale will take place on Saturday, August 28th 2021 at 11:30 am in Kilkenny Mart.
Entry Criteria
As usual, there will be entry criteria for each ram entering this sale. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, some aspects of the sale entry criteria have been updated.
- €uroStar Index & Accuracy % - All rams must have five €uroStars for either the Replacement or Terminal index with an adjoining accuracy (Acc) % must be 50% or higher at the time of catalogue printing. It should be noted that genotyping animals will increase accuracy by 15 to 20%, so rams that have not yet received their genomic evaluation can expect a rise in their index accuracy once they do.
- Data Quality Index (DQI) – Breeders wishing to enter sheep in the sale must have a flock DQI of 70% or higher on the day of the final catalogue being generated. Your DQI score is available on your online account on www.sheep.ie.
- Flock Linkage Status – Flocks that wish to enter the sale must be genetically linked in 2021. Unlinked flocks will not be allowed to enter the sale. You can check you flock linkage status by visiting your €uro-star profile through your online account.
- Ram Inspection – All rams must be physically correct, similar to any breed society sale. Sheep Ireland will carry out a thorough ram inspection on all rams upon entry to the sale. Any sheep deemed to be physically incorrect will be rejected immediately.
- Genotyped – All rams entered in the sale must be genotyped via the Sheep Ireland genomic service.
- Sire Verified – All rams must be sire verified. All stock rams were genotyped for 2021 so this should not be an issue for the majority of rams. If there is a sire mismatch and a sire is removed, the animal must have a new genotyped sire assigned to be eligible for the sale.
- Dam Assigned – Rams do not need to be dam verified; however, they must have a dam assigned, meaning if a ram has its dam removed due to genotyping and another dam is not assigned, the ram is not eligible for entry to the sale.
Genotyping precautions
Due to the possibility of a ram having a sire or dam changed and/or having a change in €uroStar values following genotyping, we would advise each breeder to genotype additional rams as substitutes well in advance of the sale. It can take up to 1 month from the ram’s tissue sample arriving in the lab to the ram having a genomic evaluation, so this process cannot be completed at short notice. We advised breeders in previous communications that potential rams for the sale should be genotype sampled no later than June 15th to allow sufficient time for rams to be resampled in the event of the sample failing the quality test at the lab. If a breeder has not yet genotype sampled rams for the sale, there is still time to do so but there would not be sufficient time to resample a ram if there is a sample issue.
Entries & Sale order
Breeders are permitted to enter four rams from each breed in their flock. This year, flocks with over 50 ewes lambed of the same breed are allowed to enter a fifth ram for that breed. If Covid-19 restrictions remain at a high level, the number of entries could be revised down ahead of the sale, but this will be made clear to breeders in advance of the sale. The sale will be run on a breed-by-breed basis, and as in 2020 there will be one ballot per breed. There will be two rings in operation on the day, with the order that breeds enter the ring and the ring they go through being determined once all the entries have been received.
Deadline for Entries
The deadline for sale entries is Monday August 16th with promotion of the provisional sales catalogue from Wednesday, August 18th. All entries must be made via email to [email protected] in the following format:
- Breeder Name:
- Flock Designator:
- Willing to transport rams (Y/N) (See note below)
- Ram Breed
- Ram NSIS Number/Pedigree ID
- Ram Comment (max 200 characters)
Substitutes
We will be accepting subs until 1 pm on Monday, August 23rd by emailing [email protected] and seeking confirmation of receipt or calling 0238820451. No substitutes will be accepted after this deadline. The final sale catalogue will be based on the genomic evaluation carried out on Tuesday, August 24th. All rams must meet the sale entry criteria based on this evaluation run.
Non-attendance on the day of the sale
Any breeder that enters rams into the sale and subsequently can’t attend the sale should contact Sheep Ireland before the subs deadline of Monday 23rd to allow us to withdraw animals from the official sales catalogue. Where rams are catalogued for sale and breeders do not present rams on the day, breeders will be refused entry to the sale in 2022.
Pictures & Videos
Each year we receive pictures and videos from breeders which we use to promote the sale and it is also an excellent way to advertise your ram(s) before the sale. If you are interested in sending us in a pictures or videos, we may put it up on social media with your name and the details of the ram to promote this sale. Some of the pictures sent in from breeders from 2020 were viewed over 3,000 times on Facebook before the sale. If interested, please forward pictures to [email protected] titled Ram Pic or Whatsapp them along with the ram’s ID to (086 792 5679).
Transporting Rams to new owners
This sale will also be online, with the potential for online bidding. To facilitate this, we would ask that any breeder who is attending the sale and would be willing to transport rams back to their farm (or locality) for pick up by the new owner from their area to say so when entering rams. This could result in more rams being sold and therefore making it a better sale for all. It will be stressed to the buyer that the responsibility and risk will go to them from the drop of the hammer, and the person transporting the ram(s) cannot be held accountable for disease, injury or death of a ram. More information will be circulated to those that sign up to the service.
If you have any questions or queries on the sale, please contact us on 023-8820451 or e-mail us at [email protected]