Weekly Update: 19/08/16

Belclare RamPlus

On Monday (15th August) a number of Belclare breeders came together from around Ireland to AI some of their ewes with semen from high index and high accuracy% rams. Fresh semen was used on the day to AI the ewes. Hopefully conception rates will be good and this programme can be grown next year. This season was run on a pilot basis and many lessons have been learned along the way. This will serve to greatly improve the programme for next year allowing us to encourage more breeders to avail of this great opportunity to use some of the highest index rams from within the breed.

Texel RamPlus

At the Texel Premier sale last Saturday (13th August ) three of the rams being made available to Texel breeders for frozen semen AI this season were on display. These rams are now currently in the AI station where semen is being collected and frozen for use across Irish Texel flocks. Similar to the Belclare RamPlus project, access to this Texel semen affords Irish breeders a fantastic opportunity to gain access to high index, high accuracy% Texel genetics. Letters have been circulated to all Texel breeders in relation to the project and this semen will be available through a number of different AI service providers. Any breeder that is interested in using this semen should contact Sheep Ireland as soon as possible.

Sheep Ireland elite multi-breed ram sale

  • A provisional sales catalogue for this sale is now available on the Sheep Ireland website or by clicking here. This is a provisional catalogue as we will be accepting substitute entries up until Monday 22nd August. We will issue the final catalogue on Tuesday 23rd August. No further changes to the catalogue will take place after this point and no further substitutions will be facilitated.
  • All sale entries will have to meet the sale entry criteria based on the genetic evaluation of Monday 22nd August.
  • Some images below from the Belclare RamPlus AI from the farm of John Renehan, Johnstown, Co. Kilkenny.
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