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LambPlus Sale Criteria 2020

Entry Criteria

As usual, there will be entry criteria for each ram entering this sale. In light of the current Covid-19 situation, the entry criteria have not increased this year as they have done for the last number of years:

  • EuroStars & accuracy % – All rams must have five EuroStars for either the Replacement or Terminal index. In conjunction with this five €uroStars requirement, the adjoining accuracy (Acc) % must be 35% or higher at the time of catalogue printing. Check your EuroStar report for the most up to date EuroStars results.
  • Data Quality Index (DQI) – Breeders wishing to enter sheep in the sale must have a flock DQI of 70% or higher. Your DQI score is available on your online account at www.sheep.ie.
  • Flock Linkage Status – Flocks that wish to enter the sale must be genetically linked in 2020. Unlinked flocks will not be allowed to enter the sale. You can check you flock linkage status by visiting your EuroStar 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 the day and will inspect all rams upon entry to the sale. Any sheep which in our opinion are unfit for breeding will be rejected immediately.
  • Muscle & Fat scanning – We cancelled Muscle and Fat scanning due to Covid-19 travel restrictions in 2020, but it remains a core element of the breed improvement program. Therefore, all breeders entering the sale in 2020 must-have Muscle & Fat scanned a proportion of their lambs in 2019. If you did not Muscle and Fat Scan in 2019 and would like to enter the sale in 2020, there is an alternative option.  If all the rams entered into the sale are fully parentage verified and still meet the criteria above after the final genomic evaluation, they will also be eligible. Flocks availing of this option should order their genotypes ASAP or by July 12th, and return the collected samples by July 27th. For an animal to be parentage verified, both of its parents must also be successfully genotyped. We would also recommend genotyping more than four rams, as their EuroStars may change once the animal becomes genomically tested. If multiple rams get tested, the greater the chance four rams will remain eligible for the sale.
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Entries & Sale order

Breeders are permitted to enter four rams from each breed in their flock. If tighter Covid-19 restrictions return, this number could be revised down ahead of the sale.

The sale will be run on a breed by breed basis, and each breed will have two ballots. There will be two rings in operation on the day. The order breeds enter the ring, and the ring they go through will be determined once all the entries for the sale have been received.

Deadline for Entries

Please find the sale entry form here. Deadline for entries is Monday August 10th. Promotion of the provisional sales catalogue will happen from Wednesday, August 12th.

 

Substitutes                                                 

We will be accepting subs until 1 pm on Monday, August 17th 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 18th. 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 17th to allow us to withdraw animals from the official sales catalogue. No entry fee is required for this sale however where rams are catalogued for sale and breeders do not present rams on the day, breeders will be refused entry to the sale in 2021.

Pictures

We are always looking for pictures of rams, and this would be an excellent way to advertise your ram(s) before the sale. If you are interested in sending us in a picture, 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 2019 were viewed over 3,000 times on Facebook before the sale. If interested, please forward pictures to [email protected] titled Ram Pic or Whatsapp then 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 for pick up by the new owner from their area to tick the box in the entry form. This could result in more rams being sold and therefore making it a better sale for you as well. 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].

You can find the entry form by clicking here.