SONORA – Despite the record high prices being paid for lambs nowadays, prices were down slightly on the 16 rams sold at auction following the completion of this year’s Annual Ram Performance Test. The test was held at the Texas AgriLife Research Station at Sonora on March 18.
“The rams sold for an average of $794 per head, which was down slightly from last year’s average of $802 per head, but considerably higher than 2009’s $734.52 average,” said test coordinator, Dr. Dan Waldron, AgriLife Research geneticist at San Angelo.
“The high-selling ram was TAES 8687 from Texas AgriLife Research,” Waldron said. “He sold to the Sawyer Ranch of Sonora for $2,200. And this year’s high-indexing ram was 8721, also from Texas AgriLife Research. He sold for $700 to Bill Karnes of Sonora.
“It’s interesting to note that the three highest-selling rams were all sired by TAES 8287, who is currently the highest-ranked ram for fineness on the 2011 sire summary, which was produced from several years of test records,” he said. “That tells me that the generations of testing can produce predictable differences in the next lamb crop. The investments that breeders have made since the first test in 1948 are continuing to have an impact in the sheep industry in Texas and the United States.”
Karnes and the Sawyer ranch were both volume buyers, as was Mark White of San Angelo. The Sawyer ranch purchased five head totaling $7,400; Karnes paid $1,500 for three head; and White bought three head for $1,450.
The animals on the test come from some of the world’s top flocks in terms of rate of gain and desirable fleece characteristics, according to Waldron. The test lasts for 140 days and is traditionally followed by an educational field day and sale conducted in cooperation with the Texas AgriLife Extension Service.
For more information on the Annual Ram Performance Test, pictures of the top indexing and selling animals, and a complete listing of test and sale results go to: http://safiles.tamu.edu/genetics/ramtest.htm or to http://sanangelo.tamu.edu
and click on the “Performance Tests” link.
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