Sale immediately follows Texas Sheep and Goat Expo on Aug. 18
Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. Reid Redden, 325-653-4576, reid.redden@ag.tamu.edu
SAN ANGELO – Plans are finalized and consignment numbers are up for the Texas A&M AgriLife Texas Sheep and Goat Performance Sale Aug. 18 immediately after the Texas Sheep and Goat Expo, organizers said.
The expo, conducted by Texas A&M AgriLife, and billed as the state’s premier sheep and goat educational event, is set Aug. 17-18 at the First Community Spur Arena in San Angelo. The sale will conclude the expo and is tentatively set for 4 p.m.
“This performance sale is to showcase new technology that gives reliable, accurate predictions of an animal’s value as a breeding animal back to the commercial industry,” said Dr. Reid Redden, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service state sheep and goat specialist at San Angelo.
Redden said breeders submit critical data such as birth type, growth rate and parasite resistance to the National Sheep Improvement Program to find how their animals rank within their respective breeds.
“The submitted data is put into software that goes into sophisticated computer technology to produce estimated breeding values for an array of traits,” Redden said.
New this year to the sale, which is open to any performance-tested sheep or goat breed, are consignments of a number of ewe lambs and yearlings in addition to rams, he said.
“We have 30 Katahdin sheep, 12 Rambouillet sheep, eight Dorper sheep and two Kiko goats,” Redden said. “We’re not promoting any breed in particular, but rather the performance-based technology, because its use will produce more productive and more profitable animals for Texas sheep and goat raisers.”
The sale ends two full days of Texas A&M AgriLife sheep and goat educational activities that start Aug. 17 with the 45th annual Sheep and Goat Field Day from 8-11:30 a.m. at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center on U.S. Highway 87 north of San Angelo.
Activities will then move to the 1st Community Federal Credit Union Spur Arena, 4722 Grape Creek Road on the San Angelo Fairgrounds, for the Texas Sheep and Goat Expo. The expo starts immediately following the field day and will run from noon-8:30 p.m. Aug. 17 and from 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Aug. 18, followed by the sale, which will conclude the two days of activities.
The center field day is free and open to the public.
Expo adult registration is $40, youth registration is $15. The fees include all meals, snacks and educational materials associated with the event. Online registration for the expo ends Aug. 14, though registration will still be available at the center field day and again at the door for the expo.
For more information on the sale, contact Redden at 325-653-4576, Reid.Redden@ag.tamu.edu.
For more information on the center field day, contact Dr. John Walker, Texas A&M AgriLife Research center director at San Angelo at 325-653-4576, j-walker@ag.tamu.edu .
For more information and to register for the expo, go to https://agrilife.org/westresults/event/.
For more specific questions concerning the expo, contact Robert Pritz, AgriLife Extension regional program leader at San Angelo, at 325-653-4576, r-pritz@tamu.edu.
-30-