We have uploaded the 2017 Illoura Flock Ram Sale Catalogue to our website this morning as promised.
It has been provided in both PDF format for easy printing as well as Excel format so you can do some sorting and selections on the qualities you are looking for in your terminal sires for the coming years.
We have also included the 2017 Terminal Sire Percentile Report so you can compare our sale rams with industry standards
Key points
- Illoura continues to be an industry leader for growth rates with every ram in the sale catalogue exceeding the industry average PWWT of 12.5 for terminal sires, and nearly 50% of these animals in the top 10% with a PWWT over 15.7. Growth rate of lambs is one of the key profit driver for all prime lamb enterprises.
- We have again included the new index LEQ (Lamb Eating Quality) which combines the Lamb 20/20 index with eating quality traits as determined by DNA testing. Over 95% of the Illoura sale catalogue exceeds the industry average of 126.8. Keeping an eye on eating quality is important for the future of our industry, and eventually producers will be rewarded for producing lambs that fit the MSA (Meat Standards Australia) criteria.
- While objective figures give an important insight to the genetic value of rams, the Illoura focus will continue to be on conformation and functionality. This year’s sale rams are structurally correct, well grown with plenty of length and frame, and are ready to work. The rams have easily reached our target with an average body weight of 100kg and condition score 4. It is important to get this balance right, while rams need to be strong and functional, excessively fat rams are less likely to live a long and productive life.
Please note – we no longer have the Poll Dorset stud and have included an extra 40 White Suffolk rams in his years sale to ensure we have a very good selection for all attendees.
With 300 White Suffolk rams on offer we are confident that there will be rams to suit all buyers and budgets.