Sheep Update
34th Virginia Performance Tested Ram Lamb Sale is August 29
The annual Virginia Performance Tested Ram Lamb Sale will be held at the Virginia Sheep Evaluation Station near Steeles Tavern, Virginia on Saturday, August 29 starting at 1:00 p.m. The top end of the forty-nine Suffolk, Dorset, Hampshire, and Katahdinr rams being evaluated on the 63-day test will be sold. The ram test program provides a rigorous health management and vaccination program for all participating rams, and rams are developed to optimize growth performance with continuous access to pasture during the evaluation. All rams sold will be evaluated for structural and reproductive soundness and will be sold as guaranteed breeders. All rams have been genotype tested to be free of the spider gene, and codon 171 scrapie resistance genotypes will be published. Complete performance information will be available, including ultrasound measurements for carcass traits. The Virginia Sheep Evaluation Station is located at the Shenandoah Valley Agricultural Research and Extension Center, 0.5 mile east of I-81 at Exit 205 (just south of Staunton, VA). For sale information and a catalog, contact Scott Greiner, Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, 24061, phone (540)231-9163 or email sgreiner@vt.edu. Current information on the rams is available on the Virginia Tech Sheep Extension and Education website at http://www.vtsheep.apsc.vt.edu/.
Virginia Tech Sheep Center to Host 10th Annual Production Sale September 5
The 10th Annual Virginia Tech Sheep Center Production Sale will be held Saturday, September 5 at the Alphin-Stuart Livestock Arena on the campus of Virginia Tech. The sale offering will include Suffolk and Dorset ram lambs, Suffolk and Dorset ewe lambs, and mature Suffolk ewes exposed for January, 2010 lambing. Complete performance data including NSIP EPDs and carcass ultrasound records are available. Proceeds from the sale will be used to support the sheep teaching, extension, and research missions of the Department of Animal & Poultry Sciences. Sale details and catalog are available on the web at http://www.apsc.vt.edu/centers/sheepcenter/index_sheep.htm For additional information contact Dr. Scott Greiner, phone 540-231-9159 or email sgreiner@vt.edu .
Rights
Virginia Cooperative Extension materials are available for public use, re-print, or citation without further permission, provided the use includes credit to the author and to Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech, and Virginia State University.
Publisher
Issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia State University, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating. Rick D. Rudd, Interim Director, Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg; Wondi Mersie, Interim Administrator, 1890 Extension Program, Virginia State, Petersburg.
Date
July 10, 2009