Reference ram - Foulrice Benjamin

High Index Genetics – Consistent performance, whatever your system

Providing that growing lambs have their nutritional and health requirements met, the genetic potential they receive from their parents will shine through – and your lambs don’t need to be reared on a fast-finishing enterprise to see these benefits.

This year’s reference ram within the RamCompare trial, showed the consistency of performance that you get when using high EBV rams. The lambs sired by Foulrice Benjamin, a Charollais ram bred by Charles Marwood and owned by Neil Oughton, Andrew Walton and Jamie Wild delivered on each of the farms that he was used.

In Cornwall with Adrian Coombe, where he was used across Mule ewes, his lambs were away a month earlier at heavier weights. In Rutland at ChazCompare he was again used over Mule ewes, with lambs finished using grass and creep. The carcase weights for Benjamin’s progeny were a kilogramme higher than the flock average.

With the Sercombe family in Leicestershire his lambs were again a kilogram heavier, with 100% of his lambs being classified E,U or R grade for conformation and fat class 2 or 3L. Across in Wales with Alwyn Nutting, the progeny of Benjamin on this grass finishing unit were away a month ahead of their flock mates.

The results should be no surprise to those that saw his breeding values as a lamb (see chart). A stand out animal based on his Scan Weight EBV (an indicator of speed of finishing) and his Muscle Depth EBV (an indicator of carcase yield).

These results show that while genetic potential can be expressed in different ways – whether it is differences in days to slaughter, carcase weight or carcase conformation – given the chance to express their potential, the sires from high index Signet recorded rams can have a major impact on flock profitability.