How are Resistant Rams Selected?

All our rams are selected from ewes that are 5 years old or older with a 301-day lambing interval and weaned 2.5 lambs per year which are 22.kg or higher at 50 days and with good Gen-Ovis performance. (Gen-Ovis is the Canadian performance and production analysis system). These older ewes are aggressive mothers, that milk well and have good tight udders with low incidence of mastitis which contributes to the longevity of the ewe flock. These traits are passed on to the offspring through the Ram.

Rams are also Genotyped for both Homozygous resistance to Scrapie by looking for a Q/R or R/R and the Maedi Visna resistance Haplotype gene of 1,1; 1,4 or 4,4. Then all rams are Fecal egg tested twice, 4 weeks apart during the heavy worm season of summer to detect resistance to GIN