FURNACE, Pa. — Top-performing ram lambs and meat goat bucks will sell at 1 p.m. Aug. 4, at the Pennsylvania Livestock Evaluation Center in Pennsylvania Furnace, Centre Co.
The sale is the culmination of an annual performance testing program administered by the center.
Producers from Pennsylvania and other states consigned 44 ram lambs and 41 meat goat bucks for the evaluation and subsequent sale. Included in the sale are invitational ewe and doe consignments from producers with animals on test.
All animals sold at the sale are considered flock or herd improvers.
Rams lambs consigned include:
9 Dorsets; 7 Texels; 8 Dorpers; 8 Suffolks; 4 Katahdins; 3 Polypays; 1 Merino; 1 Shropshire; 1 Southdown.
Meat goat bucks include:
36 full-blood Boers, and 12 purebred/percentage Boers.
The rams and bucks ranged in age from three to nine months (beginning test) and were tested for growth, muscling and fat deposition over a 77-day period for rams and a 70-day period for goats. The genetic potential of the animals completing the testing program is indicated by the collected data.
All rams and bucks are sold with growth data, feed efficiency, loin measurements and fat thickness, information that producers can use to make important breeding and sales decisions that will offer consumers more value and farmers more profit. Data was collected via ultrasound scan upon completion of the test, and animals were examined for breeding soundness.
Prior to the sale on Aug. 4, the Pennsylvania Sheep and Wool Growers Association will conduct a field day with youth and adult educational programs.
Schedules for the field day, including events and speakers, will be included in the 2012 sale catalog. For a sale catalog or information on the test, contact center staff at 814-238-2527 or ghubbard@pa.gov.
For more information on the center and other performance testing programs and sales, visit www.livestockevaluationcenter.com.
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