Sheep Ireland has published the sale dates for hill sheep breeding groups. The sales will offer an excellent opportunity for hill flock participants in the Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS) to purchase scheme-eligible rams and rams with breeding data. Table 1 lists upcoming sales.

A number of sales have already taken place, including the West Kerry Scotch Mountain, Brockagh Swaledale Mayo Blackface Sheep Breeders Association, Waterford Blackface Sheep Breeders, Sub-A district South of Ireland Swaledale Sheep Breeders Association, West Kerry Scotch Mountain and Donegal Cheviot Pedigree Breeders.

Purchasing options

Hill flocks have two options for purchasing a ram. If selecting a hill breed ram then the ram must be DNA sire verified (genotyped) by Sheep Ireland and be classified as Type 1, 2 or 3 for scrapie at the time of purchase.

The second option available to hill farmers is the same as the requirement for lowland producers. This is to purchase a ram rated four- or five-star on the replacement or terminal index, and have a genomic evaluation with Sheep Ireland at the time of purchase. These rams must also be classified as Type 1, 2 or 3 for scrapie status.

Hill sheep society sales will include details on ram eligibility. The catalogue entries will include at a minimum the sire of the ram on offer and the scrapie status. Depending on the level of information available, it may also include dam details. SIS-eligible rams will also possess a green tick and the words “SIS: yes”.

Multi-breed sale

Meanwhile, entries have opened for Sheep Ireland’s multi-breed hill ram sale, which takes place in Manorhamilton Mart on Friday 10 October at 7pm. Hill flocks which are members of hill ram breeding groups linked to Sheep Ireland are eligible to apply and entries will be accepted until 8pm on 6 October 2025. Breeders can enter up to four rams of any age and rams must satisfy the following conditions:

  • Be a hill breed (Scottish Blackface or Cheviot).
  • Come from a flock that is a member of a relevant breeding group.
  • Be DNA sire verified.
  • Be Scrapie type: 1, 2 or 3.
  • Pass a physical examination on the day of the sale.

    • Sheep Ireland explains that during the physical examination, “rams will be assessed on their mouth, testicles, feet and any other physical defects”. Online bidders are expected making this examination of significant importance, and any rams found to be physically incorrect will not be allowed into the sale. See www.sheep.ie for more.

    Genomic inbreeding checker

    Sheep Ireland has launched a new genomic inbreeding checker, where two genotyped rams of the same breed can be compared to each other to see what level of relationship exists between the two animals. The facility is an option on www.ramsearch.ie and can be accessed by clicking ‘genomic inbreeding’. It works similar to the current inbreeding checker that is available to LambPlus breeders and details the risk as low, medium or high.

    OviFlock

    Visits to hill flock members of ram breeding groups continue as part of the OviFlock European Innovation Project (EIP). The objective in year one is to genotype approximately 8,000 ewes, with flock visits coming on a first come, first served basis.

    A facility to submit an expression of interest is available on www.sheep.ie. For a flock to be considered eligible, they must be an active breeder of their respective ram breeding group.

    Costs of genotyping these sheep will be covered by the project. Each participating breeder will be allocated a set number of free genotypes which can be used annually.

    This will be influenced by factors such as flock size, number of breeding rams sold, etc.

    During flock visits OviFlock technicians will collect valuable data such as ewe ID, ewe age, ewe weight, body condition score, teeth/mouth quality scores, lameness scores, cases of mastitis, etc.