Scots rams are tup of the flocks

Scottish tups have come out “Top of the Flocks” in major project designed to assess the genetic merit of breeding sheep on farms around the UK.

The Ramcompare project – which is funded by Quality Meat Scotland (QMS) and other industry bodies – has released final results for the first stage of the initiative which spanned the 2015-16 breeding seasons.

Now including records from later-lambing flocks and taking account of hybrid vigour, the top ranking Charoallais tup was Logiedurno Navigator 13ZNN07239. Bred by the Ingram family at Logie Durno in Aberdeenshire, he ranks highly for his carcase weight EBV and overall carcase value, which takes into account the weight, confirmation and fat class of his lambs.

Carole Ingram said: “We’re delighted that our rams are part of this project and have been tested under commercial conditions against other top performing terminal sires.

“Our focus has always been on breeding tups with excellent commercial qualities and these results fully endorse that.”

And while a Welsh tup topped the Texel lines, also performing highly for carcase value was another Scottish bred sire, Roxburgh Shot Gun Willie EJR1101108 bred by John Elliot from Roxburgh Mains near Kelso.

Emily Grant, QMS knowledge transfer specialist, said: “It’s fantastic that Scottish-bred performance recorded rams are performing well when tested on commercial farms across the UK.

“These results will ensure that terminal sire ram buyers have confidence that selecting and using the best EBVS will have a positive benefit to their business’.