SIG event sees entry sell fast
SIG event sees entry sell fast
IT took just 10min – albeit a hectic 10min – to sell all the animals on offer at the Sheep Improvement Groups first sale of the year in Cornwall.
The event saw 20 rams change hands, at prices fixed according to their breeding values, at Tredethy Farm, Helland earlier this month.
The top price of £350 was paid for a poll Dorset (lean index 233). The average was £356, down £27 on last year.
Devon-based Signet consultant John Bennett says there has been a big growth in demand from commercial flock owners for tups backed by reliable performance figures.
"Where high-index sires are used, they can add as much as 1kg of carcass weight to lambs at slaughter and reduce the finishing period by two to three weeks."
SIG, the marketing group for sire reference flocks in the south and west, aims to sell 200 tups at three such offerings this year, including a new event at Warminster, Wilts on July 2. *
SIG average prices
£ a head
Texels 375
Charollais 365
Vendeen 358
Poll Dorset 339