Ram selection and breeding decisions have lasting impacts on your flock. When replacement females are retained, these decisions can quickly account for a significant majority of your genetics. Just because a ram is a crowd favorite at a sale or a leader in a particular trait or two does not mean it is the right ram for your operation at that given time. The following steps should be taken to carefully evaluate your flock and make accurate ram selection decisions.

• Establish Goals:

The first step to finding the right ram is determining goals for your flock. These goals should take into consideration environmental constraints, market demands, and personal lifestyle desires. Goals should be realistic, specific, and may include short-term and long-term aspirations for your flock. You should ask yourself, “What do I want my flock to be known for?” For example, a seedstock producer may state goals of marketing forage adapted, low-input rams in the top 10% of the breed for fecal egg count while selecting for moderate growth and maternal index (between 60^th and 80^th percentile). A commercial producer who may not be enrolled in NSIP but should be using NSIP rams may have multiple goals based on replacement ewe generation and market lamb production. Maternal goals may be focused on generating ewes that maintain body condition on grass without deworming and consistently twin in the first 17 days of the lambing season. Additionally, they may elect to capitalize on hybrid vigor for market lamb production and use terminal sires with goals of producing rapidly growing, heavy muscled market lambs that achieve prime grades in live markets. Utilization of the rams with the right estimated breeding values (EBVs) can allow both producers to reach their goals.

• Assess Current Production:

Understanding current production metrics is essential to optimizing selection decisions. Data recorded on all economically relevant traits can be used to determine where your flock is today and how close or far you are from your goals. Data should be collected on traits that matter to your flock and the economics of your business. The traits you measure may differ from your neighbor and that is okay. However, you should consistently measure traits over multiple years so areas of improvement can be appreciated and areas of continued need recognized.

• Prioritize Traits:

The more traits you select for at one time, the less progress you make in any single trait. Trying to improve everything at once will likely lead to little observable change. Instead, use established goals and current production metrics to prioritize traits for selection. For some traits, your flock may already be relatively close to your goals. However, for other traits, significant improvement may be necessary. Traits with the greatest difference between goals and current production should receive the greatest priority and selection intensity. Greater selection intensity can be applied by identifying rams with greater genetic merit (ranked in a higher percentile) for the trait of interest. These percentile thresholds for particular traits can be used as benchmarks to simplify selection. For example, if selection for parasite resistance is a priority, rams with FEC EBVs in the 90^th percentile (top 10%) would result in greater progress towards your goal than using a ram with FEC EBVs in the 50^th percentile (breed average). Once goals are achieved, new traits can be prioritized. Try to prioritize only two or three traits at a time to accelerate progress towards your goals.

• Identify Rams:

The NSIP Searchable Database (http://nsipsearch.nsip.org/#!/search) is a great resource to identify rams with EBVs that meet your selection goals. Using this tool, EBV thresholds can be set and the NSIP database can be utilized to search for rams that meet your specific needs. When rams are found that meet your genetic needs, producer contact information is available to connect you with that breeding stock.

You can also identify rams by contacting seedstock producers or sorting through sale catalogs. I encourage you to remember your EBV benchmarks and not be distracted by other things like body condition or color when sorting sheep in-person or through a sale catalog. Just because a sheep is fat at the time of the sale doesn’t mean its plane of nutrition will be the same when it gets to your house.

• Evaluate soundness:

While EBVs provide a valuable tool for selection, they should not be used as the only metric when making selection and purchasing decisions. Structural and reproductive soundness are critically important to ensure high quality genetics can actually be passed on to a next generation. Rams need to be sound in their mouth structure, have functional feet and legs, and be capable of breeding ewes throughout the breeding season. Additionally, they should be capable of passing a breeding soundness exam approximately 30 days before ewe exposure, ensuring adequate fertility.

• Make a decision:

With much at stake, making a final purchase or even mating decision can sometimes be the most challenging step. However, a thorough understanding of steps 1-5 can ensure accurate, well-informed decisions are made with confidence.

• Take care of your purchase:

You’ve now selected your stud rams and potentially invested a significant amount into new genetics for your flock. Be sure to take care of your investment and remember rams are living creatures. They work very hard for a relatively short period of time in the year. Stressors like exposure to summer heat or inadequate nutrition can affect semen quality for up to 60 days. Likewise, ram body condition should be assessed well in advance of the breeding season so adjustments can be made if necessary.

• Monitor progeny performance:

Just because you selected a ram to use, doesn’t mean the data collection process stops. More rams will need to be purchased in the future and genetic progress should improve with time. Continue to monitor goals, assess production through data collection and prioritize traits before each ram buying and breeding season. Be careful not to modify goals unless major changes occur that impact your production system (market, lifestyle, etc.). Change takes time, frequently changing goals may result in no progress at all. Furthermore, EBVs do not equate to the same level of performance in all flocks (see table below). The relative differences between rams should be similar, but actual levels of performance will vary based on environmental conditions. In one flock, WWT EBV in the 90^th percentile (2.88 kg) may be necessary, yet in another flock, a WWT EBV in the 50^th percentile (1.80 kg) may yield a similar level of performance. Therefore, consistent data collection is needed to determine percentile thresholds necessary to achieve and maintain goals.

By: Andrew Weaver, NCSU Small Ruminant Specialist