The quickest and most cost effective way to improve and shape a ewe flock is in ram selection.

The ram’s contribution to the profitablity of a sheep operation is frequently neglected.  Small producers who feel that their sheep flock is not large enough to justify purchasing a quality purebred ram should remember that it doesn’t take too many pounds of lamb to justify buying a good quality ram, as opposed to an average one or a Saturday auction market special.

Careful selection of rams can benefit the producer in two ways.  It contributes to the production efficiency of every lamb, and also the genetic improvement of economically important traits in the flock.  Many large commercial sheep flocks produce their own replacement ewes but purchase their rams from purebred seedstock producers.  Since relatively large numbers of ewe lambs are needed for replacements in these big flocks and detailed production and genetic records are often not available, genetic progress through ewe selection is limited.  In most big flocks, 80 to 90 percent of the genetic progress comes from ram selection and only 10 to 20 percent comes from the selection of ewes.

A successful sheep program is a combination of many parts.  Management, disease control and marketing are examples of some of the parts.  Ram selection is a critical decision that can affect a flock for years and generations.  To be successful, a ram cannot be expected to solve all your problems, but rather to receive help from you in all the above areas.

Often times we will buy a ram for whatever reason, and then try to market the lambs that he sires.  To be successful, we must reverse this order and first have an idea of what we want to produce.  Once the lambs are born, we must be prepared to manage and market them as well as we can.

Fall time is when most people select the ram their rams, but a sheep producer should be thinking about this well ahead of the time they need a ram. 

The first step in selecting a ram is to look at your ewes.  Do they have any genetic flaws that you need to avoid in your ram?  Are there areas that could be inproved on, for example: length, thickness, milking ability, etc.  If so, you need to keep this in the back of your mind when looking for your ram.  Consider what your desired lambs will look like and focus on finding a ram that will fill that criteria.