SAMPLE OF YEARLING EWES OCTOBER 1998

Hi Plains Suffolks are managed on a 20 acre farm in western Kansas. The ewes graze on buffalo pasture from May until August. In August or early September they run on volunteer wheat. The ewes are bred for January, February and March lambs. Our ewe lambs are exposed in October for 20 days. They graze on a sudan pasture and are fed a pound of grain and limit-fed high quality alfalfa hay. A routine drenching schedule is maintained throughout the year. We replace four and five year old ewes annually.

All lambs are weighed at birth, 60 and 120 days. An index is computed on the 60 and 120 day weights on all lambs. Only lambs (rams or ewes) that perform average or above are considered for replacements. The flock also has five years of NSIP records. These records are used along with our production records to make ewe selection for replacements. The EPD's records are available on all rams.

After weaning, ewe lambs are placed on a growing ration fed in a drylot environment. The ram lambs remain on a high energy and protein diet until they reach 0.25 inches backfat and then are switched to a growing ration.

Ram lambs are selected as potential sires based on performance data, EPD'S and structural soundness. No ram is considered as a sire that does not gain a pound per day. After 120 day weights are collected, every two weeks the ram lambs are weighed and backfat measured so that fat thickness and weight can be identified at 0.25 inches backfat.

Beginning in 1999 all ram lambs which meet the above criteria are blood tested for spider and codon 171 genes. Each lambs loin eye is measured monthly to identify loin eye size as near to 0.25 backfat as is possible. (See Performance Data)