Ireland's largest sheep sale, the Sheep Ireland Elite €uroStar Multi-Breed Ram sale will take place on Saturday, August 23, in Kilkenny Mart, Co. Kilkenny.

The upcoming sale is set to feature over 650 rams across 16 different breeds, all meeting the elite level of entry criteria required.

All rams will be Sheep Improvement Scheme (SIS)-eligible, DNA parentage verified, and have five stars on the Replacement and/or Terminal Index.

According to Sheep Ireland, only the most engaged performance recording flocks are eligible to enter the sale (Data Quality Index greater than 85%).

Sheep Ireland said: "This index provides increased confidence to potential purchasers as, if they come to the sale, they will find a ram that meets expectations and increases the profitability of their flock."

The catalogued sale's largest entry by breed is Texels with 220 rams, followed by Charolais with 180, and Suffolks with 130 entries.

More and more commercial farmers are demanding top-quality, physically correct rams with excellent breeding values (€uro-Stars) to back them up, and this is reflected in the previous sales success, according to Sheep Ireland.

All rams will be physically inspected at intake. Online bidding is available through 'Martbids', and anyone interested in participating in the sale is recommended to register in advance with Kilkenny Mart.

Viewing of the rams will be available from 9:00a.m on August 23, with the sale expected to commence at 10:30a.m. There will be three rings selling at once.

The sale running order will be outlined in the final sale catalogue, which is expected to be published on Monday (August 18).

A provisional sales catalogue is now available on the Sheep Ireland website.

Sheep Ireland highlight that since the company was launched, the number of pedigree breeders that are performance recording has increased year-on-year.

This year, performance-recorded rams with a genomic evaluation are in extra demand due to the SIS Genotyped Ram Task, the sheep organisation explained.

Lowland flocks that choose this task must select a ram that is four or five star on the Replacement or Terminal Index based on a genomic evaluation, and be a scrapie type 1, 2, or 3.

Hill flocks can also choose the lowland option, and all rams in the sale will meet this criteria.