GAP TESTIMONIALS I have raised Suffolk sheep most of my life. As a retired professor of Meat Science I know that no other breed compares for the rapid production of palatable meat. My wife Janice and I started raising show lambs in 1995. From the beginning our focus was on raising pounds of quality lamb as quickly as possible while maintaining structural soundness, good udders and mothering ability. Unlike most show lamb producers, we rarely if ever used a ram that did not gain at least 1 pound per day which meant we primarily used Suffolk rams. Our flock included a lot of fast-growing muscular Kimm Genetics. In 2016, we became frustrated with the emphasis in the show lamb industry on worthless traits or even negative traits such as shag and slow growth. NSIP and the USSA GAP allowed us to accurately track the progress of our breeding program selecting
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national marketing opportunities. In 2016, we took our most rugged, fastest
growing, heaviest muscled ewes and bred them to a proven MSU NSIP ram. We have been fortunate to have a son, grandson and great grandson of this ram that significantly outperformed their sires. We also used a high EBV Reau ram and then in 2022 we were fortunate enough to obtain the The General (Bunker Hill 3405) from Blonquist Brothers who was the #1 proven NSIP Suffolk Ram (Current Carcass+ of 194). He took our 2022 and now 2023 lamb crop to a whole new level adding muscle and growth without sacrificing soundness. The use of the purebred MSU, Reau, Bunker Hill and this year a Culham Stevens ram as well will enable us to register the vast majority of our 2023 crop as white papered animals. The GAP has been a great benefit to our flock, but more importantly, I believe the infusion our genetics and genetics of other GAP participants to the Suffolk gene pool will be a great long-term benefit to the breed and the sheep industry as a whole. Banner Butte Lambs, Jan & Janice Busboom, Washington
for real economically important traits and to shift our flock to a registered Suffolk flock opening more
My wife and I have raised purebred Suffolk sheep for over 25 years. My wife started the flock when she returned home from serving in the US Navy. She purchased a handful of purebred ewes from a local Suffolk breeder and worked to improve the flock through purchasing of only registered rams from reputable breeders. Through the years we have established a high quality flock of large framed and well muscled purebred Suffolks. My wife has worked hard to develop a line of genetics that favor multiple births in our Suffolk line, resulting in a birthing rate of 200 – 225% over the past several years. Due to this success, we began to get inquiries from people who wanted
sired by only regis- tered rams throughout the generations. The majority of our ewes have now reached the point where they are registered as the purebred ewes they
are and we have been able to fulfill the requests we receive for our ewes and rams with registered Suffolks. The GAP program has allowed us to achieve registered status for our purebred Suffolks without sacrificing the genetics we have worked so hard to cultivate over the years. We applaud the folks at the United Suffolk Sheep Association for having the insight to recognize the need for a program such as the GAP program and the follow through to make it a reality. We would recommend the GAP program for others in a similar situation. Kurt Palik & Shelly Blatny, Glory Days Farm, Nebraska
to purchase breeding stock from us but we were hindered by the fact that we did not have regis- tered sheep. Thanks to the GAP program, we were able to start registering our ewes and their offspring since they have been
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