Montana Wool Growers Association Celebrates 100th Annual Ram Sale in Miles City
September 11, 2025
This week the Montana Wool Growers Association is hosting its 100th Annual Ram Sale and 12th Annual Ewe Sale in Miles City. And to kick off this year’s celebration, Helena rancher Chase Hibbard talked about the rich history of this world-renowned sale.
"It didn't take producers long to become aware of how they could improve their genetics at a pace that was impossible before it caught fire," said Hibbard. "I think that Montana Wool Growers and this sale management and this community and this fairgrounds played a significant part in improving and improving genetics for ultimately a very large segment of the of the U.S. sheep industry."
He says Montana State University deserves a lot of credit for helping to set sheep producers up for success.
"We were the first sale that I'm aware of and in a big way to jump in and really embrace the power of EPDs" said Hibbard. "The cattle industry was way ahead of us in that regard. So, the technology was there and we had some fortunate things occur. We had Dr. Noder from Virginia Tech who jumped in big time and helped to us doing the scientific part. We also had help from the American Sheep Industry Association to fund some of this work. So, we got the genetic tools pretty early on."
He says even though a lot of focus over the years has been on the rams, ranchers can't forget about selecting genetics for their use because after all, she's the flock's factory.
"It's absolutely important," said Hibbard. "We don't want to diminish that at all. I think the reason for the focus on rams is that, the multiplier effect. One ram can improve the genetics and 50 ewes and so you improve it. You pay attention to the genetic getting the genetics right and the rams and they can pass it on and multiply it much more quickly exposed to the use. Ewes are the ones that do the hard work. And you know that's the rams bring the genetics and then they use spread it."
Source: Western Ag Network
