Ewes and their lambs will be managed in a single flock on each farm throughout the experiment to give lambs equal opportunity to grow, with weight gains measured periodically.
"The selection of rams is very important and a lot more people are going for figures, combined with what they look like," Mr Wilson said.
"Hopefully, the trial will demonstrate that higher-ranked rams can produce more kilograms of meat." The principle, common in other meat sectors, had seen few experiments for sheep.
Ewes used were "just commercially farmed" and unranked, chosen for their bodyweight. Mr Wilson does not expect to experience a loss from the trial's lower-ranked rams covering his flock.
"They could well be better than the ones that I use on the farm anyway." Weaning will take place shortly before Christmas, with final results available early next year.
"Hopefully, it will make more farmers aware of the benefits you can gain by buying higher-indexed rams with higher breeding values."
Wairarapa coastal farmer Kurt Portas wanted to see if he should be doing more homework when selecting rams.
"It's tricky buying rams when you're spoilt for choice," he said.
"It would be handy to know exactly what questions I should be asking, or the information I should be looking at, to get the right fit for the farm.
"Everyone talks about the significance of the EBVs but, until it's proven, you are going on assumptions.
"It's a good thing to look at and farmers will be interested in the outcome."
Uriti farmer Willie Tatham was confident the project would show he was on the money by using EBVs to buy rams.
"What's good about this project is we're looking at teams of rams," he said.
"This is a good basic starting point and, personally, if the trial goes well and we keep learning, I would be keen to see it expanded and perhaps look at the maternal side as a follow up."
