| New Council and Committee Members Named (April 1, 2007) Typically, spring is the start of a new crop of livestock, grain and grass. I wish each of you cooperative weather and a successful season. With it being spring and a new crop soon appearing, this month’s edition of the Sheep Industry News is a fitting opportunity to discuss a potential new crop at the association as well. State sheep associations provided nominations of producers from across the United States in February to serve on American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) councils and committees. From the American Wool Council to the Animal Health Committee to the Legislative Action Council and the Predator Management Committee, I recently finalized the appointments and look forward to working with these producer leaders in 2007. This year, with the approval of the board of directors, we appointed a new committee named Genetic Stakeholders. The idea for this committee grew from a forum we held during the convention for leaders of the sheep seedstock industry to discuss common issues. The forum was well attended with around 40 industry leaders involved, and interest was expressed to have a committee to ensure communications with the segment and the board. Genetic Stakeholders is a term that tries to capture the diversity of producers and sheep operations that comprise this segment. Seedstock producers might be purebred operations selling to commercial lamb, wool and dairy producers, other sheep breeders or club lamb operations. A key focus of the new committee will be to identify programs and services that would be valuable to producers in this segment of the industry and funding to deliver those services. Deciding on which programs are needed to strengthen the sheep business is half the effort, the other half consists of how leaders deal with funding programs at the state and national levels. A recommendation I thought made a lot of sense in how best to appoint these members to this new council was to invite the five breed/genetic-based groups that are already industry partners of ASI. A challenge of the new committee is to bring funding for new programs or services using volunteers from groups that recognize the need to help fund the association. All council and committee members are volunteers that serve at their own expense and time. All of us in the industry owe these men and women our appreciation for working on policy and programs. I often hear from sheep producers attending their first council or committee meeting or board of directors meeting about how impressive these volunteer leaders are in their experience and knowledge. Our association deals with complex issues, ranging from market reporting to animal disease and scrapie eradication to product marketing and quality assurance. Each of us learn from other growers and their experiences in the sheep business, and this is evident in the committee structure. The listing of new council and committee members is on page 7 of this month’s issue of Sheep Industry News in addition it will be available at www.sheepusa.org. I strongly encourage you to visit and provide input to these volunteers during the year. I also recommend any of you interested in serving on a particular council to contact your state association and seek nomination next year. We formally request nominations from the states by Feb. 1 of each year. |
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