(March 1, 2010)  With donations topping the $50,000 mark, the Sheep Heritage Foundation board has recommended that the foundation restart its scholarship program.

A $1,500 scholarship will be offered this year to a graduate student working toward a degree in a subject “that leads into the sheep industry.”

“With interest and contributions, we should be able to keep the fund at a minimum of $50,000 to fund an annual scholarship,” said board member Pierce Miller of Texas. 

Miller concluded that the foundation has gone from being broke to this mark in four years and in fact was unable to offer scholarships in recent years so he is pleased the industry is taking the foundation funding seriously again.

During the Sheep Heritage Foundation breakfast meeting, American Sheep Industry Association Executive Director Peter Orwick reported that the project to scan all issues of the Woolgrower Magazine, beginning from 1911, needs to be completed. 

“We have an opportunity to attract one or two large contributors to put their names on a digital library of the magazine for use by researchers, sheep producers, media  and students,” concluded Orwick.

The collection includes a wide array of interesting historical information on the industry.
Orwick cited an example from an issue from the 1920s with two coyote pelts pictured on the cover. The headline over the story read, “Their sheep killing days are finally over.”

The foundation board also discussed a potential project to promote long-time sheep operators, perhaps with a publication on the great sheep ranches of America as another source of generating resources.