Sheep Industry News April 2025

President’s Notes BEN LEHFELDT ASI PRESIDENT

Advocating for our Industry T he start of a new year is always exciting. No different this year. As another ASI Annual Convention concluded back in Janu ary, new opportunities were on the horizon. It seems like it has been non-stop for the past two months. A lot has to do with the ideas, changes, adjustments, re-adjustments and continued uncertainty coming out of Washington, D.C. It has been great taking calls from members to develop new initiatives that might help the sheep industry. There have been new ideas suggested, old programs asked to be resurrected, but overall, everyone I talk to just wants to continue in the industry that they love and try to be profitable. Along with the new ideas to help bring sheep back to the United States, there has been concern about our governmental partners throughout the country. Wildlife Services, Agricultural Research Service sites such as the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station and the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, the National Resources Conservation Service and the Farm Service Agency have come under scrutiny this past month. We continue to monitor these changes and consult with our agency partners at the U.S. Department of Agriculture to find the best path for our industry. We look forward to the many opportunities that we have as an association to work together toward accomplishing our vision and mission. Leading that charge is our ASI Executive Board, which is made up of eight elected regional directors, four elected officers and a representative of the National Lamb Feeders Association. These volunteer sheep producers are ready and willing to serve as your link to ASI and our industry priorities. Joining me on the officer team are: Joe Pozzi, vice president, California; Tammy Fisher, secretary/treasurer, Texas; and Brad Boner, past president, Wyoming. The remainder of the Executive Board includes: Kevin Melvin, Region I, New Jersey; Patricia Sanville, Region II, Maryland; Larry Hopkins, Region III, Indiana; Lynn Fahrmeier, Region IV, Missouri; Rodney Kott, Region V, Texas; Julie Hansmire, Region VI, Colorado; John Noh, Region VII, Idaho; Ryan Indart, Region VIII, California; and Kate Harlan, NLFA, Wyo ming. The makeup of the ASI Executive Board continues to reflect the wide diversity that is our American sheep industry. Each regional director serves as the chair of an ASI council or committee and is updated regularly on the issues that affect our industry as a whole. Remember, these are the people that are the communication link between state membership and ASI. They can help bring your ques tions and concerns back to ASI for deliberation and action. Your ASI officer team continues to try to look for new ways to communicate our message to membership and have our “ears to the ground” to be responsive to our member’s concerns. But remember, it is important to utilize the conduit in place for communication from member to state organization to Executive Board member to ASI. The ASI Executive Board met at the end of March to discuss strategy, appoint council/committee members and also to dis seminate information about the sheep industry on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Thank you to all the individual members that attended the ASI Spring Trip. If you were unable to make the trip, please reach out to utilize the ASI white papers and advocate with your elected officials’ state offices or if you plan on visiting our nation’s capital in the months to come. The ASI Executive Board spent a lot of time leading up to the fly-in dissecting the ever-changing information and coordinating a message that is beneficial to the industry. We were excited to discuss the H-2A working group’s proposals, as well as up-to-date information on the impacts of the federal restructuring that relates to priority sheep activities. Thanks to the states for sending in your recommendations for council and committee appointments. We took a hard look at mak ing sure there is effective and equal representation on each and every council and committee. We also looked at opportunities to deal with our competitors to bring more value back to our American lamb and American wool products during the meeting. It is exciting to have an opportunity to make progress on bringing more producer dollars back to our American sheep industry.

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