Sheep Industry News August 2022

Sheep Genetics USA TOM BOYER SHEEP GENETICS USA

Innovation Comes From Collaboration

T he value of a good team is hard to measure, and the value of a great team is immeasurable. Sheep Genetics USA has been blessed with multiple great teams. Th board members with whom I have the great honor to associate are premier industry lead ers, the action leads are equally amazing, and our industry stake holders provide critical direction and vision for the future. A jet airliner is off course for most of the time it is in the air. Con stant course corrections are required to arrive at the correct destina tion every time. Such is the value of team leadership, which when based on clear future vision provides necessary course corrections to arrive at the desired mileposts. Sheep Genetics USA is collaborating with multiple industry stakeholder teams, including the ASI Genetic Stakeholders Com mittee and the National Sheep Improvement Program and we will once again jointly off er a genetics-based session at the 2023 ASI Annual Convention. We are excited about team eff orts in research areas with the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center, the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station and several other research facilities. Th se science-based teams will provide topics, scopes of work and struc tural integrity to the various research projects undertaken. Projects are under discussion with lamb feeders, packers and producers for production-focused, ranch-based projects assuring real world conditions and outcomes. We are blessed with a large number of young sheep-oriented specialists in our industry. Th se include extension specialists, university professors, researchers and producers. Th se folks make up teams of specialized, empowered and enthusiastic partners that will create a quantum leap forward in the industry through the

transmission and adoption of genetic projects to make American lamb not just the fi est meat available, but also make it internation ally competitive. We have committed to assisting with the GEMS project, which Dr. Ron Lewis has created. We believe it has the power to make a paradigm s hift in the industry, and you can read more about it in this issue. Th is climate-based project has a variety of real-world components that will assist all producers in making better trait se lection for multiple production factors. Get and stay engaged – this is going to be great. What an exciting time to be in the sheep business. What a marvelous opportunity to be part of one of these incredible teams. Earlier the term stakeholders was used. Th is generic term is used to encompass anyone – and everyone – interested in producing the ultimate lamb, which will be a continuous journey into the future. Th ere is room on this journey for everyone, more importantly we need everyone. While research, education, technological advances and lamb economics continually evolve, no change occurs, no advancement is made, and no success is gained until adoption and implementa tion are in place. Only then will we take a step closer to achieving the ideal lamb that is consistently an absolute masterpiece on the plate and a powerful competitor on the world economic front. Th is will only happen as we join forces and collaborate as teams, which is why Sheep Genetics USA was created. Join one of our teams today. Get involved and be part of an empowered team that makes a dif ference. Learn more at SheepGeneticsUSA.org.

12 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org