Sheep Industry News August 2024

President’s Notes BRAD BONER ASI PRESIDENT

Inspired for the Future by Genetics W elcome to the 2024 Genetics issue of the Sheep Industry News . This is the fourth year that ASI has dedicated the August edition to focus on ways we can advance genetic improvement in our industry. ASI believes that genetic improvement is one of the major cornerstones that will improve producer profitability and help to keep the American sheep industry competitive in our marketplace by providing consumers with a high-quality product at a price that is sustainable up and down the value chain. As I am sure most of you are aware, the countries who import the most lamb into the United States market are already keenly focused on genetic improvement and have made advances in recent years that have made their product more acceptable to the American consumer than it was 10 years ago. That alone should be all the incentive we need for all of us to up our game by making smarter breeding decisions. Using data to help to identify those individual animals who can fill in the weak areas in our flocks without sacrific ing other important traits is key to making the kind of improvements that are necessary. You will find two excellent articles in this issue that discuss increasing the amount of data you use to make your seedstock/breeding decisions. The first is a conversation between outgoing National Sheep Improvement Program Executive Director Rusty Burgett and David Scales, who was selected to follow in Rusty’s footsteps. NSIP is one of the most useful tools we have available to us that will help us make wiser decisions. I would strongly encourage you all to take the time to soak up all the information that is in the second article. John Helle of Montana explains the value of using data in making your selection decisions. John is a progressive sheep pro ducer who raises registered and commercial Rambouillets. He’s also the founder of Duckworth Clothing Company. Duckworth manufactures and markets clothing that is 100-percent American made and sourced. This is achieved through source verified, 100 percent made-in-the-U.S.A. materials, with total supply-chain control from the fiber to the finished garment. Lots of hands-on knowledge from John in this article will prove to be invaluable to many of you. New technology can also help producers be more efficient and, in some cases, reduce the amount of labor needed to complete some of the production tasks at hand. Dan Persons with Shearwell Data shares with us how to make use of sheep handling equipment to decrease our labor costs and increase productivity. In addition, Dr. Tom Murphy with the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center looks at blending technology and tradi tion to achieve your flock's breeding goals. These are just a few of the great articles in this month’s issue. I strongly recommend this issue stays by your reading

chair until you’ve read it from cover to cover. Until next time, keep it on the sunny side.

4 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org