Sheep Industry News July 2023

The volatility in the wool market that was characteristic of the mar ket throughout 2022 has continued through this year. In January 2022, the AWEX EMI was at 459 USc per lb. (11.5 percent above where it was in 2021). By December 2022, the EMI had dropped to 389 USc per lb., and this June it has dropped further to 366 USc per lb. (20.3 percent below where it was in January of 2022). During this same period, the Australian dollar has weakened by 8.3 percent, which highlights the impact of the exchange rate on the wool market. Throughout this period, demand for coarser grades and lower styles of wool have also continued to be weak and the growing inven

tory in the United States of these wools has continued.

"Bob would have married me sooner, but I wouldn't take his last name because I was already established as a promi nent Montana professional," she said. In 1997, Bob invested in the popular bar-casino-poker room-liquor store in Helena called Nickels. He took over management three years later. Uncle Oscar left Bob his Silver Gate, Mont., cabin that Oscar and his brothers built in 1936. Bob added another sleeping cabin in 1997. The cabin was a family vacation destination, dating back to Bob's birth in 1945. Bob enjoyed entertaining friends and spending time listening to the winds whispering through the pine trees and to the babbling of Soda Butte Creek. He was a member of the Royal Order of Raccoons, serving as Grand Poo-Pah. Bob was a member of the Elks, Eagles, the Moose, the Shriners, the National Trappers Association, the Montana Society of Broadcasters and First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Bob was preceded in death by his parents, Art and Irene; sister, Barbara (Gardner) Grenz; and infant siblings, Mar lene and Arthur; aunts, Alice (Joe) Lindeberg and Margaret Gilbert; uncles, Oscar Gilbert and Morton Gilbert; and nephews, Paul Grenz, Greg Mitchell and Jeff Mitchell. Bob's teacup Shih-Tzu, Ping, who died on April 8, 2023, was the love of his life and constant companion. Bob is survived by his wife, Susan J. Rebeck; stepdaugh ter, Stephanie E. Hagerman; and granddaughter, Isabelle E. Thomas, all of Helena; sisters Marilyn I. (Charles) Pratt and Margaret L. (Dick) Mitchell of Billings; nieces, Stacie Hicks, Kimberley (Andy) Meyer and Cheri L. Grenz, all of Billings; Nephew, Dick (Nancy) Mitchell, Jr. of Miles City; and step sons Geno Kreis of Bozeman and Andrew Kreis of Seattle. A Memorial Service was held on July 22, 2023, at Ander son Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home in Helena, followed by a wake at Nickels. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Montana Wool Growers Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 1693, Helena, MT 59601. MOVING FORWARD While prices in the lamb industry are relatively on par with histori cal trends, it’s still a positive sign compared to last year at this time. For producers – with prices remaining steady and maybe some hope of increasing – this is a positive sign with the recent rains in drought stricken areas and decreasing input prices. While profit margins aren’t huge, they have the potential to be positive and maybe bigger as we work toward the fall.

OBITUARY

ROBERT “BOB” GILBERT, 1945-2023

Robert (Bob) Norman Gilbert was born on Oct. 23, 1945, in Miles City, Mont., the fifth of six children of his parents, Arthur M. Gilbert and Irene Mary Gilbert. Bob passed away on June 12, 2023, after a nearly three year deterioration from a traumatic brain injury he incurred in a fall. After graduation from Park Coun

ty High School (Livingston, Mont.) in 1963, Bob attended Miles Community College then the University of Montana where he lacked one semester for a degree. Bob worked summers in Harlowton, Mont., on the Mil waukee Railroad in jobs as electrician apprentice, round house clerk, laborer, and in the car department at both Harlowton and Miles City. As a result of his love of trains, Bob had many model railroad cars and power units from N gauge to Garden Railroad. He always dreamed of owning his own private railroad business car to hook onto Amtrak. Bob had many memories of working from 1967 to 1970 as a newsman and disc jockey for KATL in Miles City. In No vember 1970, he took a disc jockey-newsman job at KBLL in Helena, Mont., and started his television career as anchor for the nightly newscasts. For several legislative sessions, Bob conducted interviews with state of Montana officials, gover nors and members of the legislature on CNN headline news twice an hour 24 hours a day. As the cable TV live programs matured, he was on CNN Headline News in all the major cities of Montana and a few smaller markets. For nearly 33 years, Bob was secretary-treasurer of the Montana Wool Growers Association, earning the coveted ASI Camptender Award in 2005. During legislative sessions, Bob represented the MWGA, the Montana Dairy Farmers and Northwest Farm Credit. In 1992, Bob met and started dating Great Falls, Mont., attorney Susan J. Rebeck, who became his partner in 1998. They were married in Billings, Mont., on Sept. 27, 2008.

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