Sheep Industry News March 2022

Annual Awards Recognize Sheep Industry Leaders

KYLE PARTAIN Sheep Industry News Editor I t's crucial for a national association such as ASI to find and recruit volunteer leaders who exhibit a spirit of service and the desire to work toward achieving common goals. Each year, the as sociation takes the opportunity to honor such leaders for their contri butions at the awards luncheon during the ASI Annual Convention. McClure Silver Ram award winner Tim Turner, DVM, of Texas certainly fits the bill. A past president of the Texas Sheep and Goat

started the Trailing of the Sheep Festival 25 years ago to bridge the gap between a growing urban population and area sheep ranchers in Idaho's Wood River Valley. As is often the case when good people pursue their passions, things snowballed and Trailing of the Sheep is now an internationally recognized festival that draws thousands of spectators. While there, they are indoctrinated in the lifestyle and his tory of the area's sheep producers. That was abundantly clear this year with the unveiling of The Good Shepherd monument that includes a lifesize sheepherder, dog, horse and eight sheep. "The monument was quite an addition to the festival this year,"

Raisers' Association, he's made a huge impact at the national level as president of ASI's for-profit Sheep Venture Company. "I've always tried to participate and do what I can in everything I chose to do," he said. "It's impor tant to get involved. "I want to thank everyone for this recognition. I'm honored to receive it. I've enjoyed every min ute of this effort, and I continue to enjoy it." The Wes Moser family was hon ored collectively with the Distin guished Producer Award, and Wes said it truly is a team effort around the family's operation.

John said. "It's a very moving monument to our industry." "Thank you very much for this award," Diane said, adding that one of the most important works of the festival has been to archive stories of the area's ranching families. The Camptender Award took a different path in 2022 after an anonymous producer suggested it could be used to honor the hard working executives who oversee ASI's 44 state associations. That

McClure Silver Ram: Tim Turner, DVM

same producer offered to endow the award with a $1,000 bonus in return for renaming the award in honor of ASI Executive Director Peter Orwick. So, while the award has been around for sometime, Bonnie Brown Eddy of the Colorado Wool Growers Association became the first official recipient of the Peter Orwick Camptender Award. Dr. Emmett (Keith) Inskeep of West Virginia was honored post humously with the Distinguished Service Award, which was accepted by one of his former students, Dr. Scott Bowdridge. Inskeep was es pecially interested in aseasonal lambing, and led the process of Food and Drug Administration approval for CIDR devices, which are now commonly used in the United States. He passed away in August 2021. The Wyoming Livestock Roundup was recognized as the Shep herd's Voice winner. Publisher Dennis Sun was unable to travel to the convention, so Wyoming producer Lynn Harlan accepted the award on behalf of his staff, which includes Curt Cox, Jody Michelena, An drea Zink, Brittany Gunn and Kaitlyn Root.

"The scope of the operation would definitely be different if my sons and all our spouses weren't working together," he said. "Our oldest daughter and her husband run ewes too, nearby, so there's plenty of 'sheep talk.' The boys have their day jobs – shearing – which keeps them on the road maybe 60 percent of the time. That has also pro vided them capital to invest in the sheep operation." Months before award winners were announced, Wes and his wife, Esther, volunteered to stay home for the first round of lambing while their children – son, Alex and his wife, Katherine, and daughter Trixie and her husband, Ethan – attended the convention. Despite the award, Wes honored that commitment. Accepting for the family, Alex shared a bit of his dad's infallible logic in recounting that Wes likes to say, "Only half of the sheep pro ducers in the country are above average." You can't argue with that. John and Diane Peavey didn't set out to be innovators when they

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