Sheep Industry News November 2021

President’s Notes SUSAN SHULTZ ASI PRESIDENT

Optimism Abounds on Texas Trailblazers Tour

I was recently riding in the cab of the pickup with Gary as he pulled a wagon loaded with participants across the beautiful heri tage ranch of the Jennings family in Texas. This was just one of many stops on the Trailblazers Tour sponsored by the National Lamb Feeders Association and American Lamb Board in cooperation with ASI. Gary has served as executive secretary of the American

ers. The epitome of optimism might be Jeff Hasbrouck, who currently serves as NLFA president. He and his wife, Cindy, toured with the group and shared the story of opening the Double J Lamb plant, which is a true family operation. Their belief and faith in the future of our industry was humbling. Regarding the three P’s quote on the Trail blazers Tour, we saw numerous examples of

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Southdown Breeders Association for more than 30 years and it was a delight to get reacquainted. As he talked, I appreciated his optimism for our sheep industry and his confidence about the future. He told me that there were three P's that are an ongoing challenge to our industry: predators, parasites and pessimistic people. I hadn’t heard that version of the three P’s before, and it really resonated with me. Throughout this summer and fall I have attended numerous sheep events, tours and seminars that have illustrated the resilience of producers and their never-ending optimism about the future of our sheep industry. The Iowa Sheep Industry Association sponsored on farm tours at Kevin Goeken’s and Kyle and Carrie Hurley’s places. Both are progressive, commercial operators who have shown their optimism by investing in on-farm infrastructure with their inten

optimistic producers being proactive and adopting new methods for dealing with predators and using new genetic technology and selec tion to help with parasites. As far as the third P…, there was not one young producer/leader that I rode on the bus with for three days that was not committed and optimistic about their future in the sheep industry. Nominations for this years ASI Awards are due Nov. 19. The five awards are the McClure Silver Ram Award, the Camptender Award, the Distinguished Producer Award, the Industry Innovation Award and the Shepherd's Voice Award. Please nominate those optimistic people that have given back to our industry through the years with their hope, resilience and confidence in our future. My best.

sive production systems. In Montana and Wyoming, the producers I met at the ram sales had just experienced one of the worst droughts in their history, yet they participated in record-breaking sales as they purchased new genetics for their flocks. Dr. Reid Redden and Jake Thorne – both with Texas A&M AgriLife and planners of the Trailblazers Tour – showcased the optimism of a diverse set of Texas producers, many of them making plans to expand their operations in order to support the next generation of sheep produc

Trailblazers Tour participants at Producers Livestock Auction in San Angelo, Texas.

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