Sheep Industry News September 2022

Texas Dorper producer Alan McAnelly assists Ohio's Nick Forrest (and his wife, Kathy) during their breakout session cooking demonstration.

larger Suffolks. "Producers have to take responsibility for their product," said Premier 1's Dan Morrical, Ph.D., who moderated much of the summit. "We used to just grow sheep, and getting rid of them was someone else's problem. We can't work like that any more." Forrest led a second session at the sum mit in which he offered cooking tips and prepared three easy lamb dishes for the au dience to enjoy at the end of the session. He called upon his wife, Kathy and his friend, Alan McAnelly of Texas, to assist him in preparing and serving the dishes. McAnelly attended the first Lamb Summit in Fort Collins, Colo., in 2019 and never wavered on plans to attend the second summit – even when it was delayed a year by the COVID-19 pandemic. "They kind of talked about some things (at the first one), but now they're really digging into some of the changes we need to make," he said. "They're beginning to get down to the nuts and bolts. It's nice to see an organization thinking about how we can

improve things and what direction we need to be going. Everybody is sincerely trying. "You need to come. You have to be here in person to see things. My generation likes to sit eyeball to eyeball. We're not too big on computers. It's nice to be here talking to people and not looking at them over a computer like we had to do for awhile. "My favorite session was watching the people enjoy Nick's cooking show. It was great to see everyone in our industry laugh ing and enjoying themselves during that time. We talked about some pretty difficult things during these two days, so I'm glad we had a chance to loosen up and enjoy ourselves a little, as well. Having a little fun and enjoying this is all part of it. I think that's important." Northern Indiana producer Sara Cart wright – a member of the Michigan Sheep Producers Association – called the summit the best conference she's attended in her time in the industry. "This program was exactly what I needed at this point in my production," she said. "The focus on carcass quality and

LAMB SUMMIT Continued from Page 21

with a larger-than-life ceremonial check. "Thank you to Premier 1 and thanks to the American Lamb Board. I do it because of a passion. I truly enjoy meeting the people. Those who don’t like lamb, we try to con vince them. Like I said this morning, I post on my Facebook because I want people to know that there's a protein out there that they need to try. Thank you so much, this is just unbelievable." Just three hours before accepting his award, Forrest was on stage in front of the Lamb Summit crowd to discuss the competitiveness of the American lamb industry. He said inconsistent carcasses are a concern not only for processors, but also for chefs. It's important for producers to know and understand the sheep they are producing. For instance, Forrest once showed photos of an overfat Katahdin car cass to the producer. But the that producer was following weight recommendations from an extension agent who raised much

22 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org