Sheep Industry News September 2023

Young Entrepreneurs Tour Idaho A s a Polypay producer, Mackenzie Strawser of Pennsylvania felt like she was visiting the homeland while touring the U.S. Sheep Experiment Station in family's sheep operation. She also traveled to the National Lamb Feeder Association's Howard Wyman Sheep Industry Leadership School in Ohio and the Pipestone Lamb and

Dubois, Idaho, with ASI's Young Entrepreneurs in August. The Idaho trip marked the second consecutive summer tour for the group, which also got a chance to help move sheep at the Siddoway ranch, toured a sheep dairy and visited a beef plant. A year ago, the group toured stops in Michigan following the American Lamb Board's Lamb Summit. "From the prospective of a Polypay producer, it was so cool to visit the Sheep Experiment Station," Strawser said. "That's where the breed was created. And they've done so much out-of-season breeding research there on top of that. But the whole tour was awesome. Most of the other people on the tour were from Western states, so they are polar opposites of what we do in Pennsylvania." As with the previous year, the tour was intentionally kept small – eight participants this summer – to allow for optimal interaction among the group. "I liked the fact that it was kept small," Strawser said. "We could have a lot of really personal conversations about our operations because it was a small group." Preparing to start pursuit of an advanced degree at North Carolina State University this year, Strawser filled 2023 with educational experiences that she believes will benefit her

Wool Program's Sheep for Profit School in Minnesota. "I figured I might as well just do it all this year," she said. The YE tour met up with the ASI Executive Board and the board of the National Livestock Producers Association dur ing its time in Idaho. "I thought it was a really good tour," said YE Co-Chair Cody Chambliss of South Dakota. "There's a lot to see in the sheep industry in that part of the state. Comparing it to last year, the biggest difference was the size of the operations. Vis iting Dubois, it was cool to see a landscape that really hasn't been altered much in the last 100 years. And the old barns at the station were impressive." The YE group wanted to thank those who hosted stops on the tour: the Siddoways, Lark's Meadow Farms, River Bend Ranch and the USSES. The variety of the operations and the information they provided made for a great tour. Chambliss encouraged other Young Entrepreneurs – any one under the age of 40 – to attend the ASI Annual Conven tion in Denver in January. "It should be exciting this year," he said. "I think we're go ing to have a cooking competition again, like we did back in New Orleans a few years ago."

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