Sheep Industry News September 2024

NSIIC Awards Grant To YEE Group

A SI’s Young and Emerging Entrepreneurs group has received a grant in the amount of $89,580 from the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center to develop a beginning producer education program. The program will incorporate online education, producer workshops and an online forum, according to Cody Cham bliss and Kelly Froehlich, Ph.D., of the Young and Emerging Entrepreneurs Steering Committee. “Cody and I started a conversation at the (ASI Annual) Convention about developing a program,” said Froehlich, who implemented a similar concept in her previous role with South Dakota State University. “We’re already developing the online curriculum, which will be open to everyone.” “It will be very basic and mostly for beginners in the sheep industry. We don’t want it to be overwhelming,” Chambliss added. “We’re seeing a huge uptake in the number of people interested in sheep, and we want to do what we can to help them. We’ve both seen people who get into this industry, and they don’t know how to invest their resources.” The online education module will closely follow the teach ings of ASI’s Sheep Production Handbook , but in a simpler

form that offers new producers a less daunting introduction to the American sheep industry. In-person workshops will focus on the six-state region of Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. A fall lambing school in South Dakota is already in the works. The group plans to implement the online education mod ule and forum through ASI’s SheepUSA.org website. Chambliss hopes to have made enough progress on the educational course and other plans to share a sneak peak of the program at the 2025 ASI Annual Convention in Scotts dale, Ariz. The group has already purchased a dystocia simulator that will be used at in-person clinics to educate participants on the proper ways and techniques to pull lambs to reduce mortality during parturition. “The big message from what we’re doing is that we have a passion for helping and educating people who would like to get into the sheep industry,” said Chambliss. “And we’re thankful to the National Sheep Industry Improvement Cen ter for believing in us enough to provide this grant.”

12 • Sheep Industry News • sheepusa.org