Managed Grazing Webinar Set for July 20
The Skills and Principles of Managed Grazing on Improved Pastures will be the topic of discussion for the next American Sheep Industry Association-sponsored webinar, which will be conducted on July 20 at 8 p.m. eastern time. Woody Lane, Ph.D., of Lane Livestock Services will be the featured presenter.
The webinar will focus on managed grazing – the knowledge of how forages grow combined with the skills of moving sheep, estimating intake, balancing the needs of forages and sheep, and managing pastures by grazing sheep in sustainable and efficient ways.
“We’ll describe how to decide when to open the gate, when to move sheep off the paddock, and practical tips about stocking density, electric fences, weed control, gate latches, the grazing wedge and a new way of describing grazing systems,” according to the webinar description. “Basically, we’ll describe how to manage improved pastures to capture sunlight efficiently and profitably.”
Click Here to register for the free webinar.
Click Here to review previous webinars in the ASI/Let’s Grow-sponsored series hosted by Dr. Jay Parsons of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
ASI Photo Contest Deadline is Approaching
Photographers have just less than a month to submit their entries in the 2021 ASI Photo Contest. The deadline to enter photos is 5 p.m. mountain time on Aug. 2.
A new category called Shepherd/Shepherdess has been added to this year’s contest to include photos of producers, herders or others working with sheep. The new category replaces the action category. Photographs entered in the contest will be judged on clarity, content, composition and appeal.
More than $1,000 will be awarded, with awards of $125 going to the first-place photographer in each of the five categories listed below; $75 for the runner-up in each category; and a $50 prize for third place in each of the five categories.
Photographers are advised to submit photographs in the largest file size possible. Also, judges and ASI staff encourage entrants to provide both horizontal and vertical photos. This will better assure these talented and creative photos can be shared in future issues of the Sheep Industry News, as well as in the 2022 ASI Calendar and other American sheep industry publications.
The five categories in this year’s contest are:
- Shepherd/Shepherdess – Photographs of producers, shepherds or others working with sheep.
- Scenic (East) – Photographs of sheep outdoors located east of the Mississippi River. Photos entered in this category cannot include people.
- Scenic (West) – Photographs of sheep outdoors located west of the Mississippi River. Photos entered in this category cannot include people.
- Working Dogs and Protection Animals – Photographs in this category should show herding dogs, livestock guardian dogs or any other livestock protection animal in their natural environments. Photos must also include sheep in some fashion as proof that these truly are working animals.
- Open – Photographs with subject matter that does not fall into the four above-listed categories.
Entries should be emailed to Kyle Partain at [email protected] with the subject line of ASI Photo Contest. Those mailing photos should send them to ASI; Attn: Photo Contest; 9785 Maroon Circle, Suite 360; Englewood, CO 80112.
Click Here for complete contest rules.
New Season Opens with Minimal Movement in Australian Market
The Australian wool market opened the 2021-22 wool selling season solidly this week, with the market recording minimal overall price movements in a larger than normal offering. Nationally there were 51,260 bales available to the trade, bolstered in part by sellers wanting to offer in the new financial year. This was the largest amount offered this calendar year and significantly more (66.3 percent) than the first sale of the previous season, where only 30,821 bales were offered.
On the opening selling day of the season, buyers adopted a cautious approach and as a result the market generally softened. The movements in the individual Micron Price Guides across the country ranged between +9 and -45 cents. The AWEX Eastern Market Indicator lost 14 cents for the day. The Western region – selling last – showed signs of improvement late in the day. This stronger buyer sentiment carried into the second day, where the MPGs ranged between -6 and +21 cents and the EMI added 4 cents. The final day – with only Melbourne in operation – the market continued to strengthen overall, with the EMI adding a further 7 cents. The EMI closed the week at 1,420 Australian cents, a minimal 3-cent drop.
When compared to the opening sale of the previous season – which concluded a week earlier on July 2, 2020 – the EMI has added 304 cents for an increase of 27.2 percent. Although this was the first sale of the season, there has already been a high price of note. On Tuesday, a line of 12.8-micron Merino fleece wool sold for 8,100 greasy cents. This was the highest price seen at auction in more than three years.
Next week is the final sale before the annual three-week, mid-year recess. As this is the last selling opportunity at auction for nearly a month, quantities remain high. Currently, 51,327 bales are expected to be offered nationally.
Source: AWEX
Sheep Center Accepting Grant Applications
The National Sheep Industry Improvement Center’s Board of Directors is accepting grant proposals through Sept. 15. The grants must be designed to improve the American sheep industry.
The sheep center has budgeted about $300,000 to support projects consistent with the grant program. The average grant amount during the last four years has been about $29,000. Financial assistance provided by the sheep center must accomplish one or more of the following objectives:
- Strengthen and enhance the production and marketing of sheep and sheep products in the United States through the improvement of infrastructure, business, resource development and the development of innovative approaches to solve long term problems.
- Provide leadership training and education to industry stakeholders.
- Enhance sheep and sheep products in the United States through assistance to all segments of the industry to address sustainable production and marketing of sheep and sheep products.
- Promote marketing of sheep and sheep products through an organized method that can measure tangible results.
- Enhance the sheep industry by coordinating information exchange and by seeking mutual understanding and marketing within the industry community.
For more information about applying for a grant, contact NSIIC Program Manager Steve Lee at 207-236-6567 or [email protected], or send mail to National Sheep Industry Improvement Center; 1578 Spring Water Way, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129. Additional information about the sheep center is available on the NSIIC website.
ASI, USDA Plan Appeal of USSES Ruling
United States officials and a sheep industry group have filed notices to appeal a federal court ruling involving an eastern Idaho sheep research facility long targeted by environmental groups concerned about the potential harm to grizzly bears and other wildlife.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the American Sheep Industry Association filed the notices late last month to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. A judge’s ruling in April prevents grazing in significant areas used by the Agriculture Department’s U.S. Sheep Experiment Station.
Grazing was suspended in 2013 following previous lawsuits by environmental groups contending the areas contain key wildlife habitat that is a corridor for grizzly bears between Yellowstone National Park and Glacier National Park.
Grazing resumed following the release of a 2017 environmental impact statement considering the effects of sheep grazing on wildlife.
The Western Watersheds Project and two other groups filed a new lawsuit in early 2019 challenging the government’s decision allowing sheep owned by the University of Idaho to graze in the Centennial Mountains of Idaho and Montana.
A federal judge in April agreed with the environmental groups that the government hadn’t adequately examined all of the impacts with its 2017 environmental review.
Click Here to read the full article.
Source: Capital Press
Video of the Week
Idaho-based Life on the Range released a new video this week to educate the general public on the role of livestock guardian dogs. While the video features Idaho sheep producers and others who deal with public lands issues, the content is applicable to sheep producers all across the United States.
In the last year, a number of guard dogs were picked up by people on Bureau of Land Management or National Forest lands, thinking the dogs were pets that were lost or abandoned. But in fact, the dogs were not lost. They were out in the field, protecting the sheep. Interactions between guard dogs and humans on public lands increased dramatically in 2020 as Americans turned to outdoor recreation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Click Here for the full story and video.
Source: Life on the Range