Second EID Webinar Planned for Tuesday
A second American Sheep Industry Association-sponsored webinar covering topics related to electronic identification is scheduled for Tuesday beginning at 8 p.m. eastern time. The webinar is entitled Data Driven Decisions: Incorporating EID in Flock Management.
In this webinar, ASI Animal Health Committee Co-Chairs Dr. Jim Logan and Dr. Cindy Wolf will host a presentation by Julie A. Frinzel – Livestock and Natural Resources Advisor, University of California Cooperative Extension – followed by a producer panel discussion.
Panelists include:
- Elaine Palm of Great Lakes Lamb in West Branch, Mich.: Elaine and her parents raise sheep for meat and for breeding stock, plus the crops and pasture that support the sheep flock. She and her husband, Rick, have goals to raise a new generation on the farm beginning in August with the anticipated arrival of their first baby. Like many farmers, Elaine and Rick have careers off the farm and spend many mornings, evenings, weekends and vacation days building the farm business.
- Kristen Bieber, Targhee producer in Brockway, Mont.: Kristen runs registered and commercial Targhee flocks with her husband, Cord, in Eastern Montana. They started using IED tags in the registered sheep to aid in collecting data for the National Sheep Improvement Program, and then tagged all of the commercial sheep with EIDs to help in management decisions.
- Ryan Mahoney, Emigh Livestock, Dixon, Calif.: Ryan is president and chief executive officer of Emigh Livestock, which traces its roots back to 1877 when the Emigh family first settled in the hills near Rio Vista, Calif., to farm and raise sheep.
Click Here to view an archived version of the first webinar, which provided an overview of EID technology and its uses.
Click Here to register for the second webinar.
Both webinars are made possible with funding support from ASI and a cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Producers Continue to Embrace AWA Program
After its launch last spring, the American Wool Assurance program is starting to make its mark on the domestic wool industry. Developed by the American Sheep Industry Association in response to customer demand, this voluntary program provides peace of mind that certified wool is being produced through a high level of sheep care and management.
More than 200 producers across the United States have joined the AWA program, while more than 65 have already reached Level I – Educated status. Many of them are making progress toward reaching Level II – Process Verified with the assistance of a pool of trained second-party evaluators. ASI has contracted with CloverLeaf Animal Welfare Systems to provide the necessary third-party audits that producers will have to undertake to reach Level III – Certified. A list of approved evaluators and auditors can be found after logging into the AWA website.
As wool growers work their way through the program, wool buyers and processors – particularly those in Europe – have expressed interest in purchasing AWA-certified wools – in some cases at a premium – to alleviate textile industry and consumer concerns about the process of harvesting the all-natural fiber.
Click Here to learn more about the program.
New Wool Season Opens With a Loss
The Australian wool market had a soft opening to the new 2022-23 wool selling season this week, recording an overall loss for the second series in a row. Although the wool on offer attracted good widespread competition, it was apparent from the opening lot in the East that the prices on offer were below those achieved in the previous series.
In Sydney and Melbourne, general falls in Merino fleece types of between 10 and 60 cents were reflected in the individual Micron Price Guides, which fell by between 7 and 58 cents. The largest drop in prices was felt in the Western region. Selling last, prices continually deteriorated on the final day. The Merino fleece MPGs in Fremantle dropped by between 42 and 79 cents for the week. The skirtings followed a similar path to the fleece, while the oddments and crossbreds recorded minimal overall movements.
The result of these market movements was a 23-cent reduction in the AWEX Eastern Market Indicator. After finishing the year 7 cents above last year’s close, the EMI has now fallen below the corresponding sale of the previous season. At 1,407 cents, the EMI is now 13 cents lower than the 1,420 cents it closed at in Week 1 of the 2021-22 season. When viewed in U.S. dollar terms, the fall in the EMI is more significant as the AUD is 6.67 cents lower than this time last year. The EMI is 104 U.S. cents lower than Week 1 of last season.
Next week is the final sale before the annual three-week, mid-year recess and the national offering increases considerably as sellers take the final selling opportunity before the break. Currently, there are expected to be 61,054 bales on offer nationally. That would make it the largest wool sale since Week 36 of the 2019-20 season.
Click Here for the Full Australian Wool Market Report.
Source: AWEX
Texas Sheep & Goat Expo Set for August
The Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service’s eighth annual Texas Sheep and Goat Expo will be held Aug. 19-20 in San Angelo, Texas. The largest event of its kind in the state, the expo draws industry producers from across the country and internationally. This year’s theme is Protecting Your Investment.
The expo will be held at 1st Community Federal Credit Union Spur Arena at the San Angelo Fairgrounds. On Aug. 19, the expo will run from noon to 8:30 p.m. The event will start at 7 a.m. on Aug. 20 and conclude at 1 p.m. The cost is $75, if registered in advance at https://tx.ag/TSGE22, or $100 onsite. Lunch is included both days in addition to dinner on Aug. 19 and breakfast on Aug. 20. Mike Conaway – former U.S. Congressman from District 11 – is the featured dinner speaker.
“In today’s economic environment with supply chain disruptions and skyrocketing input cost, producers are working to make the right choices to maintain their operations for generations to come,” said Robert Pritz, event coordinator and AgriLife Extension regional program leader in San Angelo. “We hope the expo can help producers make those vital decisions and protect the sustainability of their operations.”
The expo will feature guest speakers, educational seminars and live sessions for participants to choose from. The event will cover a wide range of industry topics on Aug. 20, including business and marketing, wildlife management, health and management 101, and Path to the Plate lamb and goat meal ideas and recipes. On Aug. 20, the concurrent sessions will allow participants to focus on the track of their choice: wool sheep, hair sheep, club lambs, meat goats or Angora goats. There will be exhibitors and vendor presentations both days. A youth program and the Sheep and Goat Skill-a-Thon are also on the schedule, taking place Aug. 20 from 8 a.m.- 1 p.m.
The 49th Sheep and Goat Field Day will also be held in conjunction with the expo. The free event will be held from 8:30-11:30 a.m. on Aug. 19 at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in San Angelo. Participants will hear from experts and observe firsthand the center’s sheep and goats, livestock guardian dog program and the Bill Sims wool lab.
Click Here for more information.
Source: Texas A&M AgriLife
Last Call for Lamb Summit Registration
With the American Lamb Summit just a month away – and only a few seats remaining – anyone wanting to attend should register in the next few days. Complete information is available at LambSummit.com.
The Lamb Summit begins Monday, Aug. 8, in East Lansing, Mich. Sessions focus on industry challenges and opportunities, competitor analysis, eating quality of lamb (including a taste panel), carcass quality evaluation and yield cutting demos, and accelerated lambing.
Aug. 9 sessions will feature hands-on learning about meat and muscle biology, genetics and meat quality, ultrasounding to determine meat quality, feed composition’s influence on carcass composition, industry environmental sustainability, plus insights into the non-traditional and direct-to-consumer markets.
An optional tour on Aug. 10 is of the Metro-Detroit lamb packing plant, retail markets specializing in non-traditional consumers, and a middle eastern restaurant that features lamb. This region is home to the largest Arab-American population in the United States, who are important customers for the American lamb industry. This one-of-a-kind tour is organized by the Michigan Sheep Producers Association.
The 2022 American Lamb Summit – sponsored by Premier 1 Supplies and the American Lamb Board – strives to inspire the next level of change and collaboration among all segments of the American lamb industry to improve competitiveness, product quality and productivity through increased use of the most efficient, progressive management tools.
Source: ALB
Cornerstone Provides Legislative Update
The American Sheep Industry Association’s lobbying firm – Cornerstone Government Affairs – offered an update this week on legislative issues in Washington, D.C.
Federal judge voids Trump-era Endangered Species regulation changes
U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar ruled on Tuesday this week to overturn Trump-era changes to the Endangered Species Act, including one that allowed economic factors to be considered when determining whether to list a species as threatened or endangered.
The ruling will also void a regulation that made it more difficult for determinations to be made based off of future events, such as climate change. The 2019 lawsuit – filed by environmental non-profits – argued that the two federal agencies responsible for the implementation of the regulations – the U.S. Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Marine Fisheries Service – failed to provide a “reasoned basis” for the changes to the regulations, and thus violated federal law.
H-2A farmworker wage rule under review at White House
In December, the U.S. Department of Labor posted draft regulations to raise required wages for farmworkers on H-2A guest-worker visas. Additionally, the proposed rule would require all workers who fall within multiple job classifications to be paid under the occupation with the highest wage.
Currently, employers of H-2A workers must pay workers the highest of the adverse effect wage rate, the prevailing hourly or piece rate, the agreed upon collective bargaining wage, or the federal or state minimum wage. Last week, the department sent the final rule to the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for approval – the last step before its publication in the Federal Register.
DSANA Offers Milk Monitoring Webinar
The Dairy Sheep Association of North America will offer a webinar on Wednesday beginning at 1 p.m. eastern time entitled How to Begin Milk Metering on Your Sheep Dairy: Producers Share Their Methods for Collecting Milk Data that Matters.
Sheep dairy producers will speak about the various methods they use to measure their individual ewes’ milk production, as methods vary from the simple to the complex. Producers will cover topics ranging from how many ewes they monitor to how often they monitor and how they record that information for future use.
Click Here to register for the free webinar.
Source: DSANA
FAS Schedules Tax Prep Webinars
Filing taxes for an agricultural operation can be challenging, and many producers may not have the funds to hire accountants or tax professionals to assist. U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Farm Service Agency and the National Farm Income Tax Extension Committee are offering two free webinars:
- Tuesday, July 12, 2 p.m. eastern time: An Introduction to Ag Taxes: What New Farmers Should Know. Learn more about who is considered a farmer for IRS tax purposes and how to choose a tax professional. Register here.
- Monday, Aug. 15, 2 p.m. eastern time: Using the Tax Calculator. The Farm Tax Estimator Tool is an interactive spreadsheet that producers can download to estimate tax liability. Register here.
Find other resources at farmers.gov/taxes.
Source: USDA/FAS