ASI’s producer-driven structure includes a Board of Directors and Executive Board plus councils and committees that are tasked with developing and executing policies on issues affecting the sheep industry.
Ben Lehfeldt, President
A fifth-generation sheep rancher from Montana, Lehfeldt’s family has been involved in the sheep industry for 135 years. Lehfeldt has served on ASI’s Wool Council and is a director for the Montana Wool Growers Association. In addition, he served on the American Lamb Board and has been the sheep industry representative to the National Grazing Lands Coalition.
Joe Pozzi, Vice President
A fourth-generation rancher, California’s Joe Pozzi has taken his family operation in a variety of new directions that show the value of niche marketing for both lamb and wool. After college at Chico State University, Pozzi returned to the family ranch and promptly expanded the sheep side of an operation that had operated previously as a small dairy and cattle ranch. In an effort to turn a profit with the sheep, Pozzi started Sonoma Wool Company to direct market wool products and moved to selling grass-fed lamb into local markets in Northern California. Instead of shipping lambs once a year, he works with other area sheep producers to supply a truckload of lambs each week throughout the year.
Pozzi served as the Region IV representative on the ASI Executive Board from 2013-2016 before taking a break from serving in a national leadership position. He was then elected ASI secretary/treasurer in January 2023 in Fort Worth, Texas.
Tammy Fisher, Secretary/Treasurer
Fisher is the fifth generation running part of the family ranch in Sonora, Texas. She raises commercial Rambouillet and Suffolk sheep, registered Angus and Polled Hereford cattle, and commercial Angora and Spanish/Boer goats. She is a licensed attorney in Texas and previously had her own law practice. Prior to that, she worked on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on agricultural issues and for the Texas Department of Agriculture.
She is the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers’ Association industry partners chair and has been involved in TSGRA her entire life. TSGRA elected her to represent Texas/Region V for two terms on the ASI Executive Board. She was also chair or co-chair of the ASI Legislative Action Council for six years. In addition, she is a proud 4-H volunteer. In her spare time, she loves ancestry travel and research and volunteers at the Sutton County Historical Society and local museums.
Fisher is proudly serving as a legacy leader in ASI, following in the footsteps of her late father, Glen, who was president of ASI in 2009-2010. They are believed to be the first father and child to both serve as officers of the association.
Brad Boner, Past President
Boner is a past president of the Wyoming Wool Growers Association who previously served as the Region VII director to the ASI Executive Board. In that capacity he represented Idaho, Montana and Wyoming within the association. He left that position in 2019 when he was elected secretary/treasurer of ASI and now serves as vice president.
A sheep and cattle producer in Glenrock, Wyoming, Boner previously was chairman of the Mountain States Lamb Cooperative and has worked tirelessly for the sheep industry as a part of ASI’s Wool Council, Lamb Council and Let’s Grow Committee.
Kevin Melvin, Region I Director
Region I = Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Patricia Sanville, Region II Director
Region II = Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
Patricia Sanville has spent the last 16 years living on a small farm in Frederick, Md., raising a family and raising sheep as well as various other species of livestock and crops. She has served several terms on the Maryland Sheep Breeders Association Board of Directors. She also serves as the director from Maryland to the American Sheep Industry Association. Patricia is currently serving a three-year term on the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center Board of Directors.
She also works with The Great Frederick Fair, where she holds the position of ag-education co-chair. In this role, she promotes all aspects of agriculture including beef, dairy, crops, equipment, beekeeping, soil, poultry, small ruminants, equine and swine, and biosecurity. She also works closely with both the 4-H and FFA programs in addition to the public and private schools in the area. Patricia is a trainer for ASI’s Secure Sheep and Wool Supply Program, as well as an evaluator for ASI’s American Wool Assurance Program.
Larry Hopkins, Region III Director
Region III = Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin
Larry Hopkins, his wife, Angie, and daughter, Emma O’Brien own and operate a purebred sheep and wool operation called Little Eagle Creek Valley Farm in Westfield, Ind. He is also a partner in the family dairy farm, which is managed by his brother.
Larry is a four-term past president of the Indiana Sheep Association, has received the associations’ Shepherd of the Year award and served six years on the Indiana Sheep and Wool Council, which oversees the state check-off program. He has served as a breed manager at the North American International Livestock Exposition for several years and volunteered in many capacities out in the sheep world.
During his professional career, Larry served as CEO/CAO of the Indiana Office of Attorney General for 19 years overseeing a combined $50 million budget and a staff of 400-plus. He also served as manager of Fishers, Ind., for seven years while it was among the 25 fastest growing communities in the United States. He has managed several statewide political campaigns, served as a national convention delegate and state director of the Dole for President campaign.
Larry is a lifelong member of Indiana Farm Bureau and has an additional daughter, Anna, who resides in Tallahassee, Fla., and flies home every year to help the family show sheep at the Indiana State Fair. Together, the family has exhibited sheep in 17 different states during a 25-year time span.
Lynn Fahrmeier, Region IV Director
Region IV = Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota.
Lynn Fahrmeier of Wellington, Mo., is a first-generation shepherd on a fifth-generation farm that has been in the family for more than 120 years. Lynn and his wife, Donna, have been raising Katahdin hair sheep since 1997. As an early adaptor of regenerative farming practices, the Fahrmeiers use their sheep flock and cattle herd to graze cover crops on many of their 2,000 acres of crop ground. Fahrmeier has been president of Katahdin Hair Sheep International, chairman of the National Sheep Improvement Program, and has served as a board member of the Missouri Sheep Producers Association for many years. He is currently serving on the Missouri Farm Bureau Sheep Committee and is chairman of the Wellington Community Christian Center.
A graduate of the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Fahrmeier has worked tirelessly to promote agriculture and has hosted many farm tours. The Fahrmeier’s have two children, Samuel and Elizabeth, and a son-in-law, Dillon.
Rodney Kott, Region V Director
Region V = Texas
Rodney Kott has actively been involved in the sheep industry all his life. He was born and raised in Fredericksburg, Texas, and grew up on a diversified ranch raising fine-wool sheep, angora goats and cattle. He raised Delaine and Corriedale breeding sheep exhibiting them at numerous county fairs and most major stock shows in Texas.
He has a BS (1974) and MS (1976) from Texas A&M University and a Ph.D. from New Mexico State University. After graduation, he moved to Montana, where he was the state sheep extension specialist and a professor in the Animal Science Department at Montana State University until he retired in 2013 (34 years). During that time, the family continued to operate the family sheep operation in Gillespie County.
Rodney returned to the home ranch in Texas after retiring and has been raising commercial fine-wool sheep. Rodney received a number of awards for his service to the sheep industry including ASI’s Flock Guardian (in 2009) and Wool Excellence (2013) awards and was chief editor of ASI’s Sheep and Goat Research Journal after retirement.
Rodney and his wife, Sharon, reside in his grandfather’s house in the Wolf Creek area of Gillespie County. He and Sharon have a son (Bryan) who is an assistant high school principal in Garden City, Kan., and a daughter (Lisa Harrington) who is a nurse practitioner in Fredericksburg.
Julie Hansmire , Region VI Director
Region VI = Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona and Nevada
John Noh, Region VII Director
Region VII = Idaho, Montana and Wyoming
Ryan Indart, Region VIII Director
Region VIII = California, Hawaii, Oregon and Washington
Ryan Indart is a Fourth Generation Sheep Rancher in Fresno County CA. In 2009 Ryan purchased the sheep ranching enterprise from the family business and started The Indart Group, Inc., which is engaged in sheep ranching, direct marketing of lamb, dry land farming, custom sheep grazing services specializing in large utility scale solar projects and custom farm work. He currently grazes around 3,500 Targhee X Finn sheep, and shears over 30,000 pounds of wool that is warehoused and sold through Roswell Wool. Along with sheep ranching, Ryan and his family also farm cherries, oranges, almonds, and dry land wheat and barley in Fresno County and on the family ranch in Clovis, CA.
Ryan is extremely proud and honored to have the opportunity to continue the Indart Family name in the sheep industry today. Ryan is an active and involved leader in many aspects of the Sheep Industry. He is a past president of and current Board member of the California Wool Growers Association and Western Range Association. He is a Board member of the National Lamb Feeders Association. He is the past Chair and Board member of The Clovis Chamber of Commerce. He is the current VP of The Fresno County Farm Bureau and sits on the District 8 Liaison Committee for Blue Diamond Growers.
Ryan’s passion for the sheep ranching industry and farming community are evidenced by his involvement in it, and his continued commitment to the survival and success of a lifestyle and industry that is defined by its deep roots of family, tradition, environmental stewardship, sacrifice, and perseverance. Ryan is happily married to his wife Beatriz and have four daughters: Lucia, Cecilia, Maggie, and Anna Marie.
Kate Harlan, National Lamb Feeders Association
Kate grew up on sheep and cattle ranch in Kaycee, Wyo. After earning a bachelor’s degree at the University of Wyoming, she had an opportunity to partner with her father, Bob, on the family ranch and other business opportunities. She is a member of the National Lamb Feeders Association, and has been a participant of several Howard Wyman Leadership Schools. She has served on the Wool Council, and continues to be an advocate for agriculture whenever she can.