ASI News Briefs

• May 2014
  • President’s Notes
  • Market Report
  • Industry Weighs Payette Decision
  • Producers Now Eligible for USDA Disaster Assistance
  • ESA listing of Sage Grouse
  • Parentage Test Could Benefit Sheep Producers
  • Sheep Begin Fire Break Duties
  • Don’t Let Your Farm be Fodder for Activists
  • Reducing Contamination Vital to Wool Quality
  • Data-Driven Approach
  • ASI Awarded MAP, FMD Funding
  • Obituaries
  • Business Spotlight
  • ASI News Briefs
  • ALB Roadmap Committees Selected

Nominations for individuals to serve on the 2015 American Lamb Board (ALB) are being accepted by ASI. Two positions held by sheep producers are up for appointment – one for a producer who owns less than 100 head of sheep annually and one for a producer who owns more than 500 head of sheep annually. One of the nominees must be from Region 1 – east of the Mississippi River. Applications must be received by May 15. For more information or to locate the nomination forms, visit www.ams.usda.gov/LambNominationInformation. 

 

Sheep Center Board Positions Open 

The ASI executive board will hold a conference call this month to make nominations for individuals to serve on the National Sheep Industry Improvement Center (NSIIC) board of directors. The sheep center was established as part of the 2008 Farm Bill and its board administers a grant program designed to improve the competitiveness of the U.S. sheep and goat industries.  The NSIIC board will have three vacancies. Nomination forms and information can be found at www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/NSIIC. Nominations are due to ASI by May 15. 

COOL Rules to Be Re-Heard May 19 

A Federal Appeals Court on April 4 threw out the District Court’s March 28 denial of meat producers’ request to delay enforcement of USDA’s new country-of-original labeling (COOL) requirements. The Appeals Court ordered that the case be reheard on May 19, 2014.  USDA’s final COOL rule, published in May 2013, requires producers to specify the country or countries where an animal was born, raised and slaughtered and prohibits industry from mixing muscle cuts from different countries under a generic label. 

U.S. Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) in April wrote to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) urging the FDA to exempt raw agricultural commodities, distillers grain and other byproducts from a promised revision of a proposed rule dealing with livestock feed. As first proposed, the rule would add new requirements to producers of distillers grains, including brewers and ethanol plants and increase the cost for livestock producers who use these byproducts.

Lamb Feeders Leadership School Set

The National Lamb Feeders Association’s 28th Annual Howard Wyman Sheep Industry Leadership School will be held in Dixon, Calif., July 13–16. 

The program will include a tour of the Superior Farms processing facility, discussions on offal production, pelts and ovine blood collected for research purposes. Participants will also tour a nearby rendering facility, a retail grocery market and a pet food packaging facility. 

Melissa VanLaningham, Ph.D., director of food science at Superior Farms, will serve as the school coordinator.