Denver Slaughterhouse Ban Fails
Denver city residents rejected a proposed ban on slaughterhouses on Tuesday, when more than 64 percent of voters said no to Ordinance 309. The ban unfairly targeted a single business – Superior Farms’ lamb plant on the city’s north side.
“Activists from New Orleans and California used dark money from out of state to try and shut down this local company, but they lost to Colorado workers, farmers, ranchers and restaurateurs,” said Ian Silverii, campaign spokesperson for Stop the Ban, Protect Jobs (No on 309). “A record number of endorsers and local supporters from across the political spectrum joined with us to defeat this ban, and their local voices mattered in this election. We have one message for those who tried to come to our city and our state to run their experiment to upend the lives of so many hardworking people: it was a baaaaaaaad idea.”
Animal extremists admitted the Denver ban was a test case for pushing slaughterhouse bans in cities all across the United States. With far-reaching implications on the city ballot, livestock and meat industry organizations came together with the American Sheep Industry Association and its members to provide financial and logistical support for the Stop the Ban campaign. ASI was a key partner in the Stop the Ban Campaign, which launched at the 2024 ASI Annual Convention in January. The combined efforts resulted in saving 160 jobs of Superior Farms’ employee-owners and allowed the American sheep industry to keep open a plant that provides up to 20 percent of all lamb harvesting capacity in the United States.
“I can’t tell you how relieved I am,” said Gustavo Fernandez, General Manager of Superior Farms Denver, who has worked there for more than 30 years. “I and the workers at this facility just want to do our jobs and provide for our families. Now we can get back to that without this huge weight on our shoulders. Thank you, Denver!”
Source: Stop the Ban
Wool Calculator Now on SheepUSA.org
SheepUSA.org – the official website of the American Sheep Industry Association – is now home to a Wool Calculator for American sheep producers. Previously, the Wool Calculator was only available on the ASI Market News App.
The Wool Calculator allows you to see the current price of wool in both clean and greasy terms, as well as how prices increase or decrease with changes in micron, yield and quality. While micron is the primary driver of price, multiple factors including yield, length, strength and contamination play a role in the price.
Fortunately, these are all things that can be managed, allowing producers to garner a better price for their wool. The Wool Calculator allows you to see how big of a difference lower micron, higher yield and better quality can make.
Click Here for the Wool Calculator.
ASI Accepting Awards Nominations
It’s time once again to submit nominations for ASI awards, which will be presented during the ASI Annual Convention on Jan. 15-18, 2025, in Scottsdale, Ariz. The deadline for all award nominations is Nov. 29.
There are five awards open for nominations: The McClure Silver Ram Award, the Peter Orwick Camptender Award, the Distinguished Producer Award, the Industry Innovation Award and the Shepherd’s Voice Award.
Nominations must be submitted to ASI by Nov. 29, and past recipients of these awards are not eligible.
Click Here for more information.
ASI Accepting Officer Nominations
American Sheep Industry Association Nominating Committee Chair Susan Shultz reminds sheep producer leaders and state associations that nominations for ASI Secretary/Treasurer are due in November.
Interested producers should share a letter of interest – including leadership experience in the sheep industry – with the ASI office by Nov. 29. The committee will then agree on a nomination slate of officers to be presented to the ASI Board of Directors at its annual meeting in January.
Contact Executive Director Peter Orwick at 303-771-3500, ext 103, or [email protected] for more information.
Get Ready for Lambing
Sheep producers who want to prepare for lambing season will have three great opportunities this month. Two lambing classes will be taught in person, while the third is an online webinar.
Kansas State University Research and Extension is offering a Kidding and Lambing 101 Workshop on Nov. 18 at the Butler County Community/4-H Building in El Dorado, Kan. Learn the basics and prepare for lambing (and kidding) season in the process.
Click Here for more information.
ASI’s Young & Emerging Entrepreneurs will host a lambing school on Nov. 23 in Watertown, S.D. This one-day lambing school will focus on the preparation and basics of lambing. This school intends to educate and empower beginning sheep producers to be confident and successful in the lambing barn, improving lamb survival.
Click Here for more information.
On Nov. 26, the University of Missouri Extension will host its monthly sheep and goat webinar on Lamb and Kid Care: The First 72 Hours. Dr. Roselle Busch of the University of California-Davis will be the guest speaker and MU Small Ruminant Specialist David Brown will be the facilitator.
Click Here to register for the webinar.
Dairy Sheep Producers Needed for Online Survey
The University of Wisconsin-Madison continues to seek participants in a research survey to understand management practices and perceptions related to ewe health in the American dairy sheep industry.
Eligible participants must be at least 18 years of age and manage dairy ewes on a United States farm. Participants do not have to complete the survey – which will take approximately 40 minutes – in one session. They may save their answers and return to the survey later. Participants will receive a $20 e-gift card as compensation for their time.
All answers will be confidential and will not be shared with anyone outside the research team.
Click Here to start the survey.
Source: UW-Madison
ALB Reaches Thousands with Tailgate Promotion
The American Lamb Board’s Tastes of the Tailgates promotion kicked off in October, reaching hundreds of college game-day fans in person and thousands more online.
The event featured 12 tailgate hosts sharing American lamb with fellow fans at a tailgate for their favorite college football team. ALB chose three hosts with the following gameday personalities: Tailgate MVP – Signature Cut: Rack of American lamb; Crowd Pleaser – Signature Cut: Shoulder or Boneless Leg; and Couch Quarterback – Signature Cut: Ground.
Each participant then submitted a 30- to 60-second video of their tailgate adventures, and three winners will receive a prize pack, including a YETI cooler, tote and water bottle. Winners will be chosen based on the following:
- Best Tailgate Video.
- Most Creative American Lamb Dish.
- Best Winning Record for Their College Team.
In addition to the in-person tailgate events, ALB partnered with Cooking with Darryl – an online cooking personality with 458,000 followers on Instagram and 2.9 million followers on TikTok – to promote American lamb for tailgating. Cooking with Darryl will share three recipe videos representing each of the tailgate personalities, and online participants will have a chance to win prizes when they follow the American lamb social media sites (@fanoflamb) and tag fellow tailgaters. Participants will be entered to win a rack of American lamb for the holidays, along with Darryl’s cookbook, salt and pepper grinders and a wine aerator.
“Seasonal campaigns like this are a great way to keep American lamb top of mind year-round, but also extend the reach of the marketing campaign to thousands more online,” said ALB Chair Jeff Ebert. “It has been incredible to see the reach of these campaigns when we combine in-person events with online videos that reach an even larger online audience.”
Click Here to learn more about the campaign and check out some featured videos of the Taste of Tailgates promotion.
Source: ALB
PLC Launches New Website
The Public Lands Council launched an updated website this week in an effort to further promote public lands ranchers and the issues they face every day as they effectively manage millions of acres of grazing land in the West.
Click Here to visit the new website.
Source: PLC
Legislative Update from Washington, D.C.
The American Sheep Industry Association’s lobbying firm – Cornerstone Government Affairs – offered an update this week on legislative issues in our nation’s capital.
Trump Elected President, GOP Gains Senate Control
Millions of Americans took to the polls to vote in the presidential election on Tuesday, the aftermath bringing about large waves of change. Voting results from battleground states such as Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan were tabulated quicker than originally anticipated and by early Wednesday morning a majority of mainstream news outlets projected former President Donald J. Trump as the clear winner over Vice President Kamala Harris.
In addition to the Republicans flipping the White House, the Senate GOP managed to flip three seats held by Democrat incumbents in Ohio, West Virginia and Montana, whereas Democrats were unable to flip any, solidifying Republicans as the majority party for the next Congress. Pennsylvania, Nevada and Arizona’s Senate races are still too close to call at this point, although Republicans lead in Pennsylvania (which would be another flip). Democrats hold slight leads in both Nevada and Arizona.
While dozens of House races have yet to called, it is predicted House Republicans will likely retain the majority but only by a slim margin, resulting in a potential Republican sweep across the legislative and executive branches.
From an Agriculture leadership perspective, Sen. John Boozman (Ark.) will be the next Chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) is expected to assume the top Democrat position previously belonging to Sen. Debbie Stabenow (Mich.). On the House side, Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson (Penn.) and Rep. David Scott (Ga.) will remain as the top Republican and Democrat of the House Agriculture Committee, respectively.
Other notable Agriculture Committee Member changes include Rep. Nick Molinaro (N.Y.) and Sen. Sherrod Brown (Ohio), who both lost their seats to their respective challengers. Next week, members return to Washington to wrap up the 118th Congress with a lame duck legislative session. It is still uncertain as to whether the Farm Bill will be seriously considered during the lame duck or just extended and punted into the next Congress under an all-Republican majority.
Australian Wool Market Up Slightly
The Australian wool market recorded rises across all three selling days in this series – albeit small ones – to record the first overall weekly increase since Oct. 10. The national quantity continued to be relatively small for this time of year as there were 35,505 bales available to the trade. This is compared to the 42,682 bales on offer at the corresponding sale last season.
With Melbourne having a holiday on Tuesday, it was just Sydney and Fremantle in operation on the opening day of selling. Fremantle recorded increases across all published Micron Price Guides of between 9 and 14 cents. Sydney posted mixed results; however, the rises were enough for a 3-cent rise in the Northern indicator, which in turn was enough to push the benchmark AWEX Eastern Market Indicator up by 1 cent. This one-cent rise halted the downward run of the EMI, which had fallen for the previous six selling days.
The second day of selling, all three centers were in operation, and in general terms the market continued to rise. The Merino fleece MPG price movements across the country ranged between minus 2 and plus 21 cents. Only the 17.5 micron and finer MPGs in the North posted losses. The EMI added 5 cents for the day.
The final day was a standalone Melbourne sale. Again, small MPG movements were recorded. The EMI added another cent to close the week. The market fluctuations continue to be small, the 1-cent rise in the EMI marked the 10th consecutive selling day where the EMI movement has been 5 cents or less (both positive and negative movements). The EMI closed the week 7 cents higher at 1,132 Australian cents.
Due to a strengthening of the Australian dollar, when viewed in U.S. dollar terms the increase in the market and the U.S. EMI was more significant. The EMI added 13 U.S. cents for the series.
Click Here for the ASI Conversion Chart – AWEX Prices to USD Per Pound
Source: AWEX