We Support You
We hope you enjoy our annual Ram Sale Edition. We are proud to send it to your mailboxes. While 2013 has not been the best year for sheep producers, it was certainly better than 2012.
Wool and lamb prices are not the best, and with the high costs of just doing business these days, it does create some challenges. Prices do seem to be inching up and not going down, so we need to be thankful for that.
As most know, there have been some challenges at the Wyoming Wool Growers Association (WWGA) in the past year, some restructuring, a new website, a new roof on the office building and, most importantly, a renewed spirit. Along with that spirit, a new executive director has been hired, the WWGA Board selected Amy Wallop Hendrickson, who grew up in the Sheridan and Big Horn area. She still has ties to the communities and comes with a world of experience. We hope the best for her, and we will do what we can to assist her in her duties whenever asked.
In our businesses and life, we have all been through tough times and as they say one is measured on how they bounce back and move forward. Well, Peter John Comino, the Wyoming Wool Growers president from Buffalo, and his present and past board of directors have done quite a job of bouncing back. We support them and thank them – their job is not finished, but they are getting there.
If you are any way in the sheep business, you need to be a member of WWGA. As with joining the other livestock organizations, whatever you raise – cattle or sheep – you need to have a good organization watching your back. In this fast paced world, ranchers, farmers and all owners and managers of livestock need a credible livestock or agricultural organization behind them. The choice of organization is yours – just join up. Just remember, good information is gold these days. If you are on overload with information these days, that’s a good place to be.
Talk about good information, sheep producers in the United States have the American Lamb Board to help promote lamb. The American Lamb Board is based out of Denver, Colo. and was established in 2002. It is a promotion, research and information organization whose purpose is to increase demand for American lamb and increase the value of American Lamb for all segments of the industry. The board of directors is appointed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary of Agriculture and represents all sectors of the sheep industry. There is the old saying I read in a sheep magazine that says, “If you don’t promote, a terrible thing happens – nothing.”
If you are looking for rams, head to Douglas on Sept. 10 for the 85th Annual Wyoming State Ram Sale. The sale and dinner the night before are great events. Over 300 some rams will be sold. Besides helping yourself, you will be helping the Wyoming Wool Growers Association who, in turn, will help you some day.
