OSIA and OSU Extension Announce District Sheep and Goat Programs
Sheep and goat producers throughout Ohio are invited to take part in one or more educational sessions through the 2010 District Sheep and Goat Programs. The Ohio Sheep Improvement Association (OSIA) and Ohio State University Extension have sponsored the series of educational programs held at various locations throughout Ohio since 2001.Read More.

Producers flock to Buckeye Shepherd's Symposium
Approximately 200 sheep and goat producers attended the 2009 Buckeye Shepherd's Symposium hosted at the Ohio Department of Agriculture in Reynoldsburg in December. Read More.

2009 Ohio Sheep Day
The air was filled with positive thoughts of an exciting Ohio sheep industry and the OSIA/OSWP/OSU coordinated Ohio Sheep Day was another overwhelming success. Sheep producers from all over Ohio and other states flowed in to learn about several topics related to the sheep industry. The food served was generous and very well prepared. There was just nothing to complain about during the day of Saturday, July 11, 2009 at the OARDC Eastern Research Station (EARS), in Caldwell, Ohio. Read More.

85 PERCENT APPROVAL FOR AMERICAN LAMB PROMOTION
By an astounding margin of 85.1 percent, the members of the U.S. sheep industry voted to continue the deduction on sheep sales to support the marketing of American lamb. Read More.

Natural Resource Agencies Meet with Sheep Producers

"We are taking a look at the locations where bighorn sheep and domestic sheep are coexisting in an effort to gather information that would reduce strict separation guidelines," said officials of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service (FS) agency to more than a dozen western sheep producers during a meeting last week.

Anne Zimmerman, acting associate deputy for FS, mentioned that "a more critical issue to the survival of the bighorn sheep than domestic sheep interaction is land fragmentation due to oil and gas operations. Wildlife corridors and open space is at risk because of the control these permittees have over private lands adjacent to the FS allotments."

Sheep producers reiterated their request to not develop Best Management Practices (BMP) at the national level since that sets standards that would likely limit the opportunity for landowners and permittees to develop site-specific plans. The FS recognized the need for the BMP's to be site specific and also recognized that BMP's need to be more comprehensive than just separation strategies. Other factors influencing bighorn populations such as herd health and environmental stressors must also being considered.

Attendees at the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) meeting were told that BLM is currently going through its 10-year permit renewal process. BLM manages 18,000 multiple-use permits.

The management of the over population of wild horses on BLM land is a priority for the agency. There are an estimated 36,000 wild horses on BLM lands that have been assessed with a range capacity of 27,000. As a result, thousands of acres of public lands are being decimated.

Guard dog conflicts on public lands were address with officials at both the FS and the BLM. Livestock grazing is one of the multiple-use activities common on public lands. The agencies agreed to work with the sheep industry by reviewing current policy and assisting in providing educational materials to land users.

President Persists in Cutting Farm Subsidies

The Obama administration isn't giving up on its proposals to cut farm subsidies, even if they have been rejected on Capitol Hill.

The budget the White House released Thursday includes the administration's idea of phasing out fixed payments to farmers who have more than $500,000 in sales. That and other cuts are included in a 131-page book outlining proposals to reduce spending by $17 billion in 2010.

Farm groups roundly criticized the proposal when it first was offered in February, arguing that the $500,000 threshold would catch the typical full-time producer.

The president's budget also includes a proposed $250,000 cap on the subsidies one person could collect in a year. There also are proposals to reduce subsidies for crop insurance and eliminate payments for cotton storage.

According to the White House, the largest proposals would save the following amounts over five years: $3.7 billion by phasing out direct payments to farmers with $500,000 in sales; $2.1 billion by reducing crop insurance costs; $279 million by ending cotton storage payments; $158 million by reducing overseas marketing assistance by 20 percent; and $108 million by capping crop subsidies at $250,000 per farmer.

A few other proposals would likely generate less opposition but wouldn't save as much. One idea would save $62 million in lease costs over a 15-year period by consolidating some of the agriculture department office space in Washington. Another would save $670,500 a year by consolidating the department's utility bills via a Web payment system instead of wasting staff time and postage with paper checks to a central office.

Details on the budget's sheep specific programs will be available in the near future and can be obtained from the staff at your congressional offices.

Reprinted in part from the Des Moines Register

Vilsack Announces NAIS Listening Sessions

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced that the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will hold a series of listening sessions on the National Animal Identification System (NAIS). The meetings will take place in May in Alabama, Colorado, Connecticut, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington state.

These meetings are designed to gather not only producer comments and concerns, but also potential or feasible solutions to create a program producers can feel comfortable supporting. The listening sessions will include information about the current program, as well as an opportunity to give public testimony or ask program-related questions. Discussion sessions related to NAIS' cost, impact on small farmers, privacy and confidentiality, liability premises registration, animal identification and animal tracing will allow producers to provide their input on ways to make the program into something they can support.

The public meetings will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. local time, with registration one hour prior to each meeting. The meetings will be held in the following locations: Thursday, May 14 in Harrisburg, Pa.; Monday, May 18 in Pasco, Wash.; Wednesday, May 20 in Austin, Texas; Thursday, May 21 in Birmingham, Ala.; Friday, May 22 in Louisville, Ky.; Wednesday, May 27 in Storrs, Conn.; and Monday, June 1 in Greeley, Colo.

Stakeholders are encouraged to visit www.usda.gov/nais/feedback.shtml to submit comments and suggestions on the NAIS. Additional information on the meeting locations is also available here.

Ag Census Data Available by Congressional District

Information from the 2007 Census of Agriculture is now available at the congressional district level in online profiles published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS).

"The new congressional district profiles provide a snapshot of agriculture at a local level," said NASS Deputy Administrator Carol House. "This information will help elected officials make decisions based on current and accurate information and they are a useful tool for farmers and others interested in American agriculture at the local level."

The congressional district profiles show changes in key areas since the last census was taken in 2002. They include data on such things as the number of farms and acres in farmland, the demographics of local farmers, livestock inventory and crop production and total sales of agricultural products.

The congressional district profiles are available at www.agcensus.usda.gov.

Wolves No Longer Protected

Wolves in parts of the northern Rockies and the Great Lakes region came off the endangered species list on Monday. Officials say the population of gray wolves in those areas has recovered and is large enough to survive on its own. The animals were listed as endangered in 1974.

With the delisting, state wildlife agencies will have full control over the animals. States such as Idaho and Montana plan to resume hunting the animals this fall, but no hunting has been proposed in the Great Lakes region. The wolves in Wyoming will remain on the list because the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected the state's plan for a "predator zone" where wolves could be shot on sight.

Montana publishes a weekly online report highlighting the previous week's activities related to monitoring, wolf and livestock interaction, outreach, education, research, law enforcement and other topics at http://fwp.mt.gov/wildthings/wolf/default.html.

Environmental and animal rights groups have said they plan to sue over the delisting, claiming that there are still not enough wolves to guarantee their survival.

The delisting review began under the administration of President George W. Bush and the proposal was upheld by President Barack Obama's administration after an internal review. In a recent letter to several members of Congress, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar wrote that he was "confident that science justifies the delisting of the gray wolf."

Willey said his agency projected there would be between 973 and 1,302 wolves in the northern Rockies under state management, a number well above the 300 wolves set as the original benchmark for the animal's recovery. More than 1,300 wolves roam the mountains of Montana and Idaho and an estimated 4,000 live in Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.

CRP Contracts Can Be Extended

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced this week that U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA) will offer certain producers the opportunity to modify and extend their Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) contracts that are scheduled to expire on Sept. 30, 2009.

USDA can only extend approximately 1.5 million acres out of a total 3.9 million acres expiring this year. This extension will ensure that FSA meets the statutory CRP acreage limitation of 32 million acres established in the Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008.

FSA will notify participants by letter beginning May 6, 2009. The sign-up for this voluntary extension will begin on May 18 and run through June 30, 2009. Farmers and ranchers may apply for this extension at their FSA county office. FSA administers CRP on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation.

CRP contracts with the highest environmental benefit or with the highest potential for soil erosion will be selected. CRP contracts can not exceed 15 years in the aggregate and chosen CRP contract holders will generally be offered a three to five-year extension.

Producers electing to extend their contract period will receive their current contract rental rate. All or a portion of the acreage under contract may be included in an extension, but no new acreage may be added.

Through CRP, FSA enters into long-term (10-15 year) contracts with agricultural producers to protect highly erodible and other environmentally-sensitive land. Participants convert enrolled land to grass, trees, wildlife habitats and other conservation uses. The program has reduced soil erosion by more than 400 million tons, protected more than 2 million acres of wetlands and resulted in buffers established on more than 100,000 miles of streams and rivers.

For more information about CRP and other FSA programs, visit your county FSA office or www.fsa.usda.gov.

USDA Positions Named

J. Dudley Butler will serve as administrator of the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration (GIPSA) and Homer Lee Wilkes will be nominated as undersecretary for Natural Resources and Environment, both at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Butler has been an attorney in private practice for more than three decades and is a certified mediator and arbitrator. He's also been involved in cattle, timber and farming operations.

GIPSA facilitates the marketing of livestock, poultry, meat, cereals, oilseeds and related agricultural products, and promotes fair and competitive trading practices for the overall benefit of consumers and American agriculture.

Wilkes is a 28-year veteran of the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), currently serving as state conservationist in Mississippi where he administers the natural resources conservation program for the state.

NRCS is the primary federal agency that works with private landowners to help them conserve, maintain and improve their natural resources.

Canada Relaunches COOL Complaint with WTO

Canada has revived its complaint to the World Trade Organization about the U.S. mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law, Canadian Trade Minister Stockwell Day told reporters.

Canada asserts the country-of-origin rules that went into effect in mid-March are hurting Canada's hog and cattle industries. Day made specific reference to a letter U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack sent meat processors in February asking them to go beyond the law in their labeling practices.

Reprinted from Mmeatingplace.com

Tumbarumba Produces World's Finest Bale of Wool

Woolgrowers from Tumbarumba, Australia, in south-west New South Wales have broken their own record to produce the world's finest-ever bale of wool.

The bale of 11.5 micron fleece was sold for an undisclosed price to a high-end Italian company, which will use it to make about 50 very highly priced suits.

Highly prized too, according to wool broker Mark Hedley, who says that even if you can afford a suit made from the world's finest bale, you still might not be able to get your hands on one.

"It's a flagship design in the sense that if you buy a suit one year, you are invited to buy a suit the next year," he says. "If you would like to buy one of those suits, you actually go on a waiting list."

Reprinted from ABC Australia

News From the OSU Sheep Team

 

 

Scrapie Newsletter (March 09)