Comments from the NDLWPA President

President's Comments
Earlier this month someone asked me if I would recommend starting in the sheep business right now. My answer was it is dependent on the President's signing the relief package recommended by the ITC. The President did sign the 201 Trade Relief Package, although modified some it will still give the sheep industry 3 years relief from overwhelming pressure from lamb importers. That's how important I feel wining this 201 decision is to our industry, losing this decision would almost have certainly finished our domestic sheep industry yet, winning the decision gives no guarantee either.

Succeeding with the 201 action will, however, give us three years to readjust and retool into a more competitive posture. More specifically, I mean we will need to look at new management practices that will reduce inputs, improve production, and maintain or improve quality and consistency; also new marketing programs that will reach new lamb consumers and operate more efficiently putting a larger share of the income from the sale of the finished product into producers pockets.

We in North Dakota are already working on our repositioning. Many of the new management practices will come from NDSU research by way of the Extension Sheep Specialist position which the NDLWPA successfully helped to reinstate in the last legislative session. The Dakota Lamb Growers Cooperative is pursuing one of the marketing opportunities which may very well put more of the retail sale dollar in producer's pockets. As far as marketing to new and more consumers, I attended a meeting May 25th in Denver where USDA wanted to see if there was enough interest in the sheep industry to pursue a new checkoff funded marketing program. Over 50 people from all segments of the industry attended coming from all parts of the country. This group overwhelming supported the creation of a checkoff funded marketing program.

There definitely are indicators that our industry has a future and maybe a bright one. To get there, you and I as producers, as state organization members and national organization members will have to start making some changes in how we produce, promote and market our product to show consumers that the best lamb comes from the United States. The time to start though is now remembering we only have three years.
Jim Marshall, Jr., President of NDLWPA, Oriska

Dickey County Open Youth Lamb Show
The Dickey County Open Youth Lamb Show will be held on August 13, 1999 at the Dickey County Fairgrounds in Ellendale, ND. Weigh-in will be from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm with the show to follow. Lambs must weigh at least 90 lbs. With classes to be determined after weigh-in. A $5.00 entry fee will be charged with 100% payback to exhibitors. Also guaranteed Grand & Reserve Champion prize money. All youth 18 and under are encouraged to take part. Door prizes will be given and much fun will be had by all. Hope to see you there. For more information contact: Ron Wolff at 701-742-3251 or Mark Sheppard at 701-375-6971.

President Provides Import Relief and Assistance Adjustment for U.S. Lamb Industry
President Clinton announced on July 7th a combination of import relief and domestic assistance for the U.S. lamb industry lasting three years in response to a recent surge in lamb meat imports.

The President's action follows a unanimous finding by the United States International Trade Commission (USITC) that the domestic lamb industry is threatened with serious injury due to a surge in lamb imports. In April, the USITC recommended that the President provide import relief to the domestic industry. The package of import relief and domestic assistance has been carefully crafted to help our lamb industry achieve sustained competitiveness, while respecting our international trade obligations.

The President has implemented the following actions with respect to Imports of lamb meat:
Temporary Import Relief: The President proclaimed a tariff-rate quota, effective on July 22, 1999, for lamb meat in an amount equal to 31,851 metric tons in the first year (to begin fifteen days after the President's signature of the Proclamation), an amount that is equal to imports of Iamb meat during calendar year 1998. The tariff-rate quota amount will increase by 857 metric tons annually in the second and third years of relief. Individual country allocations for product imported from Australia, New Zealand, and an "other country" category within the tariff-rate quota have also been established, which reflect the shares of each country in calendar year 1998.

Increased rates of duty for imports within the tariff-rate quota amount will be set as follows:
YEAR         BELOW-QUOTA TARIFF      QUOTA           ABOVE-QUOTA TARIFF
    1                     9 percent              31,851 metric tons           40 percent
                                                       70.2 million pounds
    2                     6 percent              32,708 metric tons           32 percent
                                                       72.1 million pounds
    3                     3 percent              33,565 metric tons           24 percent
                                                         74 million pounds
The President concurred with the USITC Finding that imports of lamb meat produced in Canada and Mexico do not account for a substantial share of total U.S. imports of lamb meat and are not contributing importantly to the threat of serious injury. As required by statute in such situations, the President excluded lamb meat from Canada and Mexico from the import restrictions. Similarly, the safeguard measure will not apply to imports of lamb meat from Israel, beneficiary countries under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act and the Andean Trade Preference Act, and from other developing countries that account for a minor share of lamb meat imports.

Adjustment Assistance: The President instructed USDA, USTR, OMB, and the NEC, in consultation with the U.S. industry, to provide a set of substantial domestic assistance measures that will improve the competitiveness of the U.S. industry and facilitate efforts by the industry to adjust to import competition. The President's action provides for adjustment assistance of as much as $100 million over three years, with half available in the first year. It will include funding for scrapie eradication, marketing, government purchases of excess lamb meat and direct payments.

Monitoring: The USITC will monitor developments with respect to the domestic lamb industry over the next 18 months, including the progress and specific efforts made by ranchers and firms to make a positive adjustment to import competition. The LSITC will provide to the President and to the Congress a mid-term report on the results of its monitoring by no later than December 31, 2000. The President has instructed USTR in consultation with USDA and OMB to transmit to the USITC no later than 30 days from July 7th a list of specific benchmarks that USTR recommends that the USITC use in connection with its monitoring and in preparing its report. These benchmarks are to be focused on industry efforts to adjust to import competition, the effectiveness of USDA assistance, and on price trends for domestic and imported lamb meat.

News from the State
Dakota Lamb Growers Cooperative Update
The Dakota Lamb Growers Cooperative held six informational meetings in June (5 in North Dakota and one in Minnesota. Seventy five people attended the meetings. The board continues to meet every couple weeks, working on a business plan as well as marketing outlets. The cooperative hopes to start a direct market business, selling premium lambs to restaurants and other niche markets. The Cooperative is applying for an APUC grant to assist in their business plan and marketing strategy.

The goal of the Dakota Lamb Growers Cooperative is to produce premium lamb products that will command premium prices and provide a market that will compete with cheaper imports. The cooperative is working with two North Dakota slaughtering plants (Jamestown and Casselton).

Over 60 producers have contributed seed money to this point. Contributions have also been received from banks and economic development groups. If you haven't contributed and would like to, it's not too late. Send contributions ($100) to Jim Ostlie, President, Dakota Lamb Growers Cooperative, Route 2, Box 120, Northwood, N.D. 58267; or to Fred Eagleson, Treasurer, Dakota Lamb Growers Cooperative, 2562 85 R. Ave. S.E., Buchanan, N.D. 58420. For more information: Ostlie at (701) 587-5778 or Eagleson at (701) 252-2621.

Ekre Ranch and Animal & Range Sciences Field Day - September 12
The 1999 Ekre Ranch and NDSU Animal & Range Sciences Department Field Day will be held on the Albert Ekre Grassland Preserve near Walcott on Sunday, September 12, starting at 2:00 pm. The program will include the following:
* Opening Remarks by Joseph Chapman, President NDSU
* Update from College of Agriculture by Pat Jensen, Vice President, Dean and Director for Agricultural Affairs
* The Role of the Albert Ekre Grassland Preserve in A&RS Research by Jerry Dodd, Professor and Chair
* Plant Diversity, Production and Stability in Grassland Ecosystem by Mario Biondini, Professor and Carolyn Grygiel, Associate Professor
* Animal and Range Sciences' Beef Herd by Russ Danielson, Associate Professor
* First Limiting Nutrient for Nursing Calves Grazing Native Sandhills Pastures by Greg Lardy, Assistant Professor and Beef Extension Specialist
* Current Ruminant Nutrition Research at NDSU by Marc Bauer, Assistant Professor
* New Hair Sheep Project and Perfprmance of Ewes on Ekre Multi-species Grazing Trial by Wes Limesand, Assistant Experiment Station Specialist and Roger Haugen, Extension Sheep Specialist
* Rotation Grazing and Ekre Multi-species Grazing Trial by William Barker, Professor
* Natural Resource Conservation Service Prograns by Steve Fisher, NRCS District Conservationist
DINNER at the farmstead served by Carnivore Catering Club advised by Paul Berg, Associate Professor

Efforts to Establish possible Sheep Industry Checkoff Underway
The possibility of securing a checkoff for the U.S. sheep industry is moving forward. Barry Carpenter, deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Livestock and Seed Program, reports that the Sheep Industry Checkoff Exploration Team is working diligently to assemble a package that would benefit all industry segments. The 15-person team was formed in response to numerous industry requests made to USDA. Thus far, the team has conducted two conference calls, and Team Chairman Stan Potratz currently is surveying team members to identify areas of consensus, particularly areas of concern from past referendums such as board size and deduction amounts.

Australia Predicted to Lose Half of its Wool Growers
A member of the Australian government's Future Directions Taskforce has predicted that Australia will lose half of its current 46,000 wool growers within five years under reforms needed to make the industry competitive. The source, who requested anonymity, said that many of the country's wool-producing farms were too small to be profitable and therefore wouldn't benefit from the economies of scale needed to buy the expensive modern equipment demanded by processors. The source added that Australia's wool market needs to operate free of government interference, and that a drastic rationalization is needed to remove major existing inefficiencies.

China World's Leading Sheep-Producing Country
Sheep numbers in China have exceeded those of Australia as part of a ten-year trend of declining sheep production in Australia and increasing sheep production in China, reports the Boston-based Wool Market Review. In 1996, the latest year for which sheep numbers for both countries were available, China tallied 127.3 million and Australia 120 million. The International World Trade Organization is predicting a 2-percent decline in worldwide sheep numbers in 1999, and a decrease in worldwide wool production to 1.4 million clean metric tons from the 1.5 million metric tons produced in the 1997/98 season. As of Jan. 29, 1999, there were 7.2 million sheep in the United States.

News from the National Scene
ASI Board of Directors Approve FY2000 Budget, Elect Officers
The American Sheep Industry Association's Board of Directors unanimously approved a budget of $2,141,000 for FY2000 at the ASI Mid-Year Meeting held July 8-10 in Denver. The budget is contingent upon the sale of the ASI office building. The sale of the building -- for which negotiations are well underway -- will be coupled with a lesser amount of reserve funding, allowing for the continuation of most ASI FY99 programs, albeit on a smaller scale.

The FY2000 budget includes:
* $519,311 for lamb and wool marketing;
* $353,970 for communications;
* $141,663 for issues management, i.e. resource and predator issues;
* $503,016 for the industry's "adjustment plan" including research and quality assurance of sheep-health issues;
* $196,466 for leadership and planning, including travel and meeting costs for ASI's executive board, board of directors, four councils and seven committees; and
* $426,575 for operational costs in support of program and association efforts, including office supplies, postage, telephone service, equipment maintenance and leases, taxes, and storage costs.

ASI officers:
Idaho sheep producer and ASI Vice President Cindy Siddoway was unanimously elected to serve as the association's president. Siddoway replaces Utah sheep producer Lorin Moench, Jr., who prior to his presidency served as ASI vice president, secretary treasurer, and on several ASI councils and committees. Siddoway's family runs approximately 12,000 stock ewes on its fourth-generation ranch as well as on Bureau of Land Management and Forest Service allotments. Siddoway has served as ASI's vice president, secretary-treasurer, Region VI representative, and Legislative Action Council Chair. She is the first female president of the assn.

Fourth-generation Wyoming sheep producer Frank Moore was unanimously elected to serve as the association's vice president. Prior to his election as VP, Moore served as the association's secretary/treasurer. He has also served on the ASI Finance Committee, as chair of the ASI Legislative Action Council, and as a producer representative on the Sheep Industry Transition Team. The Moore family runs Columbia/Targhee sheep on their Spearhead Ranch located near Douglas.

Unanimously elected to serve as ASI secretary/treasurer was the association's former Region I representative, Guy Flora of Ohio. Flora has served on several ASI committees and during his Region I role, chaired the ASI Legislative Action Council. Flora is known nationwide for his long-time role as editor of the popular Shepherd Magazine. Flora and his wife, Patricia, run commercial ewes on their Cardington, Ohio, farm. They also raise corn, soybeans and wheat.

Replacing Flora as Region I representative is Maryland sheep producer David Greene. He and his wife, Nancy, run approximately 100 commercial ewes and a few purebred Southdowns on their historic Maryland farm.

Elected to represent Region V was Paul Frischknecht of Manti, Utah. Frischknecht runs Frischknecht Livestock, which is comprised of approximately 6,000 Rambouillet-Columbia crossbred ewes and about 500 cows.

Serving second terms on ASI's executive board are: Region II Representative Dale Carter of Minnesota; Region III Representative Bill Aeschlimann of South Dakota; Region IV Representative Charles Probandt of Texas; Region VI Representative Nina Baucus of Montana, Region VII Representative Fred Blauert of Washington; and Lamb Feeder Representative Harold Harper of Colorado.

Educational Information
by Roger G. Haugen, NDSU Extension Sheep Specialist
Ram Sense
The breeding season may be beginning for some and just around the corner for others. Keep in mind some of the following thoughts about rams during the breeding season. Buy rams well in advance. If possible, rams should be on the farm or ranch for at least a couple weeks before being turned in with the ewes and should be well fed during this period. Rams lacking in condition should be fed to gain weight prior to breeding time. Grain feeding is recommended.

If the rams are in full fleece, shear them before turning them in with the ewes. Sometimes only the belly and scrotum need to be sheared. Caution! Keep watch for fly strike.

Active rams running with a large number of ewes over a long period will lose condition. One way to insure that they maintain some condition is to turn the rams in with ewes only at night, separate them in the morning, and keep them in a pen or corral on good hay and grain during the day. Another practice, more applicable to larger operations, is to turn in only half the rams at one time. After a week or two these rams can be removed, rested, and fed well while the other half of the rams are in with the ewes. By rotating the rams it is possible to keep fresh, well-conditioned rams in with the ewes during the entire breeding season.

In purebred flocks and in one-ram flocks, it is essential that the ram used be fertile; otherwise a complete lamb-crop failure may result. The most common method of checking on the fertility of the ram is to use a ewe-marking harness or paint the brisket of the ram with a solution of paint pigment in a non-drying oil. The color of the paint (or of the crayon in the ewe-marking harness) should be changed every 17 days. Start with a light-colored paint or crayon and change to darker colors as the breeding season progresses. If all or most of the ewes that are marked during the first period are marked again during the second period, the fertility of the ram is in doubt. Even with highly fertile rams a few ewes may return to service; but if a large proportion have not conceived, the ram should be replaced. An early semen evaluation of your rams by your veterinarian is an excellent way of detecting possible sterility problems.

Hot weather is linked to lowered fertility of both the ram and the ewe. Research has determined that semen quality and early embryo survival will suffer when temperatures reach 90 F or more. To minimize the effects of heat on breeding, consider the following:
* Save cooler, better shaded fields or range areas for breeding time.
* Keep rams in cool shade, along waterways or in a well ventilated barn in the daytime and return them to the ewes to breed at night.
* Keep both ewes and rams in cool quarters and turn them out to graze at night.

Internal Worms- Fall Alerts
Internal parasites probably cause more economic loss in our sheep flocks than we realize. We all understand the need for worming, but, sometimes we forget to worm the flock. Since elimination of internal parasites is not feasible, control is the way to reduce losses. Varying management practices make it impossible to recommend one control program for all situations. The optimum control is achieved by considering as much information as possible in developing an integrated control program. Which internal parasites are present is the key. Treatment based strictly on whether or not sheep look "wormy" is not the answer. Fecal egg counts should be taken and the internal parasites identified.

Effective internal parasite control programs should reduce pasture and/or lot contamination, the source of reinfections, as well as removing the worms from the animals. All new individuals should be treated a minimum of one time and held for at least one week and undergo fecal examination prior to introduction into the flock. Never simply treat new additions and immediately turn them into a pasture or lot where other sheep will be.

Prebreeding treatment of rams also decreases contamination potential. Treatments should also be administered during times of increased stress, such as high stocking rate, intensive grazing, or increased moisture. Lambs going into feedlots should be monitored closely.

What wormers to use should be based on the parasite problem that is present. Wormer resistance can be a problem with some of the parasites. Most wormers are rapidly eliminated from the sheep's system. Reinfestation can occur if sheep are returned to contaminated pastures or lots. Remember, the effects of parasitism are generally more profound in young lambs than older sheep because adult sheep have more resistance to worms.

Hettinger Ram Sale - September 15
Entry deadline is August 1. All members of NDLWPA in good standing (paid members) are eligible to enter sheep in sale. If you have ewes (purebred or commercial) you would like to consign, contact Tim Faller. Phone numbers: 701-567-4324 (office); 701-5672360 (home).

Articles for the October Newsletter
The next newsletter will be published the end of September for October 1 delivery. I invite anyone to submit articles to be included. Please let me know ahead of time that you are sending an article. I will need them by the middle of September. Thank you! Roger Haugen, Extension Sheep Specialist, Hultz Hall, NDSU, Fargo, ND 58105. Phone: 231-7645; Fax: 231-7590; Email: rohaugen@ndsuext.nodak.edu.

Officers and Directors of NDLWPA
Pres: Jim Marshall, Jr., Oriska 845-2744
V.Pres: Dave Pearson, Hettinger 567-4488
Sec: Scott Bredahl, Berthold 453-3698
Treas: Theo Johnson, Tuttle 867-2875
SE Dir: Brent Stroh, Tappen 327-4526
SE Dir: Harvey Dawson, Brampton 724-3405
SW Dir: Don Lawson, Flasher 597-3133
SW Dir: David Merwin, Hettinger 567-2723
NE Dir: Dennis Kubischta, Hope 945-2623
NE Dir: Jim Ostlie, Northwood 587-5778
NW Dir: Don Maston, Watford City 842-3150
NW Dir: Lyle Warner, Baldwin 255-1183
ASI Dir: Burdell Johnson, Tuttle 867-2875
MIYWW: Mary Scheetz, Center 794-8743
Past Pres: Darold Benz, Beulah 873-5124

NDSU Research, Extension and Teaching
Hettinger: Tim Faller 567-4324
Fargo: Roger Haugen 231-7645
Wes Limesand 231-7782
Bert Moore 231-7651