How it BeganThe American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) has roots

dating back to 1865. That’s the year the National WoolGrowers Association, the United States’ oldest nationallivestock association, came into existence.

It was this association that provided the roots for today’snational organization, the American Sheep Industry Association.

Who We AreThe heart and soul of ASI are the thousands of farm and

ranch families across America who raise sheep, as are the hun-dreds of individuals who volunteer a portion of their time, energyand financial support to work on behalf of the industry.

Whether drafting national policy or representing their statesheep association at the national level, these are the industry-active individuals eligible for annual appointment to 140+ seats onASI’s five councils and eight committees.

ASI provides the opportunity for producers to work withothers in molding the policies and programs that improve themarkets for sheep producers through enhanced marketingopportunities and reduced production costs. It is also the best

option for those producers wanting to provide input on issuesaffecting his or her individual sheep operation but in need ofa national, cooperative effort to find resolutions.

How We are FundedASI’s primary source of funding is the American Wool Trust,

created in 2000 to strengthen U.S. wool production and marketing.Legislative issue funding comes from dues paid by the state sheepproducers associations, National Lamb Feeders Association andfrom individual donations.

ASI also has a number of key industry partners (wool, lamband sheep supply companies) who further support the associationthrough voluntary non-voting sponsorship.

Another source of funding is the ASI Guard Dog Fund,whose members support legal action and business protectionprograms not covered by legislative dues.

ASI’s charitable entity, the Sheep Heritage Foundation, wasestablished to create programs and projects that will assure solidopportunities for the future of the industry. Donors who wishto contribute to this foundation can structure gifts in ways thatcan provide tax and economic benefits to all parties.

About ASI

“The way in which some land management agencies are controlling the interaction of bighorn sheep and domesticherds is one of the most significant threats to the viability of the sheep industry in the western United States. ASIcontinues to encourage collaborative effor ts in research, surveillance, diagnostics, epidemiology and policydecisions. This issue will be resolved using good sound science and working side-by-side with land managers to geta result everyone can trust.”

Jim Logan, DVM (Wyo.), 2008 Animal Health Committee Chair

ASI keeps sheep industry members updated on ASIactivities and industry news by regularly distributing and updat-ing various informational and educational resources.

ASI WeeklyThe only weekly newsletter in the sheep industry devoted

exclusively to sheep industry issues, and it is free of charge if dis-tributed via e-mail.

Sheep Industry NewsA monthly publication consisting of news and feature stories,

as well as advertising, lamb and wool market information, apresident’s column and an industry calendar. A Web site,www.sheepindustrynews.org, complements the printed versionwith current and previous issues.

www.sheepusa.orgA one-stop source for numerous on-line resources in areas

such as government issues, industry professionals, marketinformation and organization trade links.

Annual ConventionA national meeting to inform and educate producers on the

most currect issues affecting the sheep industry.

Online EducationDeveloped online education tools that producers can

access at their convenience and are free of charge. The coursesoffered are Targeted Grazing Education, A Producer’s Guide toScrapie, LRP-Lamb Education and Sheep Safety and QualityAssurance Program. They are available at www.sheepusa.org.

Sheep Production HandbookThe book is a great source of recently revised, in-depth, peer-

reviewed information on topics such as breeding and selection,nutrition, predator damage control, handling and facilities,management, health, wool, reproduction, marketing andsheep milk.

Targeted Grazing HandbookThis handbook represents a compilation of the latest re-

search on harnessing livestock to graze targeted vegetation. It isorganized both as an introduction to targeted grazing for thenovice and as a useful reference for those already familiar with thetopic. Chapters include animal husbandry, plant response tograzing, monitoring plant landscapes, multi-species grazing andapplications of targeted grazing on grasses, weeds, forests,orchards and in agronomic situations.

Producer Communications Efforts

“We have maintained the producerfocus of the association and in doingso, became one of the leading advocatesin agriculture for farm and ranch familieswanting to build a stronger future forthe industry – a profitable opportunityfor a son or daughter on the ranchor farm.”

Burdell Johnson (N.D.), 2008 ASI President

“Membership in a state sheep associationand in ASI is the route for any producerwishing to work on a project thatextends beyond his or her ownfence line.”

Glen Fisher (Texas),2008 Vice President

ASI is the national organization representing the interests ofmore than 70,500 farm and ranch families across the United States,who as of Jan, 1, 2008, raise 6.06 million sheep. From East to West,farm flocks to range operations, ASI works to represent producerson widely varying issues.

Just as the inner workings of the U.S. sheep industry are wideand varied, so are the interests of ASI. This is why the association’sfive councils, in addition to the board of directors and executiveboard, comprised of industry leadership, are in place to define, tackle,develop and help execute policy on the tough and ever-changing is-sues affecting the industry. These five councils are: American WoolCouncil; American Lamb Council; Resource ManagementCouncil; Production, Education and Research Council; andLegislative Action Council.

In addition to the councils, ASI also utilizes committeesto further disperse the workings of the association.

American Wool CouncilA division of ASI, the American Wool Council works to im-

prove the American wool industry and to promote the usage ofAmerican wool – both in domestic and international markets. The14-member American Wool Council oversees wool promotionand merchandising activities made possible by the Wool Trust Fundand funds from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) ForeignAgricultural Service. The objective of the Wool Trust Fund programis to assist U.S. wool producers in improving the quality of woolproduced in the United States, communications and to assist U.S.wool producers in the development and promotion of the Americanwool market. Through the product development and marketpromotion program, ASI explores market opportunities forwool and maintains a strong emphasis on developing U.S. made

wool products for military uses, such as fire-retardant woolfabrics. Direct marketing activities with international woolbuyers have been key in developing the growing U.S. woolexport market to approximately 70 percent. These activitiesinclude trade teams, communications, processing trials and in-country representatives who continually service the trade. Thequality improvement program focuses on providing the mostvaluable U.S. wool product to new and returning internationalcustomers, as well as the domestic buyers.

Legislative Action CouncilASI is a recognized voice for sheep producers in Washington,

D.C. ASI champions sheep producers’ causes in the nation’s Capitolto ensure that key programs are funded or maintained, and that keypieces of legislation are passed to ensure the continued health andprofitability of the U.S. sheep industry. ASI is the acknowledged fore-runner in successfully fighting animal rights-led efforts to kill fundingfor predator control in the Wildlife Services program as well asin gaining important livestock protection funds. The national farmpolicy includes a half-dozen programs helpful to sheep productionbecause of the efforts of the Legislative Council.

Resource Management CouncilLand, water, predator and other environmental issues are

extremely important to U.S. sheep producers. That’s whymembers of ASI’s Resource Management Council, PredatorManagement Committee, Public Lands Committee and TargetedGrazing Committee routinely work with other industryorganizations, state and federal agencies and state sheep producerorganizations to see that the interests of sheep producers areconsidered in land-use regulations and wildlife management.

ASI Councils and Committees

“Ensuring that foreign borders remainopen to U.S. livestock and livestockproducts is crucial to the U.S. lambtrade. Working with officials andproviding status updates to industrymembers, as does ASI, is essential inlessening the ripple effect of this issuethroughout the U.S. lamb trade.”

Angelo “Butch” Theos (Colo.)2008 American Lamb Council Co-chair

“ASI is focusing on creating newprocesses to keep wool and wool-blend fabrics as a staple in militaryuniforms. We have been successful ingetting several wool-based products,such as wool/nomex underwear andsweaters, wool Ponte-de-Roma mid-weight sweaters and wool/FR rayonbase- and mid-layer products, introducedto the military.”

Jim Bristol (Mich.), 2008 American Wool Council Chair

The strength of a national association is largely dependentupon that of its state affiliates, and the synergy and impetus onlya grassroots movement can provide. That’s why ASI stronglyencourages membership by all U.S. sheep industry members intheir state sheep association.

In addition to ensuring the success of the nationalassociation, membership in your state sheep association allowsyou to provide and receive input on issues of local, state, regionaland national importance while keeping you informed on issuesthat impact your business both locally and nationally.

And if you join one of ASI’s state sheep member associationsor the National Lamb Feeders Association, you will receive freeof charge a subscription to ASI’s monthly publication, SheepIndustry News.

Participation at the State Level is Crucial

“After successful lobbying by ASI members for three years, the 2008 Farm Bill has thewidest offering of programs to all sheep producers compared to the Farms Bills of 1996and 2002. Some of the programs greatly impacting the sheep industry are the increasein wool base loan rate in the Wool Loan Deficiency Program to $1.15 for the 2010 cropyear, the re-authorization and $1 million in funding for the National Sheep IndustryImprovement Center, mandatory Country-of-Origin Labeling effective Sept. 30, 2008,and a permanent disaster fund.”

Bill Sparrow, Jr. (N.C.), 2008 Legislative Action Co-chair

“Membership in ASI and yourstate sheep association is thebiggest bang you can get foryour money in the sheep business.I take pride in participating in anorganization that is driven byproducers for producers.”

Margaret Soulen Hinson (Idaho),,2008 Secretary/Treasurer

Production, Education and Research CouncilA profitable livestock industry relies on maintaining and improving the health

of its animals and assuring that U.S. sheep products are safe and of the highestquality. ASI’s efforts in this arena, partially through its Animal Health Committeeand Genetic Stakeholders Committee, include working with the U.S. governmentand industry groups to prevent and control various animal diseases affecting thesheep industry. ASI works with USDA and other organizations to prevent theintroduction of foreign animal diseases, such as Foot-and-Mouth disease, intothe United States. The council is also responsible for working with and throughvarious federal agencies and universities to help focus sheep research andeducation programs that are economically important to sheep producers andthat address current industry priorities.

American Lamb CouncilThe American Lamb Council coordinates key policies and projects to

support lamb production and marketing particularly with federal agencies thatoversee lamb grading and market reporting. A new initiative underway todayincludes instrument grading of lamb carcasses at lamb processing facilities.Additionally, the Lamb Council is the active cooperator with USDA’s MarketNews Division and the Mandatory Price Reporting program of sheep andlamb meat.

Promotion and checkoff activities are conducted by the American LambBoard, an entity separate of ASI.

The sheep industry is an important economic componentof our economy. In fact, an estimated $768 million in the value oflamb, mutton, wool, pelts, sheep milk products and by-productsin 2007 generated an additional $1.4 billion in multiplier effects fora total economic impact of $2.2 billion.

An industry that has this significant of an impact on theeconomy does not go without its concerns. ASI is continuallyaddressing multiple issues on behalf of its membership. However,the combination of unwavering support by ASI leadership in iden-tifying and addressing multiple issues as well as the monetary sup-port received from state and individual dues enables ASI tosuccessfully conduct activities aimed at strengthening the U.S. sheepindustry. A sampling of recent and current activities includes:

• Lead U.S. wool handlers, warehouses and wool pools in generating strong competition for the U.S. wool clip, resulting in the export of more than 70 percent of the annual wool clip.Continually bring many international buyers from all over the world to see U.S. wool first-hand. They have become important annual customers of U.S. wool.

• Service the No.1 customer of U.S. wool, the U.S. military, with product development, marketing and information. Respond toimportant issues facing the military – melting uniforms onsoldiers when caught on fire – by developing many wool-blend,fire-resistant products.

• Coordinate many quality improvement programs, such as the certified program and additional methods to measure wool,creating higher value wools and better market transparency.

• Secured in 2001 the approval for the Scrapie Eradication Program, the most aggressive scrapie eradication program in theworld, designed to eradicate a disease that seriously impedesthe U.S. sheep industry’s global competitiveness by 2017.

• Developed a tool for lamb producers to insure against unexpected declines in market prices called Livestock RiskProtection-Lamb. More than 700,000 lambs were insuredin the first year of the program.

• Led the development in creating a handbook and training course compiled with the latest research on harnessing livestockto graze targeted vegetation in ways that improve the functionand appearance of a wide variety of landscapes.

• Time and again, ASI has worked to protect the funding Wildlife Services receives from USDA for the wildlife damagemanagement program as it is crucial to protect livestock froma wasteful death and injury cause by predators.

• Initiated the establishment of two additional industry support organizations, the National Sheep Industry Improvement Centerand the American Lamb Board.

• Secured congressional approval of mandatory country-of-origin labeling on imported lamb at retail, interstate shipment of state-inspected meat and mandatory price reporting of wholesalelamb both domestic and imported. ASI is the only nationallivestock association in America that actively supported all threeof these initiatives.

ASI Strengthening the U.S. Sheep Industry

• Publishes and keeps updated the Sheep Production Handbook, a reference text onall aspects of sheep production that has been under continuous publicationfor nearly 30 years.

• Developed and made available the Sheep Safety and Quality Assurance program for sheep producers to implement and document their commitment to growing andmarketing safe, high-quality products.

“Proper grazing of sheep can benefitthe environment as well as wildlife, thetax-paying public and consumers. ASI’sTargeted Grazing Handbook bringsinto focus the latest information ontargeted grazing so that producers areup-to-date with the latest ideas andstrategies for grazing.”

Clint Krebs (Ore.),2008 Resource Management Council Chair

The American Sheep Industry Association (ASI) is a federation of 45 state sheep associations representingsheep producers nationwide with a common goal to promote the well-being and profitability of the U.S.sheep industry. From East to West, farm flocks to range operations, ASI works to represent the interestsof the producer. A team of volunteer producer leaders directs the actions of the association throughtheir involvement on the executive board, the board of directors and councils and committees.