North American Wensleydale Sheep Association
Minutes of the Membership Meeting held June 22, 2008
Black Sheep Gathering, Eugene Oregon
U N A P P R O V E D
Members Present:
Barbara Burrows, Martin Dally, Myrtle Dow, Angelique Laskowski, Joanie
Livermore, Lois Olund, Kate Lowder, Sherry Carlson
President Barbara Burrows
called the meeting to order at 12:40.
The minutes of the
previous meeting of June 2007 were read by Sherry Carlson and as there were no
corrections were approved as written.
Treasurer’s Report
Sandi Hanson was unable to
attend the meeting but submitted a balance sheet for calendar year 2007 and for
year-to-date. There were no questions or discussion regarding this report and
it was accepted as submitted.
NAWSA BALANCE SHEET 2007 2008
Beginning Balance, Jan 1 $2,231.74 $2,776.89
INCOME
Membership 795.00 765.00
Registration 735.00 360.00
Total
Income $1,530.00 $1,125.00
EXPENSE
Ads/Promo ($200.00) ($219.00)
Corporate Exp (10.00) 0
Office Supplies (82.00) (30.00)
Registrar Exp (362.85) (177.00)
Web Site Exp (330.00) (320.00)
Total
Expense ($984.85) ($746.00)
Net
Income (Expense) $545.15 $379.00
Ending
Balance, Dec 31 $2,776.89
Balance
6/17/08 $3,155.89
Sherry Carlson requested reimbursement of expenses
for the show at Black Sheep Gathering. The expenses were for one 3’ x 5’ NAWSA
banner at $61.02 and for two embroidered duffle bags for ‘Best White
Wensleydale’ and ‘Best Colored Wensleydale’ at $72.86 for a total of $133.88.
The reimbursement request was approved. Joanie Livermore will keep the banner
for use at the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival later this year.
Promotion
Sherry said that Joanie Livermore has been writing
some excellent articles that are submitted to The Banner Magazine for their
“breed notes” section. This is free of charge to us. We plan to work with other
industry magazines, newsletters, farm bureaus and newspapers to get our image
and message more widespread in the coming year.
Directors & Officers
Barbara Burrows reviewed that the current directors
and officers are:
Barbara Burrows, Sherry Carlson, Myrtle Dow, Neil
Kentner, Joanie Livermore, Virginia Scholomiti and Karen Tipple. Virginia
replaced Sandi Hanson in the last election and the directors whose terms expire
the end of 2008 are Sherry, Joanie and Karen. Officers will remain the same –
Barbara Burrows as President, Joanie Livermore as Vice-President, Sherry
Carlson as Secretary and Sandi Hanson as Treasurer. Our bylaws provide that in
the interest of continuity, the treasurer does not have to be a member of the
board.
Discussion Items
PAYPAL ACCOUNT
The members discussed establishing a PayPal account
for the association so that we may receive payments for membership,
registration & transfer fees. All were in agreement that this would be a
good idea and would make it very convenient for the membership. Kate Lowder
made a motion to establish the account, linked to our current checking account,
and to publish an additional fee schedule adding 3% to our current fees,
rounded to the nearest dollar, if using the PayPal account (to cover PayPal
charges). Also, the secretary and treasurer are both to have access to the
PayPal account for the purpose of accountability. Joanie Livermore seconded the
motion that was approved unanimously.
NEW SCRAPIE STRAIN
The new scrapie strain, NOR98, was discussed and
Martin Dally said that this strain doesn’t show resistance at the R allele. He
felt that we should not abandon our program requirements for registration based
on this new information because there is not enough known about it and it would
be premature to take any action at this time.
REGISTRATION RULES
Sherry Carlson explained that we recently had an
issue regarding registering animals over the age of 24 months, which our rules
prohibit “unless special circumstances warrant”. Addressing this issue last
month the board made a one-time exception to this rule because it was felt that
we had not made the rule obvious enough on the website and on the registration
form. The information oversight has since been corrected in both areas.
We have just received another application for animals
over 24 months (from the same breeder) and it was the consensus of members
present that we should contact this member and request a statement of special
circumstances that may have prevented a more timely registration application.
The board will consider this issue once the breeder has responded.
SCRAPIE PROGRAM
Barbara Burrows updated
members to the fact that we are no longer restricted to selling our animals
(products of AI) only to buyers who are in the voluntary scrapie program. As
all owners of sheep must have a federal number for their flock, whether in the
voluntary or mandatory program, we of course should still keep good records of where
our animals go but are no longer so restricted in our sales.
SHOW STANDARDS
After discussion, it was
the general agreement that Wensleydale sheep should be shown in a minimum of 3”
of fleece to best show off their qualities. All present agreed that there may
be circumstances preventing this, such as inability to find a shearer at
certain times, weather conditions, etc. While we cannot make this a rule, and
some fairs have their own guidelines, it is our strong recommendation to show
these animals with at least 3” so that the luster and curl can be adequately
assessed.
U.K. BOOKLET PRINTED
Sherry told the members
that earlier in the year the UK secretary asked if we would submit an article
or two for their upcoming publication of “Wensleydale World”. This is the 5th edition of a very informative booklet that is printed at irregular intervals,
the last one being (est.) 1999. Joanie, Sherry and Lois all contributed to
writing articles and submitting photos of the U.S. program and products and
Sherry requested that an additional 50 copies be printed for members here in
America. The board has determined that our treasury will pay for the copies and
shipping costs (estimated at $500). Martin Dally made a motion to give one copy
(only) to every active member at no cost. Since we have a very limited supply,
the remaining copies will be retained by the secretary and sent out with each
future new member packet. The motion was seconded by Myrtle Dow and passed
unanimously.
SEMEN AVAILABILITY SALES
Martin Dally reported that
he has collected two white Wensleydale rams, one from southern England and one
from Ireland. Blue tongue in England has shut down movement of animals in
certain areas but it is hoped that at least some of the semen will be here by
this fall’s breeding season.
Martin also reported to
the group that he continues to have an unresolved issue with one of our members
who re-sold semen that Martin sold to them. USDA requires strict traceability
of imported semen and if it is re-sold, the importer (Martin) no longer has a
record of it – was it used, stored, re-sold, lost? Because of this situation,
USDA has advised that Martin only sell semen to those he actually does the LAI
for. This situation may have brought serious implications to our national breeding
program because we have members nationwide who want to use Wensleydale semen
and Martin cannot physically cover the entire US to do this. There are few, if
any, other people importing or selling Wensleydale semen, so this issue has
potentially threatened our upgrading program.
FUND RAISER
Sherry said that she
purchased 50 copies of a lamb cookbook (with her own funds) that could be used
to raise money for our association. It is a 5x8 ring-bound book filled with
simple recipes that are organized by cut of meat. It illustrates that lamb is
not a ‘mystery meat’ to cook and is a great little gift for your meat
customers. The sale price is $12 each or 2 for $20. Sherry paid $7 each, and
anything earned over that amount will be deposited to the Association treasury.
Lois Olund took 20 copies to sell in her booth and other members purchased a
few for their own use. If anyone is interested in selling a few or purchasing
for themselves, please contact Sherry.
WENSLEYDALE SHOW 2008
Sherry reported that there
were 24 registered Wensleydale sheep shown with 7 breeders represented. As
there were neither 20 white nor 20 colored sheep entered which would have
qualified for a separate class in the show, we chose to combine all the sheep
into one Wensleydale class which were shown together under judge Mark Eidman.
After the typical ram lamb, yearling ram, ewe lamb, yearling ewe, etc. classes,
special awards were presented for Best White Wensleydale, which went to Myrtle
Dow for her yearling ewe, and for Best Colored Wensleydale, which went to
Sherry Carlson for her yearling ewe. We are very proud to announce that the
Supreme Champion sheep of the show was a colored Wensleydale!
Next Meeting
Members discussed the
issue of rising transportation costs and where we might meet that would be the
most convenient for our nationwide membership. Even though the majority of our
active membership is in the northwest, it was decided that Estes Park Wool
Market, CO in June would be a location that would be more centralized and could
better allow those from the east coast to attend. We hope that with a year’s
notice, more members will make the effort to attend. Sherry mentioned that she
had flown into Denver for a previous meeting and there was a shuttle directly
to Estes Park. If future increased costs or other issues prevent us from
getting together in Colorado, members agreed that we could hold our 2009 annual
membership meeting via telephone conference call if absolutely necessary.
As there was no further
business, the meeting adjourned at 2:00 pm.
Minutes submitted by
Sherry Carlson, Secretary
