Welcome to Mountain State Lamb

MSLC SLOTTING UPDATE

We have had a tremendous response to the request that our members slot their lambs. Thank you!!!! As you may already be aware, between now and Easter, the Co-op has an ample supply of lambs lined up. When we have a week where there are more slots requested than we can accommodate, we apply the following criteria to determine which lambs are accepted that week:

1st Priority: Slot requests received in the MSLC office by the January 15th deadline. We have notified these members that their slotting requests have been accepted.

2nd Priority: Slot requests received after January 15th. We will do our best to accommodate these requests. Within this group, the earlier the request was received after the deadline the more preference it will have, if we can not accommodate all requests for that week.

3rd Priority: Member lambs that have not been slotted. Please realize at this time there are no open slots between now and Easter. Notify Bob Harlan if you have unslotted lambs for this time period. He will try to work your lambs in, if something opens up. It would be in everyone’s best interest to get all their lambs slotted for the remainder of the year. While at this time it looks like we will not have the same supply challenges once we get through Easter, some weeks later in the year are filling up. Plus by having everyone slot, we can better manage our supply.

KEDS

If you have not treated your flock for Keds, please do so. We are seeing a few isolated problems and they severely reduce pelt proceeds!!!

Mama and Baby Lamb

Fred Roberts has top January Lambs

Fred Roberts and Roberts Ranch of Cokeville, WY had the top January lambs. The natural lambs fed at Forrest Arthur Feedlot brought a $9.75 premium on the marketing grid and an additional $2.86 natural premium for a total of $12.61 in premiums per head.

The average lamb marketed through Mountain States Lamb in January brought a market grid premium of $5.52. The quality during January was tremendous, with over 85% of the lambs being a Yield Grade 3 or leaner!

FORWARD CONTRACTING

There has been significant interest shown by our producers on the forward contracting proposal. If you are still interested and have not submitted your form, please do so by March 15. If you need another copy of the form sent to you, please call the office. After that date, we will assess the response, communicate the results to MSR, and get back with everyone who has signed up for the program with the final program details.

PRODUCER STORIES STILL NEEDED!!!

We have received a number of producer stories and pictures, but are very much in need of more. This information is being used on the website and to promote Mountain States Lamb with retailers and restaurants. Today’s consumer wants to know where their meat is coming from and how it is raised. This is an area where Mountain States Cooperative has a huge advantage over much of our competition. Please help us educate the consumer about our product by getting your family stories and pictures to us as soon as possible. You can mail them to the office or email them to mailbox@mslamb.com.

If writing isn’t your favorite thing, just get us some facts about your family and operation and we will gladly write your story and send it back to you for your approval. If you have any questions give the office a call.

MSLC FEATURED IN FEBRUARY ISSUE OF THE FURROW

Mountain States Lamb Cooperative is featured in an article by MSLC member Dean Houghton in the February issue of THE FURROW. This is the US edition of a worldwide farm magazine published in 12 countries by John Deere and its subsidiaries.

The February edition is a special issue, which according to Editor, Andy Markwart, “is dedicated to highlighting men and women in agriculture who are pouring their creative energies into their work to build something new. They have chosen to take a different path than their peers and today are reaping the rewards of their risk.”

Dean’s article entitled “Marketing Mountain Lamb-Sheep producers band together in a unique producer cooperative” does a great job of telling the cooperative story and promoting our vision. If you did not receive the free publication you should be able to get a copy from your local John Deer dealer. Thank you, Dean, for the great article and promoting Mountain States Lamb Cooperative!

2005…. a record year!

Mountain States Lamb Cooperative enjoyed the highest number of deliveries ever in 2005. In fact, not only was every A share filled, a small number of C shares were also converted to cover lambs.

Our lease pool played an important role last year.
The lease pool allows producer that own shares above their actual production, to fill those shares by leasing them to others, who want to market lambs above the number of shares they own. This works to everyone’s advantage.

When we initiated the lease pool, in the summer of 2003, there was a lease fee. Shortly after that, we temporarily suspended the lease fee in order to further encourage people to send all their lambs through the cooperative. It was also an effort to help members get all their shares filled.

Given the cooperatives track record, the premiums being earned for quality lambs, and the investment each share represents, the board has voted to implement a $2.00 per head lease fee beginning March 15, 2006. When you use pool shares to cover lambs, that amount will be deducted from your proceeds and remitted to the shareholder.

Please remember that if you run out of shares, and have not notified the office of a lease agreement between you and another shareholder, it will mean that we will automatically use pool shares to cover the lambs you sent through.

The office maintains a list of shares for lease and shares for sale. We fax that list out on request. Contact us if you want your name added to either list.