Welcome to Mountain State Lamb

Tips for Maximizing Total Return

To maximize the total return on lambs, here are a few basic reminders:

Be sure you have your CCC-633 page one filed with the Farm Service Agency before you lose beneficial interest in shorn wool or unshorn pelts.
The salvage value of cull ewes and rams is at an all-time high. This is the year to cull non-productive ewes from your flock and put the income into replacements. It is also a good time to be sure you do not have epididymitis in your ram herd and to check for the breeding soundness of all rams. The salvage value of culled rams will help in the purchase of their replacements.
The Pelt Market has made substantial gains thru the winter, but to receive top prices for shorn pelts you still need 90 days regrowth before harvest.

Don’t forget to worm guard dogs to protect against measles in your flock.

Kilmer and Jones top Grid

Bruce and Barb Kilmer of Lusk, Wyoming topped the MSLC December grid with a load of lambs fed at Double J. With 75% yield grade 2’s, the load returned an average $4.69 in marketing grid premiums and another $3.38 in natural premiums. The average lambs during December returned $2.13 in grid premiums. The average pelt brought $5.73.

Randall Jones, Otto, Wyoming, started off the year by marketing the top lambs in January. The load fed by Randall was 78% yield grade 2’s and averaged $4.77 on the marketing grid. January’s average lambs earned $2.29 on the marketing grid and the average pelts returned $6.37.

Oxarango Photo

Diners enjoy Mountain States Lamb at their annual lamb feed at the Elks in Rupert, ID. If your group would like to serve lamb contact the office for information or to place an order.

2010 Annual Meeting

Our 2010 Annual Meeting will be held July 14-16 in Flagstaff, Arizona at the Radisson Woodlands Hotel. Reservations have come in at a record pace, so be sure to get your room booked. The rooms are $104 plus tax per night and reservations at 1-800-395-7046 or online at http://www.radisson.com/mslamb.

DELIVERY OBLIGATION

Agricultural cooperatives are a unique form of business organization because they adhere to cooperative principles and concepts, which in some ways are different from other forms of business. One of the differences that exists in a marketing cooperative, like Mountain States Lamb, is that each of the member patrons share proportionally, based on the number of delivery shares they own, in the profitability of the Co-op and also in the responsibility to supply the Co-op. When members join our co-op, a Mountain States Lamb Cooperative Uniform Marketing Agreement is signed.

The first tenant of this agreement is the “Commitment to Supply Lambs to the Cooperative”, in which the producer agrees to deliver one lamb for each share of Class A stock owned. This agreement covers a variety of issues and provides remedies to both the Cooperative and the Producer. Our marketing agreement states “Producer agrees that the Cooperative is entitled, as liquidated damages, to an amount equal to the greater of $20 per lamb or 25% of the market value of the lamb which Producer has failed to deliver or improperly provided under this Agreement.”

We try to remind our producers at least once each year of their delivery obligation because the success of our cooperative depends on every member filling their shares. Please remember MSLC tracks your delivery on a calendar year basis (Jan1-Dec 31), not by lamb crop. Also, if you know you are going to be short on lambs, you do have alternatives. You can buy outside lambs to market through the Co-op, do an individual lease with another member or non-member producer or put shares in the lease pool. It is important to understand that that there is no guarantee that shares placed in the pool will be used, and you are still responsible for those shares. If you have any questions about individual leases, or placing shares in the pool, please call the office. We want to help you insure your shares are filled!

Finally, the current policy of the board is the following on unfilled shares:

95% shares filled-no penalty

76-95% filled-$1 per share penalty on unfilled share

75% or less unfilled-$3.50 penalty on unfilled shares

No delivery-$7.00 per share minimum penalty.

2010 Paperwork

A big thank you to all our members who have returned their 2010 paperwork to the office. This makes it possible to get your harvest information and checks processed in a timely manner!

If you have not returned your paperwork, please do so today. We need 2010 payment information sheets, COOL affidavits, Quality Assurance affidavits, and if you are raising natural lambs, a Producer Natural affidavit. You should also send a copy of your natural producer affidavit to the feedlot when you put the lambs on feed.

These forms were all in with your December newsletter. If you have misplaced them, give us a call and we will send you additional copies. Please remember to let us know if any of your payment information changes during the year.

In Sympathy………

The Mountain States Lamb Cooperative family would like to send our condolences to the Rhoda Moore family, Douglas, WY. Rhoda passed away on February 10th. She and her husband Eddie, are B shareholders in the co-op. Rhoda is also the mother of MSLC, board chairman Frank Moore.