Monthly Archives: March 2008

Meeting Called to order by President Wayne Gifford. Introductions were made. Minutes from last meeting and Treasurer’s report were read and approved. The Association has $2291.24 in the bank.

Old Business: Report from Marketing Committee by Evelyn Simon. There was a seminar in Montana the same day as our meeting regarding the marketing of meat goats. The speakers were Frank Pinkerton and a Muslin meat packer who has a meat plant in Illinois. The plant currently butchers over 28,000 goats a year and would like to get up to 35,000. He pays $2.35 a pound for hanging weight of 40 to 70#. The problems of getting enough animals for a load and weight shrinkage during shipping were discussed. It’s really not practical to ship from here to Illinois. Evelyn is going to see if having a seminar for this area would be advantageous. She is also going to check to see if there are any plants closer to us. There is possibly one in Hermiston and also in the Seattle area. Northwest Premium in Nampa butchers for $80 per head and this is cut and wrapped and marked USDA. Eighty to one hundred pound animals dress out about 50%. This would work if the meat was for home consumption or you have a buyer for the meat.

There are matching grants available from the Department of Agriculture for marketing farm products; however the deadline to apply is March 31, 2008. Evelyn has written some grants so she will see if this is something that would be workable. Anyone interested contact either Wayne or Evelyn.

Report from Sale Committee Chairman, Gary Custer. Joe Bennett will auctioneer for us again this year. Members whose dues are paid prior to the sale will have their entries accepted first. The possibility of a 2 day sale was discussed but nothing was decided at this time.

Report from the Youth Committee was given by June Lee. Three doelings have been donated. They have gone to Stormy Slate of New Plymouth, Stelphanie Gurtz, Weiser & Riley Ann Mckay, Weiser. The next applications will be accepted in the fall and the doelings will be awarded after the sale. A reminder, the donated animals need to be disbudded.

Report from the Show Committee by Janene Jones. We have not received any entries yet. The awards are done and were displayed at the meeting. ABGA supplies the ribbons and they will be awarded for 1st thru 5th. Anyone wishing to sponsor an award, contact Janene. The flyer is on the website and the entry form will be there shortly. Animals can be shown with either collars or halters. Scrapie tags are required unless the herd tattoo is registered with the state. If you are donating a raffle item, Janene needs to know by April 18 to go in the catalog. It was decided to keep track of the number of tickets for each item so we will know how much each item brings in. Janene urged everyone to get their entries in so there would not be a rush on April 18th.

Judy Novak has started an association scrapbook and took donations of books, magazines and videos. These items are now available to be checked out to anyone interested.

June Lee has completed the show banner and it is gorgeous. It will display the award winning goats beautifully.

The next association meeting will be April 5, 2008 at noon at Ryan Kish’s home. There will also be a demonstration on how to clip goats for showing. Ryan will clip one of his animals and will supply animals to anyone else who would like to practice. This meeting will be a potluck. Members are encouraged to bring finger food and their own beverages. Paper plates and napkins will be supplied by the association. Directions to Ryan’s farm are as follows. Take the Highway 55 exit to Marsing from I-84. Coming from the east, it is the 4rd Nampa exit, go left off the exit. Coming from the west it is the 1st Nampa Exit, and you’ll go right off the exit Follow the road thru the 1st light as it curves to the right. You are now on Highway 55. Stay on it all the way to Marsing, it curves a couple of times, just stay with it. When you get to Marsing, turn right on “Old Bruneau Highway”. This is the second street after you cross the river. If you turn on the first street, you’ll end up at the Sand Bar Restaurant, a good place to eat, but not where you want to be. Anyway, stay on the Old Bruneau Highway, going north until it turns and you have to go to the left (west). Go about ½ mile west and his driveway is on the left. We’ll have a sign to show you where to turn. His address is 5154 Old Bruneau Highway. Telephone numbers in case you get lost are: Clare Askew 250-9518, Wayne Gifford 871-0468, and Ryan 794-0865. Should be a fun and educational meeting. See you there.

Clare Askew
Secretary/Treasurer