Meeting called to order by President Wayne Gifford. Minutes of last meeting read and approved. Treasury Report given, $4223.24 in the bank account.

Old Business: Wayne and Clare met with the Fair Board last month. They are moving ahead with plans to replace the pens in the sheep barns. The old pens have been removed and the new ones will be started by 1/1/09. They will be made out of metal bars and will be 4’ high, not sure what the length and width will be yet. The Goat Superintendent for the Payette County Fair will not change as far as we know. The weight guidelines will change to 50 # at weigh in, and 80# at fair time. Canyon County Fair will have market wethers this year. They will follow the same guidelines as the Malheur County Fair. with no weigh in weight limit and they will have weight categories.

Lynn Fowler will get prices for T-shirts, hats and vests for association members. Judy Novak made motion for design of logo to be a Boer goat head with SRMGA around it, either embroidery or screen printing.

Wether Lottery – It won’t be with the show this year, that is really too late for most animals to make weight by fair weigh in. Carol Blandford and Dennis Hooper will get a list of 4 H clubs and see how many kids would be interested. Children wishing to participate would have to apply before the lottery so the association would know how many wethers we would need. Members will report at next meeting how many animals they will have available. The lottery would need to be in the first part of April.

Show Committee – Show Superintendent Janene Jones advised judges have been contacted for the Boers de Mayo show May 2nd & 3rd. They will be Julie Brown from Florida and Robert Washington from Texas. They will charge us $250 plus airfare and motel room. Entry fees will be same as last year. The awards will be different items, tote bags, waterbottles, etc with SRMGA logo, date and name of show on them. All entries should be sent to Janene and she will forward the info on to Gary Custer, who will do the catalog. Everyone is encouraged to get ads and award sponsorships for the catalog. ABGA is cutting back on their sponsorship participation. They will still supply ribbons, but not sure whether they will still give money. High Desert Feed will have a booth to promote their new goat feed products.

Marketing Committee – Rob & Michelle Stokes in Vale are buying doelings and wethers. Weight needs to be no less than 65# and no more than 100#. The animals need to still have their milk teeth. They are paying .85 per pound. Del Treasure is still paying .85 to .90 a pound. Local producers would need to kid at the same time of year to take maximum advantage of sales. Mountain States Meat Goat Assoc. is shipping 200 to 300 per month to Illinois and getting $1.40 per pound hanging weight with the heads on. It was decided to contact Rob Stokes and see if he would come and talk to the association about what he needs as a buyer.

Youth Committee – June Lee was not attending as Bob is recovering from surgery and Don Sperry is still in the nursing home. Our best wishes go out to both of them. Junior Member Stormy Slate reported that the doe that she got through the doeling program is due in the spring, but the doe she got from Red Crown at the sale had quads, 3 bucks and a doe, all are doing well. Also, a percentage doe that she got last year at the sale had twins and another doe she bought from Red Head Boers, had twins, a buck and a doe. Her herd has increased by leaps and bounds. She was congratulated for doing such a fine job.

Librarian/Historian – Judy Novak advised the scrapbook was in the works. She has a new CD on hoof trimming. It was discussed to have Ben Childers do a seminar on hoof trimming for the association next time he’s in the area.

Sale Committee – We have 124 animals consigned at this time. So consignments are now closed. That doesn’t mean there won’t be some changes. If some of the sellers don’t use all the lots they have asked for, the slots will be made available for other sellers.

Edgar Edmundson, Dennis Hooper, Toby Young, Gary Askew and Wayne will set up a work day to build the portable alley for moving the animals from the barns to the sales arena.

New Business: Motion was made and seconded to buy a laptop and printer on which to keep all the association records.

Also discussed contacting Becky Gates about updating the website with information about the 2009 show and sale, Clare Askew will take care of notifying her.

Election of officers was held and they will remain the same. President Wayne Gifford, Vice President Gary Custer, Secretary/Treasurer Clare Askew, Librarian/Historian Judy Novak.

It was brought to our attention that all the owners of champion market animals at the Payette County Fair get belt buckles. It was decided that goat producers in the area will take up a collection and purchase a buckle for the owner of champion market meat goat. We also discussed possibly supplying trophies or belt buckles for the other fairs for the champion market wether.

Meeting was adjourned.

NEXT MEETING WILL BE MARCH 7, 2009 AT 1 PM AT JUDY NOVAK’S PLACE

195 Glen Loop, Jerome, ID 83338. I will get directions out when I send a reminder to everyone for the meeting.

Clare Askew
Secretary/Treasurer