adminSRMGA

In attendance:  President Koben Shigeta, Vice President Patsy Walrath, Secretary Terry Watts, Lisa Baldwin, Samantha Davis, Donna Newman, and Nikki Brusseau.

Meeting was opened by Koben Shigeta:

Treasure Report:

Koben relayed that Nikki is now in the process of getting the books to Dan Walrath and that Dan and Nikki will be going over the transition and will update us with a Treasure report at soon as they have looked them over together and can give us a summary.   We do as of this date have $11,599.00 in the bank account with $1800.00 of that belonging in the Jr. SRMGA Scholarship fund.   We are in the process now of setting up a new bank account and a savings account which will be set up for the Jr. Scholarship fund.

Request for agenda  items:

There was a request to discuss a wether sale/show event for this year, also Timmery Perez and Kathy Cunningham have offered to serve on a committee if needed.  Thank you everyone.
Discussion was held on the wether sale/show and it was decided that this type of event comes with a lot of research and planning if it were to be successful.   It was decided that as a new board with a huge amount of work ahead that this event would be a bit overwhelming at this time.  It was decided to table this request for now and come back to it and look at it this fall at our planning meeting for next year.

Event discussion:

Raffle:  Kahla and Koben have been in the process of asking for sponsorships for SRMGA, in the form of cash, items for raffle and silent auction.  In the past our membership has really stepped up to help man the raffle table so we will continue to get volunteers for each raffle set up.  This way it will not always be the same folks and we can split it up some.  So with that being said if anyone would like to volunteer to man the raffle table during our events please let a board member know and we will get you set up.  We will continue to ask show and event participants to donate an item for our tables.  Hopefully we will get some businesses to donate like they did last year and we can divide those items up for each raffle.

Food:  Discussion was that we will have the food truck up and running for Boers De Mayo and the youth advisor along with the Jr. SRMGA will be in charge of the food.  We felt that even though there are places to get food in town it is always nice to have it on site.  The Treasure will be a part of this committee also.   This will be a trial and we will see how it goes. If it goes well and we can find enough help to successfully do food then the SRMGA will continue to provide a food truck.

Educational Clinics:

Terry Brown has offered to do a hoof trimming clinic,  I for one am really excited about that.

We may pair up another clinic with this one. We will let the association know when we decide.

CHS (pay-back feeds) has offered to do a clinic on mineral and would like to attend a membership meeting and educate on nutrition and feeds.

Ken Feaster-Eytchison:   Will do an AI clinic at the SRMGA Fall Finale.  This will be mostly classroom instruction with a demonstration on two does for education only.  This will not be hands on for the spectators. This event is not included in the one free membership pass, the cost will be $5 per person to attend.

Members of the SRMGA will receive one free clinic a year the others will be a nominal fee.

Western Idaho Fair:

We had a request at our last membership meeting asking that we look at some sort of reward system for participants that brought animals to the show the first three years to help get the show going at the fair.  It was brought up that this is a WIF show and SRMGA really has no say as to how the show runs.   Although this is a great idea our hands are really tied on this one.

This will be our last year exhibiting animals and then next year in 2018 the WIF will take on the Boer goat show and start providing premiums. They will also be responsible for finding and paying for a judge. This will be our last year in expense for this show.

Treasure Valley Classic:

The outgoing board of directors voted at the end of last year to no longer hold this event as SRMGA already holds two (2) other Jackpots along with all the other events that the youth are not excluded from.  The SRMGA plate is bursting at this time.  Aaron Zisk mentored by Kelly Haun is going to take over the Treasure Valley Classic as his senior project. The board will decide to what extent the association supports this show but we will donate towards it.

Jr. SRMGA:

The Jr.  Group will need a new Adviser for 2017.  The new Bylaws forbid the President of SRMGA from being the Jr. Adviser.  Adviser does not need to be a Board member but must be a SRMGA member.   The floor was opened to nominations:  Autumn Davis,  Carolyn Ortega, and the Windom’s were recommended.   The Board reached out to these individuals and Carolyn Ortega has accepted the position.  Thank you Carolyn you will be amazing.

Recommendations for the Jr. group activities to help support the organization:

• Help with food at the shows.
• Fund raise
• Market the scholarship doelings for the scholarship program.
• Help set up SRMGA shows.

For the juniors it was voted on that membership dues remain the same $5 with the exception of a Jr. Member wanting to sell at the production sale. In that case we have voted that they must pay a normal membership fee of $20.00 but that fee would come without a vote.

The Jr. Members will be in charge of getting awards with their given budget (to be determined by the board and Treasurer) for their jackpot awards.

The Jr. Members will select their officers to promote leadership.

The Jr. SRMGA will not have their own bylaws they will abide by the bylaws and code of conduct/ethics of the SRMGA.

Jr. SRMGA Jackpots:

The Jr. SRMGA will continue to host the jackpots at both the Boers De Mayo, and the Boers of Summer shows.

• Entry fees will pay for awards and payouts along with any donations that they may get.
• Money left over after all bills are paid, if any, will go back to the association to assist the Jr. SRMGA with awards in other shows, venue, and judge fees.
• The Jr. SRMGA officers and the adviser will look at the payout design along with the board of directors. When agreement is made the Treasurer will provide payouts.
• All payouts will be given the day after the jackpot show to those juniors still in attendance. Otherwise checks will be mailed following the show.

Scholarship Doe:    

The raffle for the doeling’s last year netted 1,800 for our youth this was tremendous for them.   It was discussed and decided to do the raffle again.  There will be two (2) does donated for this event and one (1) will be raffled at the Boers of Summer show in June and the other doe will be raffled in the SRMGA Fall Finale show in October.  These does will be shown by the youth with the SRMGA paying the entry fees for them to show.

Production Sale:

It was discussed and decided that the 2016 rules will remain in place for the 2017 sale.  These rules begin with the membership dues beginning on Jan 1, of the year and we are now well into January.    The Board of Directors will keep the Production Sale on the agenda throughout the year and make it a priority to update and make rule changes if needed for next year and have a draft ready for the Oct. membership meeting for this fall.

We will be searching for a new auctioneer and if the budget permits a pedigree reader.

Website:

It was discussed and decided that our current website can be hard to navigate and would benefit from some changes in format.  Koben, Samantha, and Lisa offered to look at it and work with the webmaster to update the website. The updates they are considering making will make the website more personal and easier to use for the membership.

Commercial Meat Goats:

Some of the association was concerned that the SRMGA is geared more towards shows and registered stock and doesn’t provide adequate information and support to the meat market and commercial breeders. We are unsure how to satisfy the needs of commercial stock producers as we already provide health seminars and marketing. Samantha Davis volunteered to contact breeders who raise commercial stock to research what their needs are and how we can help them as an association. If the requests from commercial producers can be met the SRMGA board of directors will work throughout 2017 to implement their ideas to better serve their needs as commercial producers.

Budgets:
It was decided that with the increase cost in fuel and flights we need to increase our budgets for judges at shows. Currently the association asks the judges to stay at or below $1200. That $1200 includes hotel, judge fee, flight, rental car and food. In shows past the judges have been able to stay very close to that number. We have voted to increase that number from $1200 to $1300 with the understanding that things may cost a little more or less. Saturday judges will also receive an extra $100 for judging the jackpot shows as they take more time. Because of these increased fees we are going to increase the entry fees for our open ABGA shows from $12 non member and $10 member to $15 non member and $12 member.

Awards budget will remain the same $150 – $300 per show.

Production sale budget will need to be increased. At the October meeting members complained about quality of the auctioneer. It was also suggested that we hire a pedigree reader so we don’t have to put a member on the spot. It also keeps the sale unbiased. Auctioneer costs last year were $500. Our estimated cost for a better auctioneer will be anywhere from $800 – $1500 for this year. Pedigree readers in the past have donated their time. This year to hire a pedigree reader (ABGA Judge) will cost anywhere from $500 -$1200. These figures include travel, flight, and hotel stay.

All funds in the association are there as supportive funds. Show profits will not just be used for shows and production sale profits will not just be used for production sale.

To assist our budgets for the year Lisa Baldwin has offered to get t-shirts made for the association. We are also actively going to ask for sponsorships from our membership and local businesses for awards. If anyone would like to donate towards the association for awards, etc please visit the srmga.com website to donate.

Meeting Minutes

Snake River Meat Goat Association

Oct. 7^th, 2016, 7:30 pm

Payette County Fair Grounds.

There were approximately 36 members and nonmembers present at our meeting.

Kahla Shigeta opened the meeting and welcomed all; we had a nice group of folks and a pot luck dinner.

Treasure Report:   Nikki Brusseau reported that we have had a fairly good year with our events breaking even or making some moneys.  With the exception of Western Idaho Fair was a loss at (-) $736.00, with only 58 goats.   We have $6,845 in our account at this time with $1265.00 of that belonging to the JRSRMGA.  Leaving SRMGA with a balance of $5,580.00 Discussion was held that the Jr. Group needs to have their own bank account.  It was also discussed that as an association we need to be looking at our budget and balance at the beginning of each year and SRMGA should be voting on a donation to our Jr. group when funds allow. It was also mentioned that the price of Judges keep going up mainly due to increase in plane fairs and hotel rooms.   It was mentioned that perhaps we need to increase entry fees.  Pros and Cons were discussed with no real decision made on this.

Western Idaho Fair:  Western Idaho Fair was a loss to the association of $736.00.  There was fairly good turnout for the show.  However we need to get our numbers up.  We realize this is a tuff time of year with breeding season getting started.  We have one more Western Idaho Fair to go before premiums will be paid and the fair will take over cost of our show.    This needs to be a priority if this show is to support itself.  There was some discussion related to allowing bucks perhaps under a year old at that show being a possibility, perhaps using the same rule as at a county fair.  Awards were discussed and folks in agreement that they like the idea of usable awards.

Production Sale Report:  Terry Watts reported on production sale: please see handout for breakdown.   There was discussion regarding need for a production sale committee.  Production sale this year was done with the help of last year’s SRMGA secretary Clare Askew and was run with the same rules as the 2015 sale.   Many ideas were thrown out related to how our fees are calculated.  (Please see attachment).    Some felt that it should be a flat fee others felt that the $30.00 nonrefundable plus % fee figured after the sale to pay expenses was a good idea.  This defiantly needs to be analyzed to see what is best for all.  Production Sale had a profit of 1,598.70 for 2016.  This is our only real fund raising event for the organization other than membership fees that help us to keep our shows and educational events running.   Question was asked as to why we made more money this year over last year.  Our auctioneer last year cost us twice as much as this year.  This led to discussion regarding level of auctioneer, ability to feed auction to internet, and if we need a professional reader and defiantly folks that do not have animals in the auction, being paid or volunteer.   For sure something for a committee to look at.It was felt that the Facebook page that was added was a great advertisement.   Terry Watts reported that for the most part the feedback from consignors to her was that it was a great saleand they were very happy. It was also mentioned that having transport there was huge for us.  Samantha Davis reported that Goat Express said that they will be available to us again next year and will do a semiannual run if we need it to our area.   Terry Brown stated that we do need to be careful with the transporters that it does not interfere with the sale of our auction goats.

Code of Ethics:  Terry Watts reported that with the friction that we have experienced this year with both Facebook posts and negativity within the association it was decided among the officers that we needed to have some form of code to draw on related to behavior of all of our members.  Within this discussion a code of Ethics was developed and placed on the web site srmga.com also a code of behavior to be used and what will be allowed on our social media page was pinned to our Facebook page.  (Please see attachment Code of Ethics) also the pinned post to our Facebook page.   Kim H.  suggested that we also have a Bullying policy do to the events in the past few months.  She stated that from a Human Resources point of view it is needed.  Carolyn O.stated that there is a really good one on 4H online that we might be able to draw from.

Bylaws: Kahla Shigeta reported that there is a need to update our Bylaws and that Terry Brown has offered to help us with these.   Koben Shigeta has volunteered to also be on that committee.  These two volunteers will get a committee together and get a revision out to all soon.   It was discussed and presented that perhaps 2 general membership meetings a year perhaps one at Boers De Mayo in May and the other in Oct. at Fall Finale would work well.  This will allow for larger numbersof membership to attend our meetings and not just the local folks here in this area.  Discussion was held on unity of our group and when to hold board meetings perhaps quarterly or when more than 2 issues arise was an idea, with productive minutes sent out to the members.

JRSRMGA update:  Koben Shigeta reported that our Jr. group has been very active this year in helping with our shows, and with competing in their jackpots and county fairs.  The first scholarship doe brought in $1265.00 and we are still selling tickets for the second doeling and winner for that doeling will be drawn on Sundayduring the raffle drawing.

There was some discussion on jackpot shows being so long when being held along with open shows.  It for sure saves money on venue however we do pay the judges extra for the judging both shows.  There was some discussion on having jackpot before vs after the open show.  The membership was divided on this, perhaps need to have a survey monkey vote on this topic.

Proceeds from Events:  Kahla opened the floor to suggestions as to how to use some of our moneys that we make from our events.  It was mentioned that there was a group from Nevada that contacted us to see if we could come to them to help them educate a large group of youth and adults on care of goats and just what does it take to raise them.  There was discussion related to our role and commitment to the goat community in all of our states that we serve to “Promote the Goat.”    It was discussed that perhaps it would be a good idea to send a couple of volunteers to do clinic to educate and have the association pay for gas and room and meal allowance for the volunteers.   That discussion then led to perhaps that large group could come to us.  Maybe this would be a good one to write up proposal and take to board or have a vote of membership.   There was no decision made on this topic.

New Board Of Directors Member: Kahla Shigeta announced that with the resignation of Gabriel Aguayo, Donna Newman was appointed to that seat until that seats would be up for re-election.  Thank you Donna, for agreeing to this appointment.

Meeting adjourned  9:17 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Terry Watts,
Secretary Snake River Meat  Goat Association.

Synopsis of how SRMGA is charging for sells of lots at Production Sale.

There has been some question regarding how we have been charging entry fees and commission cost at our production sale. This is a synopsis of the SRMGA charges in the past and present and also a comparison to the Cascade Boer Goat Sale.

From 2007 till 2014 there was a 30.00 refundable entry fee to all members per consignment lot. The 30.00 was refunded if the animal was put in the sale. If it was not it was charged and kept. When your animal sold at the auction there was a commission charged that was set after expenses were figured, that would end up ranging on average between 6 and 8% of the sale price. It was also charged to no sale animals on their reserve price. So to show you the difference between the 3 scenarios I have chosen a price of $900.00 this is rounded up from the avg. price of a lot at this year’s sale. (2016)

2014 900.00 dollar lot would have cost the seller. $30.00 refundable fee.Then 7% of $900.00 = $63.00 cost to the seller for this lot.
In November of 2014 at a membership meeting it was voted to move to a $30.00 non-refundable entry fee to the sale. Then we would at the end of the sale add up expenses and from that cost figure a commission fee to cover our cost. For both 2015 and 2016 it figured out to 2.5%.

2015 and 2016 $900.00 lot = $30.00 + 2.5% of %900.00 = $22.50 for a cost of $52.50 per entry.
Cascade Boer Goat Association = a flat fee of $60.00 non-refundable fee per lot. (Per website).

SRMGA production Sale is our only for sure fund raising event that we have other than our raffles that have helped to cover our cost at shows. We also have our scholarship fundraising efforts that go toward our JRSRMGA. It is important to have these fundraisers so that we can cover cost of education and promotion of the goat.

Officer meeting SRMGA
July 2, 2016
Nampa, Idaho
6:03 pm.

In attendance: Kahla Shigeta President,  Patsy Walrath Vice President,  Nikki Brusseau Treasure and Terry Watts Secretary

Meeting was called by Kahla Shigeta to discuss resignation of Gabriel Aguayo to the Board of Directors of Snake River Meat Goat Association.  It was noted that Gabriel resigned due to personal reasons.

Discussion was then held related to need of reappointment of this board seat at this time or, wait until elections are held again in January of 2017.  It was agreed by all that a new board member should be appointed at this time.

Many members of the association were then discussed and what each one could bring to the association and to the Board.  The decision was made to contact Donna Newman related to her years in the goat industry and her experience.    President Kahla Shigeta will contact Donna this week and see if she would be interested in filling this seat on the board.

Meeting adjourned  7:27 pm.

Respectfully Submitted:
Terry Watts
Secretary, Snake River Meat Goat Association.

Meeting called to order by President Kahla Shigeta. Attending were Tawnie Roberds, Midvale, Nikki & Liv Brusseau, Caldwell, Cari Zisk, Emmett, Terry Watts, Weiser, Marie Beatty, Kuna, Tawnya & Nani McKague, Meridian, Marilyn O’Leary, Fruitland and Kim Royer, Cambridge.

Old Business:

Boers de Mayo Open and Youth Jackpot. Due to the excellent participation, we made a profit. $577.65 on the shows. Good Job everyone. On the negative side, there were complaints about having to provide copies of the registration papers for the open show. The reason these copies were requested was to make verifying the information (or lack of) on the entry forms easier. It was decided to see if we could eliminate this requirement. The show clerks have always used their personal computers to process the entries and it was moved and seconded that we buy another laptop to be used exclusively by the show clerk. That way it can be set up permanently with the forms and information needed to make this difficult job easier. That being said, Marilyn O’Leary will no longer be able to clerk the Boers de Mayo Show, so we will need a new clerk. It was decided that if possible it would be better if we had 2 people working together to clerk the shows.Kahla Shigeta & Liv Brusseau volunteered.

Goat Days of Summer Open & Youth Jackpot: June 27^th& 28^th. Judges Warren Thigpen and Eddie Holland. Entry information and forms are on our website www.srmga.com . Aaron Zisk will be our announcer again. Nikki Brusseau has been working on a new backdrop for pictures and it’s glorious, Terry Watts will check with her daughter Tracy and see if she will take pictures. Cari Zisk will oversee the raffle again. We discussed how to make the drawing move faster, but could come up with no good solution. We will need volunteers for runners to get the exhibitors notified of upcoming classes as there is no sound system in the barns. Nikki Brusseau and Marie Beatty will be ring stewards again. Straw will be provided for bedding. Clean up will be done by one of the local 4H clubs. We will pay the same as New Plymouth, $100 per barn. Set up will be Friday June 26^th at noon and volunteers are needed to help. Check in time for exhibitors will be any time after 12 o’clock noon on the 26^th. Pens will be assigned for the Open Show, but not the Youth Jackpot. Check in for youth exhibitors & weighing wethers for the Jackpot will be Saturday morning starting at 8 am. Jackpot will start at 9 am with Showmanship, then Breeding Doe classes and last, market wethers, so we’ll have time to get them all weighed. It was suggested that we eliminate the entry fee for the showmanship classes, but that would also eliminate prize money for those classes. So it was decided to leave entry fees the way they were. Lunch will be available both days, but no potluck Friday night as there are a number of eating places close in Homedale.

Fitting and Showing Clinics: The Goat Boot Camp organized by Kelly Haun was a great success. Attendance was very good and everyone who participated benefited by the knowledge and expertise of Austin Chandler, the young man who did the presentation. It was decided that the Association should try to sponsor some of these clinics in the future. If we contribute to some of the expense, that would lower the fees that people would have to pay to attend and should increase attendance.

Treasure Valley Classic. July 11^th, 8 am, Owyhee Country Fairgrounds, Homedale, ID. Judge, Madi Fenton, Touchet, WA. There will be a short fitting and showing seminar starting at 9 am.

Show will start at 10 am with Showmanship, then break for lunch, then Breeding Does and wethers. Show will be sanctioned by Rocky Mountain Show Series. Cash prizes and goat equipment will be given.

Western Idaho Fair Show: Mike Wallace will be our judge. Entries will need to be made by August 12^th online at the Western Idaho website, www.idahofair.com or August 10^th by mail using the open show entry form supplied by the WIF in the Premium book. Those forms and the entry fees of $18 per class for Open and $15 per class for the Jackpot will be sent to the Fair Office and they will forward our portion of the entry fee and the forms to us. We will need at least 10 goats from 3 different farms to participate in the open show portion of the fair, this would include jackpot entries. Goats will need to be kept at the fairgrounds from Wednesday August 26^th through Saturday August 29^th. The Open Show and Youth Jackpot will be held Friday August 28. The Jackpot will start at 9 am with Showmanship and Breeding Doe Classes. There will not be Market Wether Classes as wethers will be shown during the 4H and FFA portion of the fair so they can be sold in the fair auctions. Bedding (shavings) will be provided by the facility for the first day, any bedding (shavings) after that time will have to be provided by the exhibitor. Pens will be assigned for both the open and jackpot shows and there will be no pen fees. The open show will be percentage and purebred/fullblood does only, no bucks. Horns will be allowed. Exhibitors will have to pay the fair gate admission charge each daily to get on the fairgrounds. They do sell passes that allow exhibitors in at a reduced cost from the daily fee. We should have enough people going daily who can take care of the goats whose owners can’t get there every day. It was suggested we conduct mini clinics during the days the goats are on being exhibited, but we decided we had enough to do at this point without adding more.

Production Sale: Saturday September 19, Payette County Fairgrounds, New Plymouth ID

The Consignment forms will be going out to the consignors after the Goat Days of Summer Show. Deadline for returning them and paying consignment fee is July 15, 2015. All the lots on the sale are full, but if consignors are unable to bring as many animals as they originally specified, I have members waiting to fill those lots. The catalog will be on www.boergoats.com only this year, with a link on our website.

Very productive meeting, if I forgot anything, please let me know.

Thanks,

Clara Askew
Secretary/Treasurer
Snake River Meat Goat Association
www.srmga.com