On Becoming a Past President

Photo: K. Schiller

Seventy-seven years ago, in the midst of the Second World War, the U.S. Navy took over the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. In the 160-year history of the California Wool Growers Association, 1943 was the only year we were unable to hold our annual membership meeting – a remarkable record! The President at the time, J. Kenneth Sexton of Oakdale, served an extra year.

Over the last two days, our members and board of directors came together virtually to conduct the business of the organization. Video conferencing, obviously, wasn't around in 1943. And while we all decided that we much preferred meeting in person, we also agreed that meeting virtually was much better than not meeting at all.

Yesterday, I completed my two-year term as President, joining the ranks of past leaders. And while I've mostly enjoyed my time as an officer, these last six months have been a struggle. I'm looking forward to taking a step back, knowing that our organization is in good hands.

This morning, I looked back at the first President's Message I wrote for the CWGA newsletter. I ended with this paragraph:

“Shepherd” is a word that I particularly like. The primary definition is probably obvious to all of us, I’m sure! The second definition on www.dictionary.com is equally pertinent – “a person who protects, guides, or watches over a person or group of people.” For the leadership of the California Wool Growers Association, we add this second meaning to our primary responsibilities. While we face many challenges in 21^st Century California, I’m confident in our tenacity, unity and enthusiasm as an organization.  We’ll need the foresight and energy of our founders – and the effectiveness and communication tools of our youngest members! I’m tremendously excited about these next two years. I’m humbled that my colleagues have confidence in my abilities to help “shepherd” our organization.

Little did I know that the challenges we'd face as an industry - and as a society - would be unprecedented!

And so I thought I would share my last President's Message - delivered to our membership during yesterday's meeting.

Over the last several weeks, as I’ve been working on my last report to you as President, I’ve struggled to strike a positive tone. I think all of us who raise livestock are optimists by nature – turning the rams in with the ewes each year requires a faith in the future – but at least for me, these last 6 months have been really difficult, on many levels.

For me at least, many of the reasons that I find it difficult to be optimistic are beyond my personal control – the pandemic, the lamb market, the wool market – each of these challenges has been overwhelming at times. Like it doesn’t really matter what I do, or what we as an organization do.

But when I think about the things I can control in my own business and within my own family, I find my natural optimism returns. When I see my daughters carrying the experiences that they had growing up around a sheep business (even a small one like mine), I’m reassured about our future. My oldest worked as a range tech at the US Sheep Experiment Station in Dubois this summer; my youngest, a senior in high school, will be showing her last fair lamb (virtually, at least) in a couple of weeks.

And when I think about things we as the members and leaders of the California Wool Growers Association can control, my outlook brightens further. I start with the mission statement we adopted several years ago in Minden:

Our mission is to deliver lasting value to support all segments of the California sheep industry.

I want to break this down a bit further – because I find both cause for optimism and a challenge for our organization moving forward.

First, we talk about lasting value. To me, that means that we’re in this for the long haul. I joke with my cattle ranching friends that the California Wool Growers Association predates the establishment of the California Cattlemen’s Association by more than 50 years! This is our 160^th annual convention – think about that! Our organization has spanned the Civil War, two world wars, the Great Depression – and several pandemics, including two major ones!

How have we lasted this long? We’ve adapted. That’s the thing about sheep – and sheep producers – I think. We’re adaptable. When I see multi-generational operations make the shift from a conventional production model to getting paid to graze, I’m amazed. When I see producers using new technology to make labor more efficient, I’m encouraged. When I see our Ram Sale Committee put an online sale together in less than four weeks – and see our ram consignors and buyers step up and support this new format – AND our organization, I’m incredibly grateful. Our ability to adapt makes me hopeful about our future.

But our mission statement also suggests that we need to support ALL segments of the industry. I’m humbled that while this organization has largely represented the interests of large scale producers, you elected someone who operates a small-scale, part-time sheep business to serve as President. And while I firmly believe that our focus on the issues critical to our larger scale members benefits all of us, I also believe we must acknowledge the value of smaller scale – and in many cases, new – producers.

As some of you know, over the last 8-10 years, Roger Ingram and I have taught a variety of hands-on workshops for new and aspiring sheep producers here in the Sierra foothills. In that time, we’ve worked with literally hundreds of people who are enthusiastic about our industry. Now most of these folks still have very small operations, but a handful have grown viable businesses. We need to do a better job of welcoming all of these folks into our industry and our organization. If we take these folks seriously, they can help our industry move forward. If we blow them off as hobbyists or “backyard folks” who don’t understand the challenges faced by full-time operations, we’re losing a huge opportunity to expand our base and increase our effectiveness. We small producers need viable, large scale commercial production in California, absolutely; we also need enthusiastic newcomers, most of whom will start small. We can’t afford to turn these newcomers away.

Finally, I believe that the entire industry benefits when ALL segments are healthy and profitable. This includes not only the large scale and small operations I’ve just discussed; it includes seedstock producers here and in other states. It includes fiber flocks and sheep shearers and large animal veterinarians. And it includes our partners further down the production chain – processors, distributors, and retailers. These challenging times, at least for me, have emphasized that we are all interconnected.

So why is now a good time to be in the sheep business in California? Why should we be optimistic as business owners?! Here’s what comes to mind for me:

• The targeted grazing business is exploding in California – and we have urban folks who can’t get enough of what we do! Ten years ago, did any of us think we’d have allies in Oakland and Berkeley, in Simi Valley and San Rafael!?

• California is home to the largest lamb packer in the nation – and Superior has been able to ramp up production during the pandemic, when other processors were closing down. I know our relationship with Superior is complicated, but we are so fortunate to have them as a partner here in our own state.

• Our market potential is tremendous – between the wealth of places like Silicon Valley and a growing West Coast population that loves lamb, we’re in a perfect location!

• We produce more wool in CA than in any other state in the country – and wool is cool, again! All you have to do is check out the REI catalog or join the Fibershed Facebook page!

• Finally, California is home to some of the top agricultural universities in the world – and there’s renewed interest in doing sheep research! I am excited about this both as a scientist and as a producer.

 How can we NOT be optimistic?!

 Don’t get me wrong – we have hard work ahead of us. Change is never easy. Some of us will need to change our business models to meet these new opportunities. When I look at the faces on my screen today (my own included), I know that many of us need to start thinking about generational transfer – who comes after us in our businesses? In this organization? How can we encourage new producers to take the chances that many of us have taken to build our businesses? How can we support these new folks? How can we get them engaged in our organization? To me, these are the pressing challenges – and greatest opportunities before our industry and our association.

I want to thank our sponsors and auction donors for making this year’s convention possible – you’ve seen their names in my background all weekend! I also want to thank both of the executive directors I’ve had the privilege to work with. I know we all appreciate Erica Sanko’s work on our behalf. Thank you, Jay, for stepping up during these challenging times.

Thank you to my family and to my ranching partner Roger Ingram for covering things at home while I focused on California Wool Growers business. You made it possible for me to spend time away!

Thank you to our committee members and committee chairs who have put in so much volunteer time over the last two years.

I most want to thank the members of the Executive Board – Ryan Indart, Andree Soares, and Ed Anchordoguy. These last two years have definitely been a team effort – thank you for always stepping up, and always taking my call! And finally, I want to thank you, the members of the California Wool Growers Association, for giving this first-generation sheep producer an opportunity to serve as President. Thank you.

Best of luck to our new officers, too - Ed Anchordoguy, President; Andree Soares, Vice President; and Phil Esnos, Treasurer. I know you all to be outstanding leaders! Now I think I'll go take a nap!

Learning from my Dogs

I'm fascinated by dogs - working dogs, in particular. Since we got into the sheep business as a commercial enterprise nearly 15 years ago, I've been blessed by the opportunity to work with, and learn from, a variety of dogs. A good number of these dogs have been working border collies; others have been livestock guardian dogs of various breeds. In every case - whether I trained the dog or not, I've learned something. And as I've grown older and gained more experience, I've realized how much I don't know!

I told someone recently that I have re-read several books on training herding dogs over the years (The Farmer's Dog by John Holmes and Talking Sheepdogs by Derek Scrimgeor). Looking back, I realize now that both books, while interesting, where way above my head at my first reading. I didn't know enough to know how uninformed I was! As I've re-read these books, the subtlety of working with sheep dogs in a variety of settings and situations has informed my understanding. Real-world experience, in other words, has complimented my book learning.

Livestock guardian dogs, I've found, are every bit as complicated as herding dogs. When we purchased our first LGD, a female Akbash named Scarlet, I assumed one big white dog would be as good as any other. This seems silly now that I write it - I absolutely know that some border collies have greater herding abilities than others; why wouldn't this be the same for LGDs? I'm still learning this lesson, but I'm finally able to see that my training needs to respond to a particular dog's experience, behavior, personality, and instincts. Yet another outstanding dog book, Brave and Loyal by my friend and fellow shepherd, Cat Urbigkit, has added to my understanding of these complex canines.

Which brings me to a few observations about a handful of young dogs that I'm working with currently. We kept two border collies out of a litter of pups that my dog Mae had last summer. Gillie and Sage are just over a year old, and both are proving to be more challenging to train than their parents. Sage had some time away from training due to a surgery - I've just started him on sheep again. Gillie had some time off while we were lambing (I just didn't have enough time in the day). Both pups are not nearly as confident as their parents, and Gillie is especially sensitive when I try to correct her. We're taking it slowly; Mae was doing real work by the time she was 18 months old. I'm realizing that I might need help from a professional trainer - I'll probably try to take a lesson with both of them simply to get some suggestions on MY approach to their training.

We're also starting a young Akbash-Pyrenees cross named Dillon. He's just over 6 months old and looks to be a promising guardian. He's currently with a handful of yearling ewes, and he seems to be well bonded. He's so well bonded, in fact, that he frantically dug under a gate to be with them after we had to sedate him to remove foxtails from his ears. He's proving (at least so far) that he'll stay in all kinds of fencing (electric fence as well as hard-wire field fence) as long as his sheep are there. And he's developed a deep, impressive bark - which he uses whenever there's something he deems a threat. As an inexperienced pup, this threat might be coyotes singing in the ravine north of his pasture, or it might be the neighbor kid riding her bike down the gravel road.

Another friend and fellow rancher, Liz Hubbard, once told me, "When you're working a dog, you need to be totally present and totally focused." Perhaps that's the biggest thing I've learned from my working dogs. When I work with my herding dogs, I can't be daydreaming or fretting over a bad day at the office. Every bit of work we do together is a training session - for all of us! Being present and focused with my livestock guardian dogs is a different matter; I have to be observant without disrupting their bond with their sheep. In both cases, the responsibility for communicating lies with me - it's not the dog's fault if she doesn't understand what I'm asking. I suppose in some respects, being totally present and totally focused is one definition of empathy - I find that it helps me see the world through their eyes. And I learn something every time we work together.