To View the October 2025 Digital Issue — Click Here
As the American Sheep Industry Association continues its mission to serve and support the U.S. sheep industry, we are taking a brief pause in the publication of Sheep Industry News (SIN) to reflect on how we can best communicate with and serve our members in today’s fast-moving world.
The October issue will be the final Sheep Industry News published in 2025, as SIN pauses for the remainder of the year and plans to resume in early 2026. During this hiatus, we’ll be evaluating how we share
information, exploring new tools and formats, and gathering feedback to ensure our communications are timely, relevant, and impactful for producers, partners, and the broader industry.
If you’d like to share your thoughts on the publication (what’s working, what could be improved, or ideas for future content) we’d love to hear from you at [email protected].
We look forward to returning in 2026 with renewed energy and a stronger platform to share the stories, news, and insights that matter most to you.
Thank you for your continued support.
— The ASI Team
As we enter fall it is a great time to give thanks for what we have and, like all farmers and ranchers, be hopeful for what is to come. One of the most important things to me, and the reason I choose to come back to the ranch, is to be close to family. Many sheep operations are the same. The fact that we have the opportunity to work with our family and help develop bonds is what a family is all about.
It is one thing to be proud of your family’s lineage and try to continue to carry on the tradition, but it is quite another to just sit back and really look at what this way of life affords us. My wife and two kids are more important to me than ever, especially given the fact that both boys are approaching junior high and still have a long way to “grow up”. My wife puts up with a lot, and I probably don’t convey my appreciation for that enough. My father and mother have been very encouraging and are still willing to “hold down the fort” as I attempt to lend a hand to the organization, even though they both have put a significant amount of years into the ranch. We all often underappreciate the benefits that ranch life gives back to the younger generation. Although all young people seem to be obsessed with screen time, it is great they learn the importance of hard work and responsibility on a sheep ranch.
Family doesn’t stop at our immediate family members. The sheep industry has given a lot to our family, and I feel a responsibility to give back. Montana Woolgrowers and ASI producers have been like a family over the years, and it is hard to watch as sheep numbers have dipped. It was encouraging to see an uptick in the NASS sheep inventory number earlier this year, but it has been increasingly hard to make a profit in the western U.S. It is exciting to see growth in the east and Midwest, often following the demand of non-traditional lamb consumers and the specialized grazing opportunities. This does require ASI to look at ways to help promote/support these new endeavors. The challenges that exist with our industry are important to understand and work together to fix, as a family.
Currently the ASI has taken up the task of assessing our communication methods. In June, long time editor Kyle Partain moved on to another opportunity and we felt like it was the right time to do a deeper dive. ASI has engaged a professional communications firm to lead a comprehensive evaluation and develop a communications strategy for the organization. Kyle did a great job over the years providing information to our producers. Currently Parand is helping out putting the magazine together and also delivering the weekly ASI updates via email.
Thank you very much to Parand Malekani for stepping up and taking on the extra workload. We look forward to the subsequent communications assessment and will use that to help structure the department efficiently and effectively.
Personally, I think this may be an opportunity to partner more closely with ALB to more effectively meet the communication needs of our existing producers, while also using a promotional approach to help increase membership. We must look for new ways to support and recruit new sheep producers in the U.S.
Additionally, this fall we are busy continuing to build support for a better H2A working visa for sheepherders. Our revamped H2A working group has met diligently over the past six months to chart the path forward and look for opportunities to improve the visa requirements, costs, and process. We think there may be a window of opportunity with this administration in the near future, and our goal is to be ready with the sheep producers’ needs.
We are also focusing on the skinny Farm Bill piece that is left for discussion in DC. Our staff and law firm are focused on making sure sheep priorities are included. Specifically, we understand the importance of including language in the bill to require RMA to produce a sheep risk tool our industry can use. It has been too long that our sheep growers have lacked the same risk protection or futures markets available to them. It is very frustrating that other large commodities have access to these tools, and we have nothing to protect our business.
We are also continuing our pressure on bringing some relief from imports. We know that the 15% from New Zealand and the 10% from Australia are not enough to make a difference. We are continuing our push on the 201 case, while also arming our Trade Representatives with data from our processing facilities that clearly shows injury.
All of this can only be done with all of your volunteer help. We are moving forward, trying to secure our U.S. sheep family businesses. Make sure to show appropriate appreciation to all of those “family” that are so important to each of you and to your sheep operation.
As we enter fall it is a great time to give thanks for what we have and, like all farmers and ranchers, be hopeful for what is to come. One of the most important things to me, and the reason I choose to come back to the ranch, is to be close to family. Many sheep operations are the same. The fact that we have the opportunity to work with our family and help develop bonds is what a family is all about.
It is one thing to be proud of your family’s lineage and try to continue to carry on the tradition, but it is quite another to just sit back and really look at what this way of life affords us. My wife and two kids are more important to me than ever, especially given the fact that both boys are approaching junior high and still have a long way to “grow up”. My wife puts up with a lot, and I probably don’t convey my appreciation for that enough. My father and mother have been very encouraging and are still willing to “hold down the fort” as I attempt to lend a hand to the organization, even though they both have put a significant amount of years into the ranch. We all often underappreciate the benefits that ranch life gives back to the younger generation. Although all young people seem to be obsessed with screen time, it is great they learn the importance of hard work and responsibility on a sheep ranch.
Family doesn’t stop at our immediate family members. The sheep industry has given a lot to our family, and I feel a responsibility to give back. Montana Woolgrowers and ASI producers have been like a family over the years, and it is hard to watch as sheep numbers have dipped. It was encouraging to see an uptick in the NASS sheep inventory number earlier this year, but it has been increasingly hard to make a profit in the western U.S. It is exciting to see growth in the east and Midwest, often following the demand of non-traditional lamb consumers and the specialized grazing opportunities. This does require ASI to look at ways to help promote/support these new endeavors. The challenges that exist with our industry are important to understand and work together to fix, as a family.
Currently the ASI has taken up the task of assessing our communication methods. In June, long time editor Kyle Partain moved on to another opportunity and we felt like it was the right time to do a deeper dive. ASI has engaged a professional communications firm to lead a comprehensive evaluation and develop a communications strategy for the organization. Kyle did a great job over the years providing information to our producers. Currently Parand is helping out putting the magazine together and also delivering the weekly ASI updates via email.
Thank you very much to Parand Malekani for stepping up and taking on the extra workload. We look forward to the subsequent communications assessment and will use that to help structure the department efficiently and effectively.
Personally, I think this may be an opportunity to partner more closely with ALB to more effectively meet the communication needs of our existing producers, while also using a promotional approach to help increase membership. We must look for new ways to support and recruit new sheep producers in the U.S.
Additionally, this fall we are busy continuing to build support for a better H2A working visa for sheepherders. Our revamped H2A working group has met diligently over the past six months to chart the path forward and look for opportunities to improve the visa requirements, costs, and process. We think there may be a window of opportunity with this administration in the near future, and our goal is to be ready with the sheep producers’ needs.
We are also focusing on the skinny Farm Bill piece that is left for discussion in DC. Our staff and law firm are focused on making sure sheep priorities are included. Specifically, we understand the importance of including language in the bill to require RMA to produce a sheep risk tool our industry can use. It has been too long that our sheep growers have lacked the same risk protection or futures markets available to them. It is very frustrating that other large commodities have access to these tools, and we have nothing to protect our business.
We are also continuing our pressure on bringing some relief from imports. We know that the 15% from New Zealand and the 10% from Australia are not enough to make a difference. We are continuing our push on the 201 case, while also arming our Trade Representatives with data from our processing facilities that clearly shows injury.
All of this can only be done with all of your volunteer help. We are moving forward, trying to secure our U.S. sheep family businesses. Make sure to show appropriate appreciation to all of those “family” that are so important to each of you and to your sheep operation.
As the calendar year turns to the last quarter of the year, sheep and lamb prices across the supply chain are higher in comparison to last year, which is refreshing to write about compared to months past.
Retail
Enough time has passed since USDA-AMS altered their lamb retail reporting such that yearly comparisons can occur again. Retail outlets are finding value in featuring lamb products in the meat case and nudging consumers to lamb this year.
In the first week of September, the feature rate was 21.2%, 11.1% higher than the previous week, and 6% higher than last year. The feature rate is the amount of sampled stores advertising any reported item during a current week, expressed as a “percentage” of the total stores (24,824) sampled. Additionally, the activity rate in the first week of September was 5,460, an increase from 5,431 in the previous week, and up from 3,930 last year for the same week. The activity rate is a measure of the absolute frequency of feature activity equal to the total number of stores for each advertised item (i.e., a retailer with 200 outlets featuring 3 items has an activity index of 600).
The latest average feature retail price (August) was $11.20 per pound, 21% higher than 2024 ($9.30 per pound) and 29% higher than the prior five-year average ($8.68 per pound). The retail reports and prices are positive and signs that retail demand is remaining strong, if not increasing.
Wholesale
Wholesale lamb cutout values have steadily increased since July, hitting a yearly high of $491.40 per cwt in late August and gaining 6% between the first week in January ($460 per cwt), and early September ($488.01 per cwt). Compared to last year, the cutout value was $14.41 per cwt (3%) higher and $29.91 per cwt (6.5%) higher than the previous five-year average in early September. A driver of the recent increase was boxed lamb shoulder prices, increasing from $399.33 per cwt in late June to $454.48 per cwt in early September (a 14% increase). From a historical price perspective, the cutout value usually stabilizes or trends downward in the last half of the year, but this year, it is rising and given the retail activity, prices might have some more upward movement, or stability, which is a positive sign for the supply chain.
Slaughter
Through the first week of September, weekly lamb and yearling slaughter is averaging 37,250 head per week, with total lamb and yearling slaughter approximately 1.3 million head or 2.4% higher than in 2024. Dressed weights have averaged 62.8 pounds so far this year, 0.6 pounds heavier than last year but 3 pounds lighter compared to the previous five-year average. Total lamb production year-to-date is 4% larger compared to last year but 1.3% lower than the previous five-year average. Tighter total supplies are likely supporting the higher cutout value. Weekly slaughter numbers are expected to seasonally increase for the rest of 2025. The question will become if there will be increased total production such that it pulls down wholesale prices.
Prices
Feeder lamb prices (60- to 90-pound) in the 3-market average (CO, TX, SD) mimicked last year’s price trends, with prices surging in the first quarter of the year, decreasing during the summer period and then increasing going into September. Prices started 2025 at $255.92 per cwt, peaked at $345 per cwt in February, and then fell to a yearly low of $197.78 per cwt in August. In early September, prices were at $241.40 per cwt, 7% lower than 2024, but 26% higher than the previous five-year average.
For 60- to 90-pound slaughter lambs, the 3-market (CO, TX, SD) prices have had some positivity. After peaking at $294.10 per cwt in May, prices declined and were at $222.97 per cwt in the first week of September, 20% higher than last year and 22% higher than the previous five-year average. The decrease in September was expected as prices tend to bottom out at yearly lows in the summer and then increase throughout the rest of the year. September prices might end up being the floor for the year, and fundamentally with increased retail demand, prices could finish the year at levels the not seen in a while.
Negotiated slaughter lamb prices have trended the same as the cutout value. Prices began to increase in June, reaching $210.81 per cwt in early September, 13% higher than last year, and 19% higher than the previous five-year average. Stronger demand at the retail and wholesale levels is supporting slaughter lamb prices. Given the recent surge in retail demand, I expect prices to hold steady and possibly increase in October.
Trade
In the latest trade data, U.S. imports of lamb and mutton for July, totaled 30.2 million pounds, down 4% from last year. Lamb imports at 27.5 million pounds were 7% lower than in 2024 but 16% higher than in June. The increase in lamb imports from June to July was driven by a 25% increase in Australian import volume. Mutton imports, in July were 5.37 million pounds higher than June and about 1.1 million pounds (3.5%) lower than July 2024 import volume. U.S. lamb and mutton exports totaled 0.582 million pounds, with Canada and Mexico accounting for 25% and 28%, respectively.
Wool
As I write this in the first week of September, the wool market has seen prices increase to levels not seen in quite some time. The Australian Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) was at 1291 AUcents per kg (US$3.82 per pound clean basis), which is up from an annual low of 1199 AUcents per kg in June. Prices in early September were 1310 AUcents per kg (US$3.72 per pound clean basis), the highest since May 2023. This is the strongest run-in weekly prices since 2019.
Prices across all grades have increased. Prices for fine wool (micron 16.5-22) saw incremental increases, with 17-micron starting September at US$5.40 per pound (highest since March 2024), 18-micron at US$5.19 (highest since January 2024) per pound, 19-micron being US$4.80 per pound (highest since May 2022), 20-micron (US$4.63 per pound), 21-micron (US$4.57 per pound), and 22-micron (US$4.54 per pound). In coarser wools (micron 25-32), prices have also increased tremendously, with 25-micron starting September at US$2.71 per pound, the highest since July 2022.
The price rises seen this last month are encouraging. While demand is showing some signs of improvement, the primary driver behind rising prices is supply. Drought conditions and changes in the Australian flock away from wool numbers are impacting the available supply of wool on the market. Some reports suggest there might not be enough supply if mills want to run near their optimum capacity. In the U.S., tariffs continue to create challenges.
Outlook
As we head down the home stretch of the year, prices are higher in all markets, which is likely the first time that one could write that in quite some time. As mentioned, each segment of the supply chain has some positivity from a producer’s standpoint. It’s quite refreshing to write those last few sentences, given the last few years have been tough. The combination of expected lower feed costs and strong retail demand should lead to at least stable possibly higher prices for producers.
Ranching in “The Muddy”
The Sperry family has been livestock ranching on “the Muddy,” above Somerset, Colo., since 1928. Renee Deal’s great-grandfather and grandfather started out running cattle, but by the mid-1970s her grandfather and father made the switch to sheep. At the time, the Muddy country was big sheep country, with families of Scottish, Italian and Greek roots making their living with flocks.
“One of the neighboring producers told my grandfather, ‘I run sheep and I don’t give a damn what you cattlemen think; I’m laughing all the way to the bank,’” Renee said.
Lonnie, Renee’s husband, grew up with cattle and was skeptical of sheep for a while. After the couple married, they moved to Denver to pursue education and other careers. “If you told me when I was 18 that I would be back on the ranch, I would’ve called you a liar!” Renee said. “I couldn’t get away from the ranch fast enough. But after we had kids, our perspective changed. When my grandfather was diagnosed with cancer, we moved back to help my dad and to get back to a lifestyle that we wanted for our kids. We came into a business that was fully established but have added our own mark.” They formed Sperry Livestock Corporation, a partnership between the Deals and Renee’s father, Joe and brother, Vaughn.
Building Their Flock
Today, the family runs roughly 1,700 commercial range ewes. In the past, the flock numbered more than 3,000, but they have gradually reduced herd size for a variety of reasons.
“Our sheep are purebred Polypays, but we don’t register the ewes,” Renee explained. “We breed all of our stock with NSIP registered rams from Uncompahgre Polypays and Klaseen Polypays out of Delta County, CO and have focused on high quality genetics for the last 15 to 20 years. Our ewes have superior mothering abilities and are good producers. Polypays are known for their productivity — we easily lamb out over 200 percent on a good year.”
Polypays can breed and lamb three times over two years, and some of their seedstock customers follow that model. But because the Deals run their flock on range, they don’t. Even so, their genetics have traveled across the country.
“We’ve sold some of our ewe lambs as seed stock all over the country with customers from Vermont, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Texas and here in Colorado,” Renee said. “We sell the rest of our lambs for meat. We don’t get much for our wool — most years we’re just hoping to cover the cost to shear.”
Innovation on the Range
The Deals haven’t been afraid to try new practices. This fall, they will begin solar grazing at Garnet Mesa Solar Farm in Delta. This facility will be the largest irrigated solar farm in the US.
“We have partnered with the solar company to design a utility scale agrivoltaics facility that is not just sheep friendly but provides high quality feed and efficient paddock designs for optimal rotational grazing and management,” Renee explained. “We’re excited to see how this partnership evolves our business model.”
Technology has also found its way into their operation. Three years ago, the Deals began using EID tags and the AnimalTrakker® data system, developed locally by Paonia producers Kenyon and Eugenie McGuire.
“This data program has enabled us to track birthing records, health and vet records, movements and individual sheep information,” Renee said. “It has already helped us improve our lambing rates. It has also been very helpful tracking the breeding effectiveness of our rams and tracking our animal care protocols.”
More information on the free software can be found at animaltrakker.com
Challenges in the High Country
For all the innovation and tradition, the realities of ranching in western Colorado bring constant challenges.
“The biggest challenges in recent years for us have been around labor, drought and ever-increasing pressure on our ability to do business,” Renee said. “The elephant in the room is the wolf reintroduction in Colorado, but it is really just a symbol of how difficult it is to continue to run a range sheep operation.”
Predators are an overwhelming concern. “Where we run has been called the best black bear habitat in the state by CPW (Colorado Parks & Wildlife),” Renee said. “We also have a healthy mountain lion population and, of course, coyotes. But here in Colorado, we also face the challenges of voter ballot initiatives that have severely hindered our ability to control these predators. These initiatives have virtually eliminated trapping and a spring bear hunt, and now they have brought wolves to our doorstep with endangered species protections. We all know how vulnerable sheep are and this predator load is becoming impossible to overcome.”
Working with Others
The Sperry’s and Deals are active members of the Western Slope Woolgrowers and the Colorado Wool Growers Association, often working with other producers across the state on industry issues. Their lambs are fed with Harper Feeders in Eaton and usually purchased by Superior Farms.
“We are hoping to get into a direct-to-consumer market this year and work with a local processor, but that is still in the works and not finalized,” Renee said.
They’ve also helped bring new producers into the industry. “We buy rams from a local first-generation Polypay producer who was mentored by our ram supplier,” Renee explained. “We’ve worked with him to get his rams sold with our seed stock ewe lambs over different parts of the country. He has built his operation up nicely over the past several years.” In addition, they’ve sold seed stock to dairy and cattle producers in the Midwest and Eastern states who are making the switch to sheep.
Looking Ahead
The family hopes to expand into new markets, strengthen their agrivoltaics grazing partnership, and entice the next generation to return.
“We are hoping to expand into new markets, like DTC, and we’re excited to see how our agrivoltaics grazing partnership evolves,” Renee said. “We are also hoping to entice our kids to come back and join the business if we can improve our profitability and enter some new marketing opportunities.”
Lonnie has also been focusing on livestock guardian dogs. “I’ve been working more closely with the dogs and I’m hoping to work on a better training and breeding protocol so that they are more effective and better utilized,” he said.
A Life They Love
Through the ups and downs, Renee and Lonnie are grateful for their life on the ranch.
“We love where we get to live,” Renee said. “Our little slice of heaven is remote, peaceful and God’s Country. There’s nowhere else I’d rather live. We also love being able to share it with our grandson. He is the light of our life, and he loves coming up to the ranch and seeing all the animals.”
The history of the place is never far away. Renee often thinks of her grandfather, Lee Sperry.
“My grandfather used to tell me, ‘There’s nothing like sitting on the porch and watching the sheep grow.’ He was an amazing man, building his own power plant to power the buildings before the local electric company installed lines up to the ranch,” Renee said. “He worked on airplane gunnery systems during WWII but always wanted to be a pilot. So, after the war, he got his pilot’s license, bought a Piper Clipper and built an airplane hangar on the ranch.
He used the plane to drop salt to the cattle, look for strays (for himself and the neighboring ranches) and get supplies. He would take off and land on the homemade airstrip on skis in the winter! That beat trying to plow out and go for supplies with three feet of snow on the ground. The ranch sits at 7,600 feet. I have so many stories, but the image of him landing an airplane on skis always gets me. I never got to see it because that was in the 1950s. The picture below is of my grandpa Lee with the plane, my grandmother Imogene and my uncle Brian for an article in Capper’s Farmer, November 1953.”
Brent Roeder
MSU Extension Sheep and Wool Specialist
As one of the largest sheep and wool producers in the world, a lot can be learned from taking a trip down under. I was fortunate enough to spend three weeks in Australia and drove 7,000 miles attending LambEx (the largest technical sheep exposition in the world) and visiting research facilities, stud breeders, and wool industry locations to better understand how the Australian system works. Here’s what I learned…
Around 90% of Australia’s 70+ million sheep can be found south of a line from Adelaide to Brisbane in the east and another from Esperance to Perth in the southwest. Most of the sheep are run on improved pastures with 16-20” precipitation in an exceptionally long, coastal growing zone. Summer is their harshest time with temperatures over 100F for extended periods and little rain. In Western Australia where we spent most of our time, the merino breed still dominates, but there are growing numbers of first crosses using either White Suffolks or Dorset’s and a growing number of hair sheep. Most ewes are mated in late summer (December-February), pregnancy scanned, lambed in mobs of 60 to 100 on pasture in mid to late winter (June-August) to get ahead of the spring rains. Ewes are mostly shorn after lambing and lambs are weaned around 60 days of age. Once ewes are shorn and lambs weaned, ewes are run on canola or winter wheat aftermath in the summer. Lambs are marketed light, usually between 50 and 60 pounds as they do not have a market for large lambs. Lambs are usually run on pasture to achieve a final carcass weight around 38 to 42 pounds. With the dry spring they had across southern Australia, they will lot feed many of these lambs to make up for slow gains and lack of pasture. Hay is only fed as an absolute last resort.
Some of the notable differences you will see other than driving on the left side of the road are that there is almost no plastic anywhere. All disposable cups, plates, bags, and silverware are made from wood products. Fuel is expensive and there are no gooseneck trailers. You either haul a few sheep in the back of a Ute, pull a small trailer or schedule a multi-decked semi. In 7,000 miles across the south, we only saw about one hundred head of cows. All the cattle are run on the north side of the country. The lamb was particularly good and could be found in any restaurant or grocery store. The beef was not so good and harder to find. The big pipelines that one sees running everywhere transport drinking water as Western Australia is especially short of useable groundwater. Every building has a rain catchment system. There is a complete absence of any firearms. A special permit will allow a producer to keep up to three guns for fox and kangaroo control in a locked safe. The police force is privately contracted in Western Australia, and they can enter your house at any time to check on your guns or pull you over for no reason to search your vehicle or give you a breathalyzer test. There is almost no manufacturing. Everything is either imported or exported with iron ore, minerals, canola, wheat, beef and lamb and wool being major exports. Producers have extremely limited options to do any value-added processing with either lamb or wool. They are very aware of their strategic situation in the Pacific and several people expressed their thanks for the US forces during WWII and our continued presence in the area.
One of the important things I learned was why they still focus on wool production so much when they are exporting so much lamb. Most of the places we visited are running about one sheep to every two acres year-round. As they still have a steady supply chain into to China, their wool moves pretty fast and at decent prices. Many operations still generate around $50-80 Australian per ewe on their wool, so they are making $25 to 40 ($16 to $26 USD) per acre just on wool. Their light lambs sell for much less than ours do in the US and in April they were getting $35 per head for their lambs, but the price has about doubled now. Animal welfare is a huge issue down there as they export almost everything. As the fashion industry has said they need to find an alternative to mulesing, they have started developing a “sustainable” merino.
These sheep really look and produce like our western whiteface ewes. They weigh about 145 pounds, have almost no wrinkles, shear around ten pounds of 19-micron wool and can wean over 150% lamb crop on pasture. Modern genomics or DNA testing has allowed them to make immense progress on multiple traits in a brief period of time to address these marketing issues. They too worry about the markets and infrastructure even with 70+ million sheep. Many people were amazed to learn the US had over fifty million sheep in 1942. They view our US domestic market as a major opportunity. I do not think the producers themselves where aware the challenges our producers face in the US. There was much talk of climate change, and I pointed out we (in Montana) went from -40 to 110 degrees in one year, grow most of our pasture in 45 days and it must provide feed for the rest of the year, and we face multiple layers of constant predation pressure. They tend to view their exports as the US grain, beef or pork producers view other countries around the world. One producer threw some numbers at me that I had to triple check. The US consumer eats around ninety-nine pounds of chicken per year, sixty-seven pounds of pork, around fifty-four pounds of beef and one pound of lamb. If the US consumer would eat just ten pounds of lamb, the US would consume all the lamb produced in the United States, United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia and that is why they view our market as a gold mine.
This is certainly not a criticism of the American Lamb Board as they worked hard to get the American consumer to find lamb again and are making progress. But the final thought is that Australia will continue to send a lot of lamb to the US, and it will be interesting to see if we can find a way to increase consumption in the US while protecting the next generation of US sheep producers.
The American Wool Council has launched a brand new addition to the American Wool website: the Sustainability Hub. These pages are designed as a go-to resource for anyone interested in how American wool contributes to a healthier planet and a more responsible future.
As interest in sustainable materials continues to grow, this dedicated space helps communicate the long-standing practices and values that make American wool a strong part of the solution to a better planet. From responsible land management to high standards of animal care, the Hub offers a look into what our growers have been doing for generations — all while providing updated information, science, and stories for today’s more informed audience.
We’ve organized the Hub into three main focus areas: the fiber, the land, and the animals. Each section reflects the care and commitment that our industry puts into producing a natural, renewable resource, with links to stories and videos that showcase real examples of how those values show up in everyday ranching practices across the country.
This site serves as both an educational and supportive tool, offering brands and consumers a place to explore the sustainability story of American wool. It provides clear, science-based information and messaging that help communicate the value of natural, responsible materials to today’s informed audience.
Importantly, this is just the beginning. The Hub will be a living resource that will continue to evolve as we gather new data, share producer stories, and highlight the innovative work being done across our community.
You can explore the new Sustainability Hub at: americanwool.org/sustainability
For generations, wool producers have combined responsible land and animal stewardship with a commitment to innovation and progress. This new platform is one more way we can help share that story with the world.
It’s time once again to submit nominations for ASI awards, which will be presented during the ASI Annual Convention on Jan. 28-31, 2026, in Reno, Nevada. The deadline for all award nominations is Nov. 14.
There are five awards open for nominations: The McClure Silver Ram Award, the Peter Orwick Camptender Award, the Distinguished Producer Award, the Industry Innovation Award and the Shepherd’s Voice Award.
The McClure Silver Ram Award is dedicated to volunteer commitment and service and is presented to a sheep producer who has made substantial contributions to the sheep industry and its organizations in his/her state, region or nation.
The Peter Orwick Camptender Award recognizes industry contributions from a professional in a position or field related to sheep production. Nominees should show a strong commitment and a significant contribution to the sheep industry, its organizations and its producers above and beyond what is called for in his/her professional capacity.
The Distinguished Producer Award was launched in 2014 to recognize the 150th anniversary of the national organization – the oldest livestock association in the country. This award is a way to recognize an individual who has had a significant long-term impact on the industry, including involvement with the National Wool Growers Association or American Sheep Producers Council.
The Industry Innovation Award recognizes the accomplishments of an individual or organization that improves the American sheep industry in a game-changing way, regardless of whether its impact is felt at the regional or national level.
The Shepherd’s Voice Award for Media recognizes outstanding coverage of the sheep industry by either print or broadcast outlets. The award excludes all publications and affiliates related solely to the sheep industry, allowing for recognition of outlets with general coverage of sheep industry issues.
Nominations must be submitted to ASI by Nov. 14, and past recipients of these awards are not eligible. Visit sheepusa.org/newsmedia/awards for more information.