WEST VIRGINIA SHEPHERDS FEDERATION |
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June 2 2018 Meeting Minutes 2. The location of the annual meeting will be either at Camp Pioneer, Beverly, WV or Holly Gray Park, Sutton WV. The president was directed to see which one was available and report back to the Board. After checking last month it was discovered that neither one was available and we have reserved Thorn Spring Park, Franklin, WV for our meeting site for this year. 3. Annual dues for a full voting membership are now set at $25.00. The distinction between the Unified ASI/WVSF dues of $40.00 and the WVSF dues of $20.00 were abolished. ASI is fine with this change.Full members will not have $10.00 deducted from their wool check if selling wool through the WVSF Wool Program. All other sellers will still be assessed $10.00 to be deducted from their wool check. 4.The WVSF Secretary need no longer to be a member of the Board but must be a member in good standing. The Secretary will be elected at the annual meeting when the president, vice-president and treasurer are elected and is eligible for re-election as well. 5. A discussion of the grants from ASI for the Scrapie Eradication Program, the Wool Outreach and Mentoring Programs was held, but for lack of time no action was taken. 6. Also discussed was that a Bylaws Review Committee will be appointed by the president to consider amendments to the WVSF bylaws (last amended in 2006) and report back 30 days before the 9/29/2018 meeting. 7. It was also decided that lamb should always be served
at the annual meeting.
If you are a goat or sheep producer interested in assistance with Spring/summer (out-of-season) breeding, please contact Marlon Knights. Marlon.Knights@mail.wvu.edu Welcome News from Wildlife Services The West Virginia Shepherds Federation, your state wide organization representing sheep and goat producers, is pleased to learn that USDA - Wildlife Services is once again able to utilize M-44 devices in its Integrated Predator Management Program in West Virginia. This program, commonly known as the "coyote control program," was first implemented to protect West Virginia's sheep and goat producers from devastating losses inflicted upon their herds and flocks by coyote depredations. Under this program livestock losses on participating farms dropped to 1.6 head per year in 2007, compared to a high of 28 head per farm in 1995 before the program started. Recent action by the state legislature now allow cattle producers to avail themselves of the program's benefits. Unavailability of the M-44 device in 2017 led to increased livestock losses even with WS's reliance upon the remaining methods in its toolkit. When the preventive and nonlethal control methods used by producers are ineffective in controlling predation, or on farms with a history of predation, the Wildlife Service specialists can assist. They do so by targeting coyotes and some other wildlife that prey upon sheep, goats and cattle herds across West Virginia. Among the methods are the use of snares, foothold traps, the M-44 devices and night shooting. Only trained and certified Wildlife Services specialists can set the device on farms where depredating coyotes are killing livestock. The land owner or manager must give written permission. Their use is approved and regulated by the US Environmental Protection Agency. In West Virginia, 9 out of 10 animals taken with the device are the targeted coyote. The device is a slender spring loaded tube set in the ground by the WS specialist. Bait on the end of the device attracts coyotes and other canids in the field where it is set. When a coyote tugs at the device it releases sodium cyanide that, on contact with its mucous membranes, is immediately fatal to the animal. In West Virginia, the M-44 device is the most effective method in the WS toolkit to eliminate depredation by coyotes. It is inexpensive, can be quickly set out or relocated to another part of the farm as needed. It does not attract sheep, goats, cattle horses or any grazing livestock. The devices are checked regularly by the WS specialist and, if triggered, are replaced. The program is funded by an line item allocation ( for FY 2019, $176,400) in the West Virginia Dept. of Agriculture budget and by a $1.00 assessment on every breeding age sheep and goat paid by the individual producer to the county assessor who forwards funds to WVDA for disbursement to Wildlife Services. These funding methods were enacted by the West Virginia Legislature at the urging of the West Virginia Shepherds Federation, the West Virginia Farm Bureau and individual livestock producers across the state. This year the Legislature expanded funding for the program by enacting a voluntary assessment of $1.00 per breeding age cow. To be eligible for services through the program a sheep, goat or cattle producer must have paid the assessment for the current year. Interested sheep, goat and cattle producers should contact Wildlife Services at its Elkins, W.Va. office at 304-636-1785 and ask for Tom Elliott, district supervisor or John Forbes, state director. For additional information they may call Joe Aucremanne, West Virginia Shepherds Federation president at 304-445-1516 or by emailing wvashepherds@yahoo.com.
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