Sheep and Wool Market Development Program funds new projects

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Indiana Sheep and Wool Market Development Program, administered by the Office of Agricultural Research at Purdue University, will fund four four new projects to promote the state’s sheep and lamb industry.

Funding requests were reviewed at a recent bi-annual meeting of the council. Funding requests are accepted year-round for any program or project focusing on educational, promotional and research efforts supporting Indiana’s sheep industry. The projects accepted for funding are:

* Indiana State Fair sheep shearing contest. This annual event at the Indiana State Fair will recognize shearers in competition and encourage others to become shearers.

* Scottsburg High School lamb carcass evaluation project. This project will allow Scottsburg High School vocational agriculture teachers to use a lamb carcass and cuts for in-class evaluation and identification. The meat will then be used for cooking method evaluations, microbial growth rate and other meat-related experiments.

* Scottsburg High School Family and Consumer Sciences lamb education. This project will allow Scottsburg High School FACS teachers to educate students about lamb as a protein source. Students will learn about lamb production, meat preparation and recipes.

* Indiana Sheep Association meeting and symposium. The annual sheep symposium and association meeting has goals that include educational programming and producer recognition.

Anyone with project ideas for consideration by the Indiana Sheep and Wool Market Development Program may fill out and submit a funding application, which can be found on the program website at https://ag.purdue.edu/arp/Pages/sheepwool.aspx. The council will consider proposals at its fall meeting in November.

“The sheep and wool program is focused on raising awareness and where better to build awareness than with high school students, such as the Scottsburg grant,” said Jerry Fankhauser, contact administrator for the Indiana Sheep and Wool Market Development Program at Purdue. “We are always interested in projects, big and small, that can build awareness of this industry.”

Also at the meeting, it was announced that Dawn Parks, assistant director of sponsored programs development for the Purdue College of Agriculture, will be taking over as contact administrator for the program. She replaces Fankhauser, who will assume a similar position at the University of Florida-Gainesville in September.

“Sheep and wool farmers are an important part of Indiana agriculture and I look forward to supporting this group in expanding consumer knowledge about their terrific products,” said Parks.

The Indiana Sheep and Wool Market Development Program is tasked with supporting educational, promotional and research efforts involving sheep in Indiana. Funds for the council are collected from the sale of all sheep in Indiana - 0.5 percent of the net market price of each sheep sold. All funds collected by stockyards, sale managers, producers and others should be sent to the council’s business office at Purdue. More information is on the program’s website:  https://ag.purdue.edu/arp/Pages/sheepwool.aspx. 

Sources: Jerry Fankhauser, fankhaus@purdue.edu

Dawn Parks, dwparks@purdue.edu

Agricultural Communications: (765) 494-8415;
Shari Finnell, Manager/Media Relations and Public Information, sfinnell@purdue.edu  
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