The forms are available online now. Click on the “About BLU” dropdown box above, then on the “National Show Info”. You can download/print the 3 contest forms. Please share these with all interested parties!

The board met by teleconference the evening of Wednesday, February 15th.  Our new treasurer, Cindy Cieciwa, was able to join us for the first part of the meeting.  The proposed budget for 2012 was reviewed.  The board is pleased with our progress toward building up fund reserves while still providing needed services to our membership.  The need for a new checking account with a bank near both the treasurer and the president was discussed.

Kris Barndt presented the minutes from the previous meeting in November.  She also discussed the need to make some changes to the website and forms to reflect the new treasurer, and to help remind the members to mail their membership dues directly to Associated Sheep Registries.   A postcard reminding members of the deadline for paying 2012 dues has been mailed out.

The BFL National show committee reported on its progress.  Trophies & ribbons have been ordered, the hotel has been reserved, a banquet has been arranged for.  The sheep show entry forms are nearly ready for publication, and the yarn, fleece, fiber arts, and photography contest forms are ready, as well.  They will be posted to the BLU website, Facebook page, and advertized in the next few days.

The genetics taskforce had several items to report.  All six of the most recent imported rams have been correctly entered into the ASR registry database, and new certificates issued at no charge.  Heather Landin has agreed to oversee the import process for the future to assure that BLU policy is followed, and the required paperwork is filed completely and correctly before new rams are entered into the system.  The next ram to be entered will be Myfyrian Blue Dragon, who was imported by our Canadian members this past summer.   Jared Lloyd reported on the progress in getting several new rams that have been collected into the US for our membership’s use.  There is a problem with the company that does the collection work that is being looked into by USDA.  It is hoped that it will be quickly resolved.

A committee has been formed to work on filing for non-profit status 501(c)(5) with the IRS.  Anyone with experience in this process would be welcomed onto this committee.

The upcoming Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival was discussed.  Jolene Vezzetti will help organize an informal gathering of BLU members and others interested in BFLs during the lunch break in the sheep show arena on Saturday.

A request to support the Michigan Fiberfest in Allegan, MI was considered by the board, and it was decided to make a donation.  BLU will be recognized in their catalog as well as listed on a banner in the showring.  As a reminder, if any members attend festivals, shows, etc., with sheep or fiber, please contact the board to request that BLU advertizes or supports the show in some way.  One of the functions of BLU is to promote the breed, and we’d like to do that as much as possible.

The next scheduled meeting of the board is on April 25th.

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We are holding a meeting for those interested in hearing about the Bluefaced Leicester Association Performance Recording Scheme and our new “Performance Mule” initiative for the promotion of Mules sired by high index Bluefaced Leicester sires.

The “Performance Mule” initiative will help us supply the ever growing market for commercial ewes sired by high index rams that we are losing out on at the present time to our competitors.

This meeting is taking place at The Auctioneer, Borderway Mart, Carlisle on Tuesday 14th February, 2012 at 7.00p.m.

The main focus of the meeting will be a power point presentation given by Sam Boon of Signet this will be to show and discuss the benefits of Performance Recording in Bluefaced Leicester’s. We anticipate an increased demand for performance recorded Bluefaced Leicester’s with the launch of a recorded mule certification scheme.

We would encourage as many members as possible to attend this meeting.

If you would like to discuss this further please contact Matt Drummond on his mobile 07771934071 or contact myself on 07887 891678.
Myrfyn Roberts
Breed Development Chairman

***A group of US breeders have imported semen from performance recorded rams from both Mr Roberts and Mr Drummond.  The Bluefaced Leicester Union of North America encourages our members to use this data collected on UK rams as part of the criteria in selecting top sires for collection and import.

The judge for the BFL show is Judy Moore. Judy is a nationally known and respected judge with experience judging BFLs. The show is scheduled for Friday, May 25th at 3PM. It is held at the Great Lakes Fiber Festival in Wooster Ohio.
Besides the sheep show, there will be competitions for fleece, yarn, fiber arts, and a photography competition. These will be held on Saturday, May 26th. Rules and entry forms are being completed and will be posted here on the website this week.

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BLU board member Jared Lloyd was recently interviewed for a Sheep Industry News article.  The article focuses on his flock expansion using Shetland and BFL genetics in a large western commercial flock.     http://sheepindustrynews.org/?page=site%2Ftext&nav_id=3b79b0fae814183646395f41f85dc25e&archive_id

The board election results are finalized. As reported by our election chairperson, 31 ballots were returned. Vice President Margaret VanCamp won re-election, as did board member Jared Lloyd. Our new board member, replacing Becky Utecht, who did not seek re-election, is Heather Landin. Please join me in congratulating them. The board will be meeting by teleconference in mid-December. All BLU members are encouraged to contact any board member with questions or concerns to bring before the board.

On November 16th, the BLU board met by teleconference. The treasurer’s report and the minutes from the August 10th meeting were approved.

Our treasurer, Becky Utecht, is not running for a second term on the board, and does not wish to continue as BLU treasurer. So the board will be looking for someone from the membership to fill this position.

The flockbook was discussed. Since it is very time consuming for the secretary to produce on a voluntary basis, and to pay someone to do it would be a substantial expense, the board would like to find out just how important it is to the membership. To this end, the president and secretary will work on a set of questions to find out if the cost is justified and if the membership uses the flockbook, or might prefer the information in a different format. A survey will be set up for the membership in the next few months.

The national show committee updated the board on its progress. The committee is meeting at the fairgrounds in Wooster on Friday, November 18th to look at the facility and discuss how best to use it for demonstrations and the fleece/fiber competition. They will also make arrangements for hotel and banquet facilities.

The board voted to extend the contract on the website. They are very happy with the look and content of the website, and how it is maintained.

An issue with the way that American Sheep Registry is handling the registration of UK ram semen into our breed registry was discussed. It was decided that the Genetics Taskforce committee should appoint someone to oversee this process. Policy will be re-written to have the information already required for semen registry to be looked over by the committee to assure that all paperwork is in order before it is submitted to ASR, and then re-checked to be certain it has been entered correctly to ensure pedigrees are correct and the integrity of the registry is maintained.

A brief meeting is planned for December to welcome new board member(s). Two topics that will be discussed will be the open treasurer’s position and approval of the 2012 budget.
If there are concerns from the membership that the board

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