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Author: stcroixs

2024 Board of Directors Election is 11/29-12/3/24

Posted on November 25, 2024November 25, 2024 by stcroixs
2024 Board of Directors Election is 11/29-12/3/24

It is time for the 2024 Election! Most of our board members’ terms expire this year, but all have declared their interest in continuing to serve. We strongly encourage all our members to vote. Members will receive information about the electronic election by email from ElectionBuddy on Nov 29, 2024. Be sure to check your spam folder!

Vote for up to five (5) candidates. The election closes at 11:59pm Eastern time on December 3. Our candidates are listed below in alphabetical order.


Crystal Criswell, Ohio

Crystal

Hello fellow shepherds and shepherdesses! I grew up on a small farm in Kansas where my family raised hogs and poultry. My husband, Chris, and I have two adult sons. We moved to our southern Appalachian Ohio farm in 2018. I started with three ewes that year, joined SCHSB in 2019, and now have thirty-five (35) ewes at Melwood Farm. We use regenerative grazing and work hard to produce lambs that perform well on grass-based operations.

I love talking sheep to fellow St. Croix enthusiasts on social media, by phone, and in person. I’ve hosted several workshops to teach others about the benefits and care of St Croix sheep. I’ve been awarded grants from the Livestock Conservancy, the For Farmers Movement, Accelerating Appalachia, and the Climate Smart Commodities Project to support my work with the sheep and my grazing operation.

I am a strong advocate for focusing on the performance of our sheep. To that end, I have been participating in the National Sheep Improvement Program (NSIP) since 2022 and use estimated breeding values (EBVs) as part of my selection and breeding program. My sheep are either good or they are delicious.

I have been a Director since January 2022, and served as Treasurer since 2023. As we developed a new website, searched for, and contracted with a new registrar, I was in the trenches. I submitted samples from several of my sheep for the genetics project and look forward to its continued development. If elected, I will continue to support the members and the mission of SCHSB.


Lori Marion, Oregon

Hi, I’m Lori Marion, and together with my husband Bill, I have raised St Croix sheep since 2015. Our ranch is land that has been used for sheep since the late 1800’s. We have 48 breeding ewes, several rams, and a small, unrelated ram flock. We stress careful selection of breeding animals that will maintain the unique qualities of St Croix sheep.

St Croix sheep have proven an ideal fit for our high desert environment in eastern Oregon, as adaptable here as they have been in warmer, wetter environments.

The breed does great with varied livestock roles, from traditional table lamb production to vegetation control for fire-risk reduction or solar farms. I see the St Croix breed as one that has a place in the sheep world as a resilient, adaptable and low management-input breed.

I have been a director since 2019, and have strived to keep the St Croix Hair Sheep Breeders an association that is responsive and transparent to its members. I have had an active role in the St Croix genetic identity project, in the transition to the new registry as GLM retired, and in various aspects of St Croix promotion and advertising. I’d like the opportunity to continue to encourage the growth of the breed and to encourage new and experienced St Croix producers.

I would be honored to continue to serve the members of SCHSB for another term and I would appreciate your vote as a director.


Tara Seltz, Minnesota

My name is Tara Seltz. My husband, Marty, and I have been raising St. Croix sheep since 2018. We maintain 20-25 breeding ewes and 5 rams with the goal of providing quality lamb products to consumers while improving the soil health of our land.

I thoroughly enjoy learning about every aspect of St. Croix sheep from their history (as far back as I can reach) to the intricacies of their unique maternal, immune, and genetic functions to bring our sheep to higher performance levels.

I was appointed to the SCHSB Board as an interim director in July 2024 to manage the Genetics Project, and I hope to continue in this effort. I look forward to learning more about you so that I can celebrate your joys, support you through your challenges, and encourage you towards a more successful flock.


Jason Webster, Indiana

Hey everyone! I’ve been farming my whole life and started raising St Croix sheep fourteen years ago. My wife, Jess, and I have run a food stand where we serve our own grass-fed product and promote eating lamb as much as we can. Currently, we have eighty breeding ewes and two rams.

We are very involved with our local sheep association and have started a solar grazing and forage program with a local company. We are looking forward to exploring some of the new developments with St Croix sheep genetics such as the NSIP program. I really enjoy St. Croix and look forward to this breed’s future!

Being on the Board and serving as President since 2022 has been a great experience for me, and I would appreciate your vote.


Amy Wheeler, Oregon

Hello, my name is Amy Wheeler. I’m 49, a mom, caregiver, and I manage Hollow Hills Ranch. I reside in the Northwest of Oregon, halfway between Portland and Salem, in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.

Sheep Experience: Our family has raised sheep since the late 1930’s when they purchased this farm. We have raised St Croix hair sheep specifically since our first ram, Charlie, in 2000. We bought him at the Woodburn Livestock Exchange, from Jo Van Hoy in Rufus, WA, as a novelty to cross with our Suffolk and North Country Cheviot ewes. We also utilized St Croix in crosses of Romanov, CA Red, Dorper, Katahdin, Barbados, and Black Hawaiian. What we soon discovered is the lack of wool on their underside and crutching was a thing of the past and the fun colors we could get!

As time went on we purchased more St Croix from Churchill’s, Swan’s, and Lisa Grimes. When we first started out, we didn’t realize that color could, and would, show up in the St Croix sheep from time to time. We kept many, and even went out of our way to buy these, even though they couldn’t be registered back then. It was a few more years before colored St Croix were seen as valuable and registerable in an organization. Thankfully they are now! In fact we have a few ewes that have beautiful black/white color patterns in our registered flock now! We currently raise a registered flock of St Croix alongside registered and recorded/crossbred flocks of Katahdins.

Nonprofit Experience: I have been involved in several other non-profit groups. The biggest of these were the Parent Cultivation Team at Molalla River Academy, the Molalla Buckeroo Rodeo Association, and I am on the St Croix Hair Sheep Breeders Board of Directors currently. I spent the last 3 years as the Chairperson of the Parent Cultivation Team (similar to Boosters or PTA) at my daughter’s small public charter school until she graduated back in June 2024. I handled running all the meetings, delegating activities to the other directors, handling personnel issues, and so much more!

I was a member of the Molalla Buckeroo Rodeo Association in the early 2000’s; was on the Board of Directors for 6 years, worked in the ticket office, maintained their social media presence as well as their website, and was involved in the drafting of the by-laws. I “retired” from the Association a little over 10 years ago, as my young daughter needed more of my time around the 4th of July as many parents probably understand!

Other Experience: I retired as a Licensed Massage Therapist after nearly 11 years of doing it in March 2020. I dearly miss it, but have plenty to keep me busy! I caregive for my mom full time while I run the “ranch” AND my teen daughter is in band in Highschool so I spend a lot of time taking her to games and to her friend’s houses. I do enjoy designing my website, as well as maintaining a few Facebook business pages and I admin my fair share of groups on Facebook too. Thank you for your consideration for the Board of Directors!

Posted in News Tagged election

Epigenetics and Sheep

Posted on January 19, 2024January 19, 2024 by stcroixs
Epigenetics and Sheep

The topic of genetics and epigenetics is fascinating and complex. Genes determine a lot about an animal, including their visible phenotype and performance. Gene-determined traits may become evident in the animal over time or in the animal’s offspring.

What is Epigenetics?

Adding to the complexity is ‘epigenetics‘. This includes factors in the environment, like food eaten or chemicals inhaled, that alter the effects of the genes without causing a change, or mutation, in the genes. When epigenetic changes turn the genes on or off, the appearance or function of the animal may change too. That epigenetic effect may appear only in the exposed individual (the F-0 generation), or in it’s offspring (the F-1 generation) as well. In some cases, the food eaten or the chemicals breathed can influence grandchildren (F-2) and even future generations never exposed to the food or chemicals that produced the epigenetic changes.

Epigenetics Research in Sheep

A study done at the University of Wisconsin -Madison used rams (F-0) fed a special diet that included methionine, an amino acid that sheep must eat to form proteins. The body cannot make methionine but sheep need it to produce proteins in wool, meat, milk and fetuses. Eating methionine led to chemical changes in cytosine, one of the four bases of DNA (along with adenine, guanine and thymine). The F-0 rams fed methionine and their F-1 offspring created from sperm of the F-0 ram maintained the same order of DNA base sequences. No mutation had occurred. However, they both had the same chemical change to their cytosine base in their DNA.

The rams’ grand-offspring (F-2) and future generations (F-3, etc) did not consume the feed containing higher levels of methionine. Even still, their DNA contained the same chemical change to cytosine that the F-0 and F-1 generations had. ‘Transgenerational epigenetic inheiritance’ (TEI) from F-0 to F-2 had occurred in the sheep. The F-2 grand-offspring rams had reduced scrotal circumference and loin muscle depth. The chemical change to cytosine appeared to have undesirable effects on the reproductive and growth traits of the sheep.

In genetics, what you see (the phenotype) may not be exactly what you have in the genotype, due to epigenetics. Are there epigenetic factors that could improve performance? Are epigenetic changes reversible? How do more distant generations fare? There is much more in the field of genetics and epigenetics to be discovered.

Read a more complete description of the experiment and more about epigenetics.

Posted in Genetics Tagged epigenetics

January 2023 News & Views

Posted on January 23, 2023October 1, 2023 by stcroixs
January 2023 News & Views

Contents

  • New Directors
  • Why Register
  • Changes Coming
  • Genomics Project Update
  • Mentorship & Goals
  • What the Hay?
  • New Members
  • Membership Report
Posted in Newsletters Tagged directors, Genetics, hay, mentorship, registrar, registration

September 2022 News & Views

Posted on August 24, 2022October 1, 2023 by stcroixs
September 2022 News & Views

Contents

  • Annual Meeting
  • Managing Rams
  • What are Shepherds Feeding?
  • Genomics Project Update
  • Health: Hoof Care
  • Elections
  • New Members
  • Membership Report
  • Upcoming Events
Posted in Newsletters Tagged election, Genetics, hoof care, managing rams, meeting, nutrition

June 2022 News & Views

Posted on May 28, 2022October 1, 2023 by stcroixs
June 2022 News & Views

Contents

  • To grain or not to grain
  • If you can’t beat the heat
  • How do I lamb thee
  • Genomics Project
  • Health: Coccidiosis
  • Fall Lambing
  • New Members
  • Membership Report
  • Upcoming Events
Posted in Newsletters Tagged coccidiosis, Genetics, lambing, nutrition, weather

New Year 2022 Newsletter

Posted on February 1, 2022October 1, 2023 by stcroixs
New Year 2022 Newsletter

Contents

  • President’s Ramble
  • National Microgrants
  • Sheep Ancestry.com?
  • Did I or Didn’t I?
  • Fingerprinting St Croix Sheep
Posted in Newsletters Tagged Genetics, grant

Fall/Winter 2021 Newsletter

Posted on May 31, 2021October 1, 2023 by stcroixs
Fall/Winter 2021 Newsletter

Contents

  • President’s Ramble
  • 2021 Annual Meeting
  • Director Elections
  • The Summer Slump
  • St. Croix Genetics Grant
Posted in Newsletters Tagged Genetics, grant, meeting, summer

NSIP Webinar Opportunity

Posted on March 2, 2021October 1, 2023 by stcroixs
NSIP Webinar Opportunity

Russell Burgette, Executive Director of the National Sheep Improvement Program, will host a webinar on Thursday, March 18 at 7:00pm that is open to all SCHSBI members and invited guests. Russell will tell us what NSIP participation can do for member flocks and the breed as a whole. He will explain how members use NSIP to record data points about their sheep that is then used to calculate Estimated Breeding Values. We will also discuss an exciting opportunity for St. Croix breeders to join and use NSIP at a reduced cost.

Mar 18, 2021 07:00 PM Eastern Time

Posted in News Tagged EBV, NSIP

New Year 2021 Newsletter

Posted on January 31, 2021October 1, 2023 by stcroixs
New Year 2021 Newsletter

Contents

  • President’s Ramble
  • Photos Please
  • Aesthetics, Security…
  • Are You Ready?
Posted in Newsletters Tagged fencing, meeting, Sponenberg

Director Election Results

Posted on December 30, 2020December 30, 2020 by stcroixs
Thanks to everyone for a successful election and for voting.   The four newly elected directors are:
  1. Sarah Garvin
  2. Eddie Martin
  3. Matt Mintmier
  4. Matt Morgan
Posted in Annual Meetings, News

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