Montana Woolgrowers Association elects first woman president

Thursday, January 5, 2006 9:09 AM MST

BILLINGS, Mont. - The Montana Woolgrowers Association elected its first woman president during its annual meeting held on Dec. 2-3 in Billings.

Betty Sampsel of Stanford, Mont., was elected President of the Montana Wool Growers Association. Sampsel is the first woman elected President of the state association's history, which dates back to 1883 when Paris Gibson of Fort Benton, Mont., was elected the first association president.

MWGA celebrated 122 years of representing the majority of the state's wool and sheep producers in 2005.

John Helle of Dillon, Mont., was elected vice president during the meeting. The Helle ranch family has the largest sheep operation in the state and the entire family has been active in the sheep business. Helle is also a member of the American Sheep Industry Wool Council.

Elected to the board of directors was Dave McEwen of Galata, Mont. McEwen started in the sheep industry with 80 bum lambs and has grown his flock to near 800. He will serve a one-year term, while Mike Green of Cohagen, Mont., and Greg Wichman of Hilger, Mont., were re-elected to three-year terms on the eight-member board of directors.

Dues increase on hold

MWGA members had voted in the business session to adopt a dues policy of $20 per member dues in addition to four cents per pound of wool shorn and sold. The vote was over-turned by the board of directors after much discussion on the fairness of the dues increase.

“The board opted to postpone implementation of the dues increase until more discussion can be held with more members of the association as to the effect on each sheep operation in the state,” said Sampsel.

With decreasing sheep numbers, MWGA has struggled with meeting rising costs of representing producers before the state legislature, state agencies and in Washington, D.C. “The dues to MWGA for the 2006 wool clip will remain the same as the past seven years - four cents per pound with associate dues at fifty dollars a membership,” emphasized Sampsel.

Goat producers welcome

MWGA membership voted to accept goat producers as association members.

The association will appoint a goat committee, which will handle goat related issues such as animal health, marketing or lobbying on issues. The assessment per goat will be forty cents per head.

Nina Baucus of Wolf Point, Mont., was appointed as the goat committee chairperson. She, along with MWGA membership, will attempt to get a listing of goat raisers in Montana. Baucus and her husband, John, raise goats on their operation near Wolf Point. These goats have been doing well both for range management, forest management and returning dollars to the ranch, she said. Baucus estimates there may be more than 10,000 goats in Montana.

At this time, there will be no association name change.

More than 200 producers registered for the two-day convention, which featured seminars on lamb production, wool for military uses, animal damage control and ways to help smaller producers market lambs and wool. Next year's convention will be conducted on Dec. 1-2, 2006 at the Billings Hotel in Billings.

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