WCLA Annual Meeting Minutes – October 14, 2006
President Eric Meudt called the meeting to order at 3:20 pm.
Doug Wilson received the Friend of the WCLA award.
All other Junior awards were presented.
A special thank you gift from Bath and Body was given to Terri Dallas for all of her hard work on the directory.
Secretary’s report was read by Alecia Treml. Moved by John Brubacher to accept, seconded by Shelly Smerchek.
Treasurer’s report was read by Melissa Sprecher. Moved to accept by John Fritz, seconded by John Brubacher.
Old Business
J. Brubacher reported on the WCLA sale summary. No complaints. Sixteen lambs were shown at the futurity, 32 were micro-chipped.
Sue Rupnow moved: At the 2007 Futurity sale a form will be given out to each lamb buyer and if that lamb would win a county or state fair within Wisconsin, they then need to send the form and a photo into a designated board member. They will then receive a $100 for grand or $50 for reserve champion credit to next year’s sale. Forms and photos need to be sent by October 1st. They will be passed onto the breeder and we will have a page on our website featuring winners from past WCLA sales. Seconded by Doug Wilson. Motion passed.
A suggestion from the floor was that on years that we have excess funds, we should roll them into an interest bearing account.
Educational events during the shows this year were successful and should be encouraged to continue.
Raffle drawings are a good source of income for the WCLA. Price of the tickets is a concern for some of the members.
Discussion regarding on-line directory was mostly positive.
Membership was increased because of the Novice Division. Five or 6 members participated.
New Business
Brian Reilly moved to strike “Black spots larger than a quarter in wool” is an immediate disqualification from the breed guidelines for Suffolks. Katie DeBruin seconded. Motion passed.
George Treml moved to add “Excessively dark or blue hide” will be absolute disqualification for Suffolk breed characteristics. John Brubacher seconded. Motion passed.
It was recommend by the board to implement a three lamb limit to count for points. There was lengthy discussion on this item with both sides being presented. Brian Reilly moved to use only top 3 lambs for points. Showman may exhibit more, but they will not accumulate points. If the showman shows more than 3 lambs and wants to use points from lambs other than their top three, they must 3 designated which three lambs they want to count and contact the points chair within 7 days.. Seconded by Melissa Sprecher. Motion passed.
Discussion was held on the current sanctioned shows numbers being down and having a hard time cash flowing. Possible solutions were discussed. Brian Reilly moved to increase the sanction shows that will count for awards to 10 with a minimum of 6 shows to earn awards. Kelly Lee seconded. Motion carried.
Brian Reilly moved to split the AOB division into black face and white face AOB classes. Seconded by John Brubacher. It is recommended that we take the new AOB division to the WI state fair. Motion passed.
Doug Wilson moved: Age divisions from showmanship division will be followed for breed division awards as well. (Three divisions) Seconded by Sue Rupnow. Motion carried.
Shelly Smerchek moved that an exhibitor must show a breed at 6 shows in that respective breed in order to receive prizes at the annual meeting for that breed. Brian Reilly seconded. Motion passed.
State Fair Discussion
Eric Meudt stated that he gave the names of the judges nominated at the 2005 meeting to Brian Bolan. As reported by Eric Meudt, Brian Bolan is taking it upon himself to get the judge and did not want input from the WCLA. The WSF meeting regarding judges was held previous to the WCLA annual banquet; therefore, the WCLA had not discussed nominations for the 2007 Wisconsin State Fair. Brian Reilly recommends getting a meeting with Bolan and members of the WCLA board.
The performance class will replace the carcass contest. There will be no more carcass results from the live show animals.
WSF committee is proposing elimination of centralized check-in sights. Instead, they will send out DNA cards be used in possibly in 2007 or 2008 for identification. WSF – declaring weights and re-weigh for the top three lambs in each class is a proposal for 2008 or 2009.
2006-2007 Board Members
Brian Reilly – President
Sue Rupnow – Vice President
Jayci Reilly – Secretary
Melissa Sprecher – Treasurer
Steve Dewall and Rob Jarek – Sale Chairs
Shelly Smerchek – Points Chair
Katie DeBruin – Futurity Chair
Kayla Greenwood- Junior Director
Austin Domanski- Junior Director
Shelly Smerchek moved to adjourn. John Brubacher seconded. Motion passed.