Dear Leicester Longwool Sheep Breeders,

The Leicester Longwool Sheep Breeders Conference will be in Washington Pennsylvania ( NOTE THE CHANGE OF TOWNS, not in Williamsburg) on October 27th, 28th and 29th 2023. This is south of Pittsburg, PA. The host hotel will be Springhill Suites by Marriott . The address is 16 Trinity Point Dr Pittsburg, Pa. 15301 724-223-7800. The rate for Friday, and Saturday nights is $104 without taxes etc. and if there are rooms available you can book up to Thursday the 26th of October. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN ROOM RESERVATIONS. Rooms can be booked here: https://www.marriott.com/event.../reservation-link.mi.... If you have problems contact the hotel or Elaine.

The schedule will be similar to past years. Friday night at the hotel at 7pm we will have a meet and greet with light snacks. Also a show and tell, bring your things you have been working on or pictures of your flock . Our annual meeting will be this evening probably around 8 pm. Come and hear the exciting things the Board and members have been working on. We will need help from members in this next year for a couple of projects so come ready to volunteer!! We will also have a silent auction on Friday evening, so please bring your treasure to benefit the LLSBA!

On Saturday Oct 28th breakfast available at the hotel. 9am Brian Larson, longtime Lincoln sheep breeder, past President of the Livestock Conservancy Board and rare breed advocate will be speaking about “A Sheep Breed Association’s role to maintain breed standard and improve genetic diversity”. Brian has a clear and easy way to help folks understand the importance of rare breeds. He will also tell us about his chance to judge at the Great Yorkshire Show in 2022 and he will talk about the longwool sheep in England and how the sheep and the shows differ from ours here in the US. Our second speaker for the morning will be Zane Bone. Zane is from Texas and has judged sheep and wool shows across the country, including Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. He is interested in fiber and all breeds of sheep. He will talk about the good aspects of showing and how to do well in the show ring while staying true to the breed standard. We will also have a discussion about card grading, which is the type of showing that the LLSBA has advocated for many years.

The field trip this year will be to visit Mary Lou Williams farm, The Rosefield, to have lunch and look at sheep. There will be NO bus this year so we carpool and head out to Mary Lou’s. There will be a lunch at the Rosefield from a local sandwich shop. The cost for a sandwich, chips, a cookie and a drink is $18. You need to let Elaine know what you want for a lunch sandwich of these three choices:

Veggie wrap
Ham, cheese and tomato
Roast Beef

You will pay at the conference but you need to let Elaine know what sandwich you want by Wednesday Oct 25th. E-mail her at elaineshirley7444@gmail.com no texts JUST e-mails.

We will be getting our hands on the sheep and discussing the good points and bad points of the animals with Brian, Zane and you shepherds. This part of the conference can be very educational for everyone. Last year we had help from some of our junior members, EVERYONE should try to get involved.

We will return to the hotel for a bit and then head to dinner at a local restaurant at 7pm. Details are still being worked out on which restaurant.

Sunday Oct 29: Breakfast at the hotel, 9am roundtable discussion on presenting your sheep, what judges are looking for and showers experiences. Hopefully we will have some younger members take part in this discussion.

10:30am Susan Schoenian, longtime sheep raiser and retired sheep specialist for University of Maryland, will talk about Pregnancy Toxemia and the Copper Controversy. She can also answer any sheep questions you might have. Susan’s wealth of knowledge about small ruminants makes her a fabulous resource. Bring your questions. Around noon we head home.

A couple of other things we are working on, an introduction to the other rare breeds of sheep by the breeders who attend the conference and talking and demonstrating showing and fitting ideas (even if you don’t show it is a good idea to have your animals looking and behaving nicely when you take them to an event).

The Board has decided to invite some other rare breed sheep groups since most of the things we talk about apply to all sheep. It will be a chance to meet other sheep raisers and learn about other rare breeds. So please greet our guests and you can learn something about some other breeds.

Warm regards,

LLSBA Board of Directors

2023 To Do List

1. Make your room reservation by October 26th for the discount rate.

2. Bring items for the show and tell, dessert or finger food for sharing, and something for the silent auction.

3. Be thinking of questions for all of our speakers. If you can send questions to any member of the board beforehand that would be helpful.

4. LET ELAINE KNOW LUNCH CHOICE.   

E-mail contact is best:   elaineshirley7444@gmail.com