The President's Corner

To express a suggestion, concern or issue to Jim Matt, President of the OMGA, please forward an email to omgapresident@earthlink.net.  A reply will be posted on this page within 30 days of receipt of that email. This page is intended for communications with the OMGA and OYMGA members on issues, suggestions, and concerns brought forth by the members of our association. 

Comments / Solutions / Recommendations
Subject: OMGA Annual Sale


Jim,  I would recommend the goat facility at Redlands Community College. They have a great facility that is becoming well know to many families across the state and it is located in a more centralized local. which would make it possible more attractive for buyers from across the state.
 
Also I would recommend a change of one of the required shows to a western location; Clinton or Cheyenne.  This would give the kids living in the western part of the state the opportunity to make two without traveling several hours.  I was approached numerous times at Clinton this last weekend with the question of what needed to be done to make it a required show.
 
Jeremy Church

Thanks for the feedback Jeremy.  I will share this with the other board members for consideration as we plan next year.

Jim
OMGA President
From: Sharon Martin
Sent: Nov 6, 2008 5:42 PM
To: omgapresident@earthlink.net
Subject: omga annual sale

As a member, both before and a recent rejoin I have been impressed with the annual sale, that is until this last endeavor.  To put it mildly it was a total bust!  Between
my self and my friend GW Simms and also expressed to me by Martin farms we will not return, unless it is moved to a location more inviting.  Between the three of us we
consigned 2/3 of animals in sale. The animals were not screened as advertised not even tatoos were checked, know of one fish teat doe not so called. People noticed! Hope this is not the beginning of the end for this event,but unless we find a more accessable location I believe as do others it is done. Now the people at the Olive sale were helpul and very nice it might be time for someone to help us  the producer's. Also looked for officers who not there at the sale.

Nov 7, 2008
Ms. Martin, thanks for your note of concern.  I too was disappointed with the sale in general.  We spent more money on advertising this year than in the past because we knew the current goat market conditions and the economy would make it challening to get enough buyers in attendance to make it a successful sale. 

With regards to the location, i value your opinion and have mentioned to the board at our monthly board meeting last night that you had expressed you would not attend again if we had the sale in Olive.  The concern was taken under consideration, added to the minutes and will be discussed at a board meeting in the spring of 2009 before a decision is made regarding locations for next year's sale.  If you have a facility in mind you would like to recommend, please let me know.  The cost for the Olive facility is free and the Olive FFA kids donate their time to help with pens, cleaning and load/unload.  That makes the facility very attractive and it has been a good location for successful events in the past.

Regarding checking tatoos and sifting catalogued goats, I personally watched tatoos being compared to papers during unloading, so if we missed checking tatoos on your goats, i certainly apologize.  We did make a decision not to sift or check bites and teats at the sale for various reasons.  In previous years the sifting has created numerous complaints from breeders because of opinions passed on questionable goats.  We did have examples of breeders who noted their goat's faults in the catalogue and in the future this will likely be the way we handle it. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

With regards to OMGA officers not being present, there were 5 of the 7 officers in attendance for the entire day.  Myself, Jamie Heston, Bob Pruitt, J.D. McNutt, and Luanne Hansen were all present throughout the day. 

Again, I apologize for your displeasure with the sale and certainly understand based on the results of the sale.  I welcome any thoughts or opinions you might have to make the sale better in the future.

Sincerely,

Jim Matt

OMGA President
 2-2-07
The suggestions discussed at the January 28th OYMGA banquet were sent to a committee comprised of 4 board members (Jamie, Bob, Warren and Troy) on February 1, 2007.  Those suggestions will be processed by the committee and presented back to the board of directors on March 9th at a meeting scheduled to be held at the OYE.  The solutions to the items suggested will be posted on this page soon after that meeting.
3-21-07

SOLUTIONS:
Responses to the issues before the committee for 2007 show season:

1)  A new 5 and under showmanship class will be available.

2)  Showmanship point breakdowns for 2007- 1st-12pt  2nd-10pt  3rd-8pt  4th-6pt  5th-4pt  all others will receive 2 participation points.

3)  Points will be counted on the top 5 shows for the season.

4)  Points will be counted on the exhibitors 2 highest point earning animals in each division.

5)  Double points shows are eliminated.  Each member must attend at least 2 of 3 designated shows to be eligible for year end awards.  Designated shows will be assigned prior to start of season.

6)  The 2008 show season will run from January to December.

7)  There will be more specific information posted in the 2007 OYMGA show rules prior to the start of the season.