Sheep, lamb numbers increase - Mike Corn elected VP of ASI

Mike Corn

San Angeloan Benny Cox was elected to a two-year term as secretary/treasurer of the American Sheep Industry Association at the conclusion of the organization’s 150th annual convention in Reno, Nevada, last weekend. Cox, former president of the Texas Sheep & Goat Raisers’ Association, is the sheep sales manager at Producers Livestock Auction Co. in San Angelo. He started feeding and receiving animals at Producers 45 years ago while in high school and continued in the job while obtaining his agriculture business degree from Angelo State University. “I think that an important function of ASI, if not the most important, is our legislative drive to protect our way of life,” Cox said. “There are those who are against animal agriculture as well as those that would try to seize our lands who we must counter.” Other elected officers include President Burton Pfliger, of Bismarck, North Dakota, and Vice President Mike Corn, of Roswell, New Mexico. Corn owns and operates sheep, cattle and goats, lambing about 3,000 ewes annually. A fourth-generation rancher, he is part of a family that has been raising sheep in the Roswell area since the 1880s. He owns and operates his own ranch and leases additional ranches, operating about 125,000 acres. His herd consists of white-faced, finewool sheep, mainly a merino cross. Corn and his wife, Jennifer, have three children: Jessica, Bronson and Jenny. Corn is also the majority owner of Roswell Wool Warehouse, which he and his partners purchased in 1992. It is the largest wool warehouse by volume in the United States with an additional facility in Long Beach, California. Corn has also chaired the Let’s Grow Committee, established by Sutton County rancher Glen Fisher when he was ASI president. “The industry showed its commitment to increase sheep numbers when we rolled out the Let’s Grow campaign nearly four years ago,” Corn said. “This is an exciting time as we are now beginning to see some of the results of this focused program. It has great promise, and there are many other efforts ongoing that give great hope for the sheep industry.” Adding to the excitement was the release of the National Agricultural Statistics Service’s annual survey, which showed an increase in the nation’s sheep and lamb inventory — up by 1 percent and totaling 5.28 million head. The 2014 lamb crop was 2 percent higher, marking the first time since 2006 that sheep numbers showed an increase.