Membership
How Can A Producer Join NSIP?
Simple. A producer submits an Enrollment Form to the Breed Association Data Coordinator. This Enrollment Form is a very easy-to-fill-out form that asks a few questions about contact information, breed, and flock size. All purebred producers with registered animals can join NSIP. Calculation of across-flock EPDs, however, is dependent on the establishment of good across-flock genetic linkages. NSIP is currently working closely with six breeds to calculate across-flock EPDs. These breeds are Targhee, Suffolk, Polypay, Dorsets, Hampshires, and Columbia. Producers in other breeds will receive across-flock EPDs if enough flocks join NSIP so that good genetic linkages can be established. NSIP will help facilitate this. If the breed association office cannot act as a collection point for data, then the group of breeders needs to find someone else to do this role. Again, NSIP will facilitate this. There are people in the sheep industry already doing these tasks
How Much Does NSIP Cost?
The NSIP fee structure is very simple and reasonable. Annual fees are based on two things: (1) a flock charge plus (2) a charge per each breeding animal in the flock. The flock charge is an annual fee per flock. An animal is defined as an adult ewe or a ewe lamb that will be part of the breeding flock or a ram that will be used to sire lambs. On the Enrollment Form, a producer counts all animals, male or female, that were used in breeding during the past year. Producers enroll only purebred animals with registration numbers. They also enroll any ewe lambs or ram lambs used for breeding that will be registered but have not yet been assigned registration numbers. For example, a purebred producer with 97 breeding ewes and 3 breeding rams would pay a total NSIP fee of $300.00. (= $125 flock charge plus $1.75 x 100) You’ll need to ask how billing is handled for your breed.
Does NSIP Accept Electronic Data Entry?
Yes. In fact, NSIP only uses electronic data entry. All producers enter data onto specially designed, easy-to-use spreadsheets. These spreadsheets look very much like the traditional paper forms — i.e. they have rows and columns. However, these computer forms also do automatic error-checking, so that the spreadsheet catches typos and other data errors when they are first entered, which makes these errors very easy to correct. If a producer doesn’t have a computer or prefers to avoid doing data entry, they can have a friend/relative/neighbor do it or make arrangements with the personnel at the breed association office to do this for them. After producers enter their data, they send the file via the Internet (or just mail a diskette) to the Breed Association Data Coordinator.