LDP wool, mohair deadline nearing

Thursday, January 19, 2006 7:59 PM MST

STANFORD, Mont. - The appliation deadline for the recourse loan or a Loan Deficiency Payment on the 2005 wool and mohair clip is Jan. 31.

Ungraded wool secures a non recourse loan made at a rate of forty cents per pound and for graded wool the rate is $1.00 per pound, said Betty Sampsel, Montana Woolgrowers Association president of Stanford, Mont. Mohair loan rates are set at $4.20 per pound.

Sampsel said that 692 growers in Montana had signed up to date and

received payments of $334,336.49 on one million seven-hundred thousand pounds of wool. For Mohair the total to date is 6 growers signing up for $1,211.54 on about thirteen hundred pounds of mohair. "The LDP program for both of these commodities was placed in the 2002 farm bill through the lobbying efforts of the American Sheep Industry Association of which Montana Wool Growers is an active member," said Sampsel.

Wool prices could use a boost, although wool did move from producers to processors hands through 2005. The United States, Montana included is exporting about 70% of the

domestic wool clip annually and that amount continues to grow as wool processing plants leave the United States. The markets for United States wool have been developed by the American Sheep Industry Wool Council, John Helle, Vice President of MWGA, has been a member of the council.

Sampsel said the Montana Wool Growers Association would be lobbying for inclusion of the wool and mohair LDP program in the next farm bill with the current bill expiring in 2007.

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