As the sheep show and fiber festival season draws to a close with a flurry of fall events, BLU would like to remind our members of the advertising dollars spent promoting the breed and the breeders during the year.

Since 3 of BLU’s stated goals are promotion related:

• To engage in the education and promotion of Bluefaced Leicester sheep,
• To provide interested people with information about Bluefaced Leicester sheep and their products,
• To promote interest in the Bluefaced Leicester breed of sheep wherever possible in order to attract new breeders for the propagation and well-being of the breed.

the board feels strongly that a large portion of the budget each year should be spent on promotion and advertising.

Here is a list of the shows and festivals where advertising dollars were spent in 2012.  These events have traditionally been attended by BLU members, either showing sheep or BFL fiber, or as vendors in fiber shows.

Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival – $150.00

Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival – $60.00

Black Sheep Gathering – $50.00

Shepherd’s Harvest in Minnesota – $25.00

Wisconsin Sheep & Wool Festival – $55.00

Michigan Fiber Festival –   $100.00

In addition,  requests to advertise with the New Hampshire Sheep & Wool festival and the Garden State Sheep & Wool Festival (NJ) have recently been received from our members.

Besides promoting BFLs at shows, there are also ads placed in the major sheep magazines – The Shepherd, Sheep!, and Sheep Canada all have paid listings in the breed section of each magazine, at a total cost of $110.00 per year.   The Banner magazine provides space for notes from breed associations at no cost – a great benefit!

The board would like to invite any member who attends a show or festival with their BFL sheep or fiber to submit a request to advertise at that show.   We’d also like to remind you that BLU has banners available to borrow if you’d like to promote the breed registry at events.  Besides banners, there are also promotional materials available to print here on the website.  (click on “about BLU” and then on “Promotional Materials”)