As a sheep man Allen was concerned about marketing lambs and was interested in joining professional organizations to promote commercial sheep production. Allen would be joined by other sheep producers to come up with innovative ways to market lambs with the use of technology, which was a totally new concept in Oklahoma. "He was very instrumental in implementing a six county sheep marketing organization with the assistance of Oklahoma State University. This marked the beginning for OK Sheep Expansion Inc". (71)
Allen was very active and served as a board member for many years. Through the OSU Extension a sheep specialist, Sid Ercanbrack, was hired as the coordinator for OK Sheep Expansion Inc. Sid was situated in Enid, but was to oversee the entire state.
With Sid's help the late 70's and early 80's were exciting years for the sheep industry in Oklahoma. Allen was joined by the following sheep producers: Paul Muegge, former State Senator of District 20, Joe Deem, Dennis Skaggs, Paul Keiffer, Dick Detten, Joe Steichen and Myron Schnaithman. (72) The Minutes of May 26,1978 read, "OK Sheep would like to initiate a teleauction system." By November 12, 1979 plans were made for a video auction to sell ewe lambs.(73) Paul Muegge also stated that the tele-lecture was also implemented to secure noted guest speakers at a reasonable rate through conference calls. (74)
Although the success of OK Sheep Expansion Inc. was short-lived, it proved to be ahead of its time in providing a means by which to market sheep competitively.
With his leadership abilities, Allen served on many boards. He held office for years in the Grant County Sheep Association, the Mid-States Wool Association, and the Oklahoma State Animal Advisory Board.(75)
Paul Muegge remembers Allen as a good listener, who would study a situation before making a judgment. He was very knowledgeable and when situations were tense, members would defer to Allen "because he was respected and level-headed." (76)
This ability to carefully study a situation was a strong suit for Allen and would be essential in the face of the challenges he would encounter.
Copyright Rose Moyer, 2015, All rights reserved.