Category: Pasture Management

2024 Cornell Sheep & Goat Symposium November 1 – 3, 2024

The following was submitted by GSSB Member Marlene Halstead of Rocky Top Farm in Ottsville, PA

2024 Cornell Sheep & Goat Symposium In-Person 3 pm Nov 1st to 4 pm Nov 3rd!

Each year the Cornell Dept. of Animal Science puts on the Cornell Sheep & Goat Symposium. Co-sponsors for 2024 include the Cashmere Goat Association and the Empire Sheep Producers Assoc.
The 2024 Cornell Sheep & Goat Symposium is scheduled for Friday Nov 1st- Sunday Nov 3rd, on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, NY. Goat and sheep raisers and industry stakeholders are welcome to register for the whole event or individual days. Friday Nov 1st is devoted to advance sign-up workshops on 1) Secure Sheep and Wool Supply & Biosecurity planning – NYSAGM 2) Learning to do a field necropsy – Dr. Mary Smith DVM, 3) Demos and hands-on skills for new goat and sheep raisers – Betsy Hodge and Dr. Tatiana Stanton, and later in the evening, 4) Balancing Rations using Computer Software –Rich Toebe, Delaware CCE.
Saturday is our primary day with multiple tracks available. The morning begins with Dr. Robert VanSaun, DVM, MS, PhD Penn State University, discussing Practical Solutions to Increase Lamb and Kid Survival and the Importance of Quality Colostrum. We’ll have presentations by state and university veterinarians, on poisonous plants, skin and fiber diseases, as well as Demos and hands-on skills for beginning goat and sheep raisers, including an intro to artificial insemination, and a panelist discussion with beginning shepherds from Delaware County, NY that participated in a season long study on pasture management. The afternoon includes a track focusing on dairy goats interpreting DHI and linear appraisal records to make breeding decisions, presentations on avian influenza, cache valley, and other high impact diseases, as well as a farmer panel on navigating the fiber to finished goods supply chain, and updates from the NYS Ag & Markets Dairy Products Specialist on how to start a sheep and goat dairy in NYS as well as new federal regulations affecting small ruminant farmers and federal and state programs that may benefit the small ruminant industry. Another in depth presentation from Dr. Robert VanSaun, DVM, Penn State University, on the Role of forage quality in general nutrition and its impact on fiber and milk quality in sheep, goats and camelids. We’ll have hands-on sessions geared towards youth and beginners on fiber fun and beginning goat milk candy making with Nellie’s Knoll Creamery, as well as a demonstration workshop on making goat milk soaps. Additionally, NYS 4-H Livestock and Companion Animal Specialist, Brian Aukema, will have two afternoon sessions focused on Youth and 4-H leaders 1) The Scoop on Poop -Internal Parasites know how 2) Skillathon What? -expanding your livestock skillathon knowledge. Sunday features an advance sign-up sheep and goat parasite workshop with FAMACHA certification as well as the ADGA Pre-Judges Training Conference.
The registration is available online at https://cornell.ca1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4JHjXDybdRGvl9s . Registration deadline is Friday, Oct 25th.  The program schedule, paper registrations, and additional information on parking etc. are available online at both the Cornell Goat Program Website https://blogs.cornell.edu/goats/  and  the Cornell Sheep Program Website https://blogs.cornell.edu/newsheep/. Please contact Barbara Jones at 607-255-7712 with further registration questions.
The mission of the Cornell Sheep & Goat Program is to improve the sustainability of goat and sheep farms in the Northeastern United States by providing educational resources and communication outlets to producers.
Jess Waltemyer, PRO-Livestock NYS Small Ruminant Extension Specialist, 607-882-4772 (call or text), jrk272@cornell.edu

Hidden Powers of a Sheep

Nice article in the winter issue of Craftsman Quarterly:

https://craftsmanship.net/the-hidden-powers-of-a-sheep/

Judith Schwartz writes about the people who are trying to turn around the near disappearance of American wool processing within the United States.  Ecological reasons for keeping sheep (they contribute to carbon sequestrian if pastures are managed correctly), natural dying,  and efforts to make  American wool products competitive (based on value not on cost) with Chinese products made from American wool.

Soil Health Enables Climate Beneficial Wool

Rancher Benefits in Multiple Ways from Soil Health

What if, before you purchased a hat or sweater, you knew the wool used to make it came from sheep raised on a ranch managed to improve soil health and increase soil carbon? For nearly a decade, ranch owner Lani Estill has worked with the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service to improve soil health.

By adding carbon-conscious conservation practices to her ranch, the operation now stores more carbon in the soil than it emits through its operations. As a result, her operation, Bare Ranch, is marketing “climate beneficial” wool to a national clothing manufacturer. Estill and her family raise sheep and cattle on her 40,000-acre ranch, which sits on the border of northern California and northwest Nevada.

With help from her local NRCS offices and supported by Environmental Quality Incentives Program contracts, Estill has also improved wildlife habitat on her ranch. She improved sage grouse habitat by removing thousands of acres of invasive juniper and installed hedgerows for pollinators. She and her co-owners also installed fencing and livestock watering facilities and are following a prescribed grazing management plan.

Read the full story at www.usda.gov/blog.

Source: ASI Weekly March 9, 2018
 

Cost of Baling Hay

Drovers published an article by Travis Meteer from the University of Illinois stating that every ton of hay contains approximately 40 pounds of N (nitrogen), 20 pounds of P (phosphorus) and 50 pounds of K (potassium). However, it is important to calculate N losses at about 75 percent, thus only about 10 pounds of N are returned to the soil. The values of P and K are accurate to what would be returned.

Fertilizer prices for Illinois published by USDA (May 12 report) are: N $0.40, P $0.34, K $0.29. Using current nutrient values, hay has a fertilizer value of $25.30 per dry ton. Assuming a 1,200-pound round bale is 15 percent moisture, the nutrient value per bale is $12.91.

If you are figuring what it costs to make hay on your farm, add mowing, raking and baling at $20.20 per bale (Machinery Cost Estimates, University of Illinois Extension, June 2015). As a result, a bale of hay sitting in the field costs $33.11.

Other costs would include removal of micronutrients, moving the bales from the field, some additional time and labor in handling the bales and the use of equipment to transport the hay. If yields are below average, nearly all costs increase. Hay storage can also be a substantial part of hay costs.

Source: cattlenetwork.com (from American Sheep Industry Weekly July 22, 2016)