Small Ruminant Livestock Workshop
Amy Meyers: What is the objective of this workshop?
Rocky Lemus: There has been an increase in goat and sheep production across the United States in the last 10 years.This is due to a demand for goat and sheep meat, milk and cheese.Also, these small ruminants have a high economic value because they are efficient converters of low-quality forages into quality meat, milk and other specialty markets. So the objective is to provide prospective, new, and experience goat and sheep producers with increased knowledge in grazing management, breeding, genetics, animal health, and livestock practices that could help producers being more sustainable and successful in having a goat or sheep production enterprise.
Amy Meyers: When and where will this workshop be held?
Rocky Lemus: The workshop will be held on Saturday May 11, 2019 from 7:30 in the morning to 4 o’clock in the afternoon at the Forest County Multipurpose Center located at 952 Sullivan Dr. in Hattiesburg, MS.The program will start with registration between 7:30 am and 8:15 am ad the program will run from 8:30 am until 4 in the afternoon.
Amy Meyers: What topics will be covered at this exciting event?
Rocky Lemus: There will be a variety of topics that will be covered by livestock researchers and extension professionals from across the southeast.The topics will include: forage selection and grazing management, kidding and lambing management, small ruminant nutrition, farm assistance programs for small ruminants, meat quality, fecal collection and parasite identification, basic principles of artificial insemination, and the FAMACHA training kit.
Amy Meyers: Is there a registration fee associated with the workshop?
Rocky Lemus: Yes, the registration is $30 per person if you register before April 19th.Registrations after April 19th will be $35 per person.Registration will be limited to 100 participants, if you plant to attend, I encourage participants to register as soon as possible since last year’s workshop was filled very quickly.There will be also an additional $10 fee per farm to obtain the FAMACHA kit.The FAMACHA Kit is not included as part of the registration.
Amy Meyers: What will be covered in the registration fee?
Rocky Lemus: The registration fee will cover refreshments, lunch, and supplemental notebook materials that producers get to take home to have their reference collection.The FAMACHA kit will not be covered by the general registration and the additional cost per kit will be $10.
Amy Meyers: How can someone register for this workshop?
Rocky Lemus: They can register on line by visiting Mississippiforages.com and clicking in the events tab in the right hand side of the page and then selecting the small ruminant workshop event from the calendar of events.There will be a link to the registration form.They can also contact me directly at (662) 325-7718 for registration questions or they can contact their local county MSU extension office.
Amy Meyers: Tell me who can attend this workshop?
Rocky Lemus: This event is open to prospective, new, and experienced goat and sheep producers or anyone interested in about goat and sheep which include any livestock producer, state and federal agencies, and related industry.
Amy Meyers: Will the workshop be hands on or mainly lectured-based?
Rocky Lemus: The workshop has a combination of both.The morning portion will be more lectured-based to help producers grasp the basic principles of goat production.The afternoon portion of the program will include meat quality, how to collect a fecal sample and identify parasites, learn the basic principles of artificial insemination, and how to use the FAMACHA kit to identify health issues and how to develop a control protocol.
Amy Meyers: What new skills will the attendants will be able to implement after this workshop?
Rocky Lemus: The be able to develop and implement better grazing managements strategies to be more sustainable along with ideas to improve genetic selection, breeding planning, nutrition, kidding/lambing management.They should be prepared in making new breeding decisions which might include artificial insemination.They should be able to learn parasite species identification along with strategies to lower parasite load and have more effective livestock production strategy.