Farm Family Forum

The National Institute of Food and Agriculture's Farm Family Forum takes place twice a year and consists of a newsletter (Update) describing research and outreach on a key issue for family farms, followed by a web conference promotiing discussion and networking among agency partners colleges and universities, farmers, ranchers, community-based organizations and other interested stakeholders.

Socio-economic Issues in Small-scale Animal Production was selected as the next Forum topic by attendees at the last webinar. The USDA-Agricultural Research Service will talk about their work on pasture-based beef. The Webinar will be held at 2 p.m. EST on November 19th. Check the Farm Family Forum web site for more information and a link to the webinar.

Source: Farm Family Forum, October 2009

Topic suggested by Dr. E. Nelson Escobar, UMES

Download sheep and goat newsletters

The latest issue of News "Ewe" Can Use is available for download as a PDF file. News "Ewe" Can Use is published quarterly by the West Virginia Small Ruminant Project.

The October issue of the Maryland Sheep News is available for download as a PDF file. The Maryland Sheep News is published quarterly by the Maryland Sheep Breeders Association.

The E. Kika de la Garza Institute for Goat Research at Langston University (Oklahoma) publishes a quarterly Goat Newsletter that can be downloaded from their web site.

The Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences at Virginia Tech publishes a monthly Livestock Update (newsletter) that can be downloaded from the Virginia Cooperative Extension web site.

West Virgina Short Course

The 2009 annual short course sponsored by the West Virginia Shepherd's Federation (WVSF), West Virginia University Extension, and the West Virginia Small Ruminant Project will be held at the West Virginia State Fairgrounds on U.S. 219 in Fairlea, West Virginiia (3 miles south of exit 169 of I-64) in the West Virginia University Building on Saturday, November 14. Registration starts at 8 am and the program begins at 9 am.

The theme for the short course will be “Building the West Virignia Flock”. Dr. Ken Turner from the USDA ARS Research Facility will be conducting a FAMACHA© training. (See Eyeing a Test for Barber Pole Worm for more info on the FAMACHA© method of worm control.) Speakers from Wildlife Services will answer questions on coyote control, and there will be presentations on direct marketing and ewe and doe winter health and nutrition.

A lunch of lamb and local West Virginia foods will be available. The WVSF Annual Membership Meeting will be at 12:45 pm. The highlight of the afternoon will be a visit to a local farm to observe their fall lambing practices and discuss livestock guardian dogs. Lunch is $8. There is no charge for one meal for WVSF members.

Please pre-register with Sara Hare at (304) 874-3561 or sara.hare@mail.wvu.edu.

Western Maryland Meat Goat Test Survey

A survey has been developed to evaluate the Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance Testing Program. Results of the survey will be used to improve and expand the testing program and to ensure that the program is meeting the needs of the meat goat industry.

The url for the survey is http://www.surveyshare.com/survey/take/?sid=95954.

Anyone interested in meat goat performance testing is invited to complete the survey: consigners to the test, potential consigners to the test, buck buyers, potential buck buyers, commercial producers, purebred breeders, and anyone else interested in meat goat performance testing.

The Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance Test was initiated in 2006 at the University of Maryland's Western Maryland Research & Education Center in Keedysville, MD. The purpose of the test is to evaluate the performance of meat goats consuming a pasture-only diet. The program includes an annual field day and sale.

To learn more about the performance testing program, visit the blog at http://mdgoattest.blogspot.com/.

Update on state meat inspection

As of August 13, 2007, twenty-seven states had meat inspection programs for products produced and sold within their states. State meat inspection standards must be "at least equal to" federal standards. Most state inspection programs duplicate USDA standards. Yet despite the equality in standards (with USDA), state-inspected meat may not sell in interstate commerce.

Recently, USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service announced it would publish proposed regulations to implement a new voluntary cooperative program under which selected state-inspected facilities would be eligible to ship meat and poultry products across state lines.

Currently the proposal is in a comment period. Comments must be received on or before Monday, November 16 through the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov or by mail to FSIS Docket Room, USDA, FSIS, OPPD, Docket Clearance Unit, 5601 Sunnyside Avenue, Stop 5272, Beltsville, MD 20705. All comments must identify FSIS and the docket number FSIS-2008-0039.

Lambing & Kidding School

Pre-registration is requested by Friday, November 6 for the 2009 Lambing and Kidding School to be held Saturday, November 24 at the Clarion Inn (formerly Holiday Inn) in Waldorf, Maryland.

The registration fee is $45 per person. The fee includes the program, morning refreshments, a hot lunch, and resource materials. The registration fee for additional farm or family members is $35 per person. It does not include resource materials. Additional resource materials (a binder) are available for $10.

Checks made payable to the University of Maryland should be sent to Lambing and Kidding School, c/o Pam Thomas, 18330 Keedysville Road, Keedysville, MD 21756. Pam can be reached at (301) 432-2767 x313 or pthomas@umd.edu.

The main speaker for the Lambing and Kidding School is Dr. Susan Kerr. Dr. Kerr received her veterinary degree from Cornell University and is currently employed as an Extension Educator by Washington State University. In addition to Dr. Kerr's presentations, there will be various concurrent sessions.

Download program brochure (with registration form)

A ban on herding dogs

A supermarket chain in Great Britain (Tesco) has told New Zealand sheep farmers to stop using dogs to herd sheep into the abattoir (slaughterhouse) unless they can be retrained to be "more considerate" towards the flock. The order was in response to a letter sent to the Daily Telegraph from an upset reader.

Instead the supermarket chain wants shepherds to wave their arms, beat sticks, or wave flags, to move the sheep into the abattoir. Shepherds have reacted with outrage and claim up to 60 dogs have now joined the ranks of the unemployed.

The UK's National Farmers' Union said that it was not aware of any research indicating that farm animals suffered stress because of sheepdogs. Leading animal welfare charity the RSPCA said it had concerns about the anxiety suffered by sheep as they are circled and pursued by dogs, but did not believe a ban was necessary.

Read full article in Daily Telegraph

Thanks to Derrick Bender for suggesting this topic.

Goat recipes

Goats have been a major source of food since time immemorial. Goat meat can be stewed, curried, baked, grilled, barbecued, minced, canned, or made into sausage.

Goat milk and the cheese made from it has remained popular throughout history and still is consumed on a more extensive basis worldwide than cow’s milk.

Getting Your Goat: The Gourmet Guide is the name of a new cook book that contains goat meat and cheese recipes from all over the world. It is written by Patricia Moore and Jill Charlotte Stanford and published by Evertype. The book is available from Amazon.com.

Goat carcass study

One of the goals of the Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance Test is to evaluate and compare carcass characteristics of meat goats consuming a pasture-only diet. This year, nine bucks were selected for harvest.

The bucks were transported from the test site at the University of Maryland’s Western Maryland Research & Education Center to LambCo LLC for humane harvest on October 15.

The carcasses were completely deboned. Fat and lean were separated from the bones, resulting in separate “piles” of bones, fat, and lean, which were weighed to determine carcass percentages.

Next year, the plans to harvest more goats from the test and perhaps incorporate a carcass contest into the performance testing program.

Download PDF file of data
Read full article and view data PDF

Breeding better sheep

The October 2009 issue of Agriculture Research magazine features an article on how to breed better sheep.

The article is entitled "New Ultrasound and Artificial Insemination Techniques Improve Sheep Breeding." It discusses the use of ultrasound to predict carcass characteristics in lambs, as well as methods to improve semen handling and artificial insemination (AI) on sheep farms.

According to the article, scientists in Colorado and Wyoming have developed a rapid, economical alternative to existing surgical AI methods. The method is easy to learn and perform and significantly faster and less expensive than laparoscopic surgical insemination.

Agriculture Research is USDA's science magazine. It is published monthly by the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). It is available electronically at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/.

Pink ear tags support breast cancer

Bright pink ear tags for sheep are now being sold to help raise funds for breast cancer. A company producing sheep tags has come up with the novel idea to raise money for the McGrath Foundation. The foundation's Tracey Bevan says it is a wonderful initiative.

"From each pink ear tag, a cent will be donated to the McGrath Foundation which will then go towards the funding of our breast care nurses," she said. Some of the funds raised will go to the Breast Cancer Association of Queensland.

October is National Breast Cancer Month.

Source: ABC News Australia

Is CL treatable?

There is a new web site that seeks to dispel the commonly-held belief that there is no treatment for CL (caseous lymphadenitis). The title of the web site is Use of autogenous vaccine in the treatment of caseous lymphadenitis (CL,CLA) in goats. The url is http://www.clgoatcare.org/

CL is a contagious bacterial disease that affects sheep and goats. It is characterized by abscess formations in the skin, internal and external lymph nodes, and internal organs. It is caused by the bacteria Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis.

In the web site, Susan M. Straumann, owner of a farm sanctuary, shares her experiences treating a CL-infected goat. She has done considerable research into the topic, including researching USDA regulations pertaining to the use of autogenous vaccines.

Use of information from the web site is at the user's risk.

www.clgoatcare.org

Strong demand for tested bucks

The 2nd annual Western Maryland Goat Field Day & Sale was held Saturday, October 3rd at the Washington County Agricultural Education Center near Boonsboro, MD. The event was well-attended by over 100 people.

As part of the day's activities, the 11 top-performing bucks from the 2009 Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance Test were offered for sale via silent auction. The sale also included does.

The top-performing buck of the test was a purebred Kiko consigned by Craig Adams from Litchfield, Illinois. It was purchased for $750 by Luke Miller from Huntington, Indiana. The other buck that met the gold standards of performance was a purebred Kiko consigned by John Smith from Petersburg, Virginia. It sold to Craig Adams for $825.

The top-selling buck of the sale was a purebred Kiko consigned by Craig Adams. It was purchased by Wood Field Farm of Pittstown, New Jersey for $1,050. The nine performance-tested bucks sold for an average price of $514.

Nineteen Kiko and Boer does sold for an average price of $269. The top-selling doe was a purebred Kiko consigned by John Smith. It sold for $575. Smith sold another purebred Kiko doe for $525. The buyer of both of the top-selling does was Wood Field Farm.

The awards for top-performing buck and best consignment of bucks (best 3) were presented to Craig Adams. John Smith was in close contention for both awards. Jeanne Dietz-Band received an award for having the top-performing Maryland buck. Her buck was amongst the top 11.

A field day and skillathon were held in conjunction with the performance-tested buck and doe sale.

View pictures and data of 11 top-performing bucks

Online sheep courses

The Pipestone Lamb and Wool Program has developed 5 online courses for new and existing sheep producers. These courses provide information that will make your sheep operation more successful.

The online course format allows individual not able to attend Pipestone Lamb and Wool programs due to time or distance from Pipestone to participate in the comfort of their home or office.

The 5 courses offered this fall include:

• Introduction to Sheep Management (LWMP 1001)
• Facilities and Equipment (LWMP 1202)
• Introduction to Sheep Health (LWMP 1300)
• Ewe Ration Formulation (LWMP 1502)
• Wool Characteristics and Properties (LWMP 1701)

These courses would be an excellent opportunity for youth and adults to learn more about sheep production within their own home or community. More information on these courses can be found at http://www.pipestonesheep.com/.

The Pipestone Lamb and Wool Program is a sheep management education/consulting program offered by Minnesota West Community and Technical College located at Pipestone, Minnesota.

For more information visit the Pipestone Lamb and Wool Program web page http://www.pipestonesheep.com/ or contact one of the Lamb and Wool instructors, Philip Berg, philip.berg@mnwest.edu , (507) 825-6799 or Mike Caskey, mike.caskey@mnwest.edu, (507) 825-6808.

To register for one of the on-line courses contact Sue Lovell (507) 847-7929, sue.lovell@mnwest.edu or register on-line at www.mnwest.edu/formmail/formdl.htm