Sheep and goat workshop in Mo. on Sept. 28

Sheep and Goats on Small Acreage

Saturday, September 28

10:00 AM to 12:00 noon

(9:30 registration)

Mai and Tou Her Farm, 26175 Redbud Road, Stella, MO

(north on Hwy O for 1 mi, then right on Redbud 1 mi to farm)

¨     View hair sheep on small acreage; questions

¨     Getting started with sheep and goats

¨     Fencing and facilities for sheep and goats

¨     Forages and soil testing with sheep and goats

¨     Youth activities, bring the family

Jodie A. Pennington, Ph.D.

Region Small Ruminant Educator, Lincoln University

Newton County Extension Center

Smith Hall (Crowder College), 601 Laclede Avenue

Neosho, MO 64850-9165

1-417-455-9500; fax 417-455-9505

Entry deadlines near for North American International Livestock Expo

September 18, 2013 … Louisville, Kentucky… The first entry deadline for the 40th annual North American International Livestock Exposition is midnight on Friday, September 20. That is the date for regular entry in the NAILE Dairy Cattle and Dairy Goat Divisions.

Deadlines for other shows/show divisions are:

·        October 1 - Junior Swine Show, Sheep Division, Beef Cattle Division, Junior Wether Goat Show and Boer Goat Show

·        October 10 – Dairy Division Late Entry (with additional late fee)

·        October 21 – Quarter Horse Show (post entries are accepted with late charge)

·        October 25 – Dairy Division Extra Late Entry (with additional extra late fee, and entries must be in the NAILE office by the 25th, not just postmarked by that date)

·        October 28 – Draft Horse Show

Entries are accepted by mail (entry deadline is postmark date except where noted), by fax (502-367-5299) and online at www.livestockexpo.org. Entry forms and other exhibitor information are available on the website. Online entry is not available for the Quarter Horse Show and Draft Horse Show. The show office is available to answer entry questions. The phone number is 502-595-3166.

The NAILE is produced by the Commonwealth of Kentucky at the Kentucky Exposition Center in Louisville, Kentucky under the direction of the Kentucky State Fair Board. During the Expo’s two-week run, November 9-22, 2013, the facility’s entire 1,200,000 square feet of climate-controlled exhibit space is used. More than 200,000 visitors and exhibitors attend the event annually and there were in excess of 26,000 entries in the event in 2012, a new show record.

Mid-Missouri browsing academy Oct. 7-8

The Mid-Missouri Browsing Academy will be held Oct. 7-8 at Lincoln University’s Alan T. Busby Farm in Jefferson City, Mo.

This is a  detailed, educational, hands-on, two-day seminar featuring: Mark Kennedy, USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) State Grazing Lands Specialist; Dr. An Peischel, Tennessee State University Extension; and Dr. Dusty Walter, University of Missouri, Director of Natural Resources Management.

This workshop is based on the California and Tennessee browsing academies. A number of topics will be covered including low stress livestock handling, brush ecology and management, nutrition, reproduction, herd health, timber management, fencing and business management.

Attendees will receive hands-on training and gain advanced information on land enhancement using goats to control invasive vegetation.

The cost for the workshop is $75 per person. Preregistration with payment is required. Registration is limited to the first 20 participants. The registration fee covers the cost of many items that will be provided such as: meals, a flash drive containing a “Small Ruminant Toolbox,” a goat management wheel, Famacha© training and card, and a noteboook that contains numerous reference materials.

The registration deadline is Tuesday, Oct. 1. No walk-in registration. For more information or scholarships, contact: Vonna Kesel at 573-681-5312 or e-mail KeselV@LincolnU.ed

Demand for goat meat growing

Self-sufficient farming, an increase in ethnic population and a health conscious public increase potential for meat goat industry

By Riley Collins and Brenda Reau

Michigan State University Extension

Goat is the most highly consumed meat in the world and interest is increasing in goat meat consumption in the United States. Goats slaughtered in USDA-inspected plants and goat meat imported to the U.S. has steadily increased since 1999. The increase in ethnic populations and health conscious Americans has contributed to this development.

With strengthening producer education and the marketing structure, goat meat is a great opportunity for small farm producers to diversify their farm products. Many Americans are trying to be self-sufficient. For situations when resources are limited, a small herd of goats may be a good option for a small, part-time farmer to raise to achieve self-sufficiency.

Goats are also becoming a more popular option because they are very versatile. They adapt well to hot environments and their foraging preference encompasses a wider spectrum of plants compared to other ruminants. Because they are “nonselective browsers” and eat brush and less desirable plants, goats can help maximize use of marginal pastureland that other livestock — such as cattle and sheep — graze on. Goats can utilize what other animals do not and still produce a quality product.

Another benefit of goats is their meat. The U.S. is becoming more conscious of what they eat now more than ever. Goat is lean, high in iron and high in vitamin B12. These health benefits are increasing the public interest in goat meat beyond traditional ethnic populations.

Marketing options can include: direct marketing off the farm, supplying specialty markets like holiday sales and ethnic populations or commercial marketing firms. The current market is direct marketing to ethnic groups but there are two other potential niche markets for goat meat. These consist of targeting the health conscious consumers wanting low fat diets and targeting the restaurant trade serving ethnic or gourmet foods. These markets are largely untapped and can provide real opportunities for goat producers, especially local producers.

The challenges that this industry has encountered are consumer education, producer education, lack of slaughter facilities and processing plants and the lack of organized markets and marketing channels. The most important factor in the growth of this industry is marketing.

Michigan Specialty Meats Cooperative (http://michiganspecialtymeats.com) is an organization that is participating in the meat goat industry. This cooperative is dedicated to supplying specialty meats from across the state of Michigan. Their products are beginning to be sold in specialty meat stores and restaurants.

The Michigan State University Product Center (http://productcenter.msu.edu) is working with the cooperative to help it in developing the cooperative to market goat meat in Michigan.

The Michigan State University Product Center has innovation counselors located in Michigan State University Extension offices across the state that can assist goat producers in developing and marketing value-added products. For more information, visit http://www.msue.msu.edu or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

Oklahoma State launches new meat goat website

 ADA, Okla. – The latest research-based information about meat goat production has gone digital, thanks to a new website provided through Oklahoma State University’s Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. 

“We wanted to make it as easy as possible for producers to have access to up-to-date information by which they can make the best possible operational decisions,” said JJ Jones, OSU Cooperative Extension area agricultural economics specialist for the state’s Southeast District. “Think of it as one-stop shopping.”

The website can be accessed online at http://meatgoat.okstate.edu, and includes the following materials:

● Oklahoma Basic Meat Goat Manual: This is a 15-chapter manual that covers such topics as herd health, nutrition, goat selection, breeding, kidding, marketing, forages for goats, fencing, housing, corrals, predator control and general herd management. Digital copies of all chapters of the manual are available for download or hardcopy printing.

● Educational videos: Thanks to a grant from the Southern Region Risk Management Center, educational presentations have been recorded and uploaded. There are 25 video presentations covering a wide range of topics, from basic management tools such as ear tagging, hoof trimming, castrating and aging to marketing, business planning, forage production, nutrition and parasite control, among others. Links to these videos are available through the website or via YouTube.

● Oklahoma Meat Goat Boot Camp – OSU delivers a three-day annual workshop that delivers almost 40 hours of educational programming employing a mixture of hands-on presentations, classroom exercises and PowerPoint presentations. The website contains information about the boot camp and how to attend.

“We’ve also created a meat goat Facebook page,” Jones said. “It’s yet another easy way for producers to find out the latest information about OSU Cooperative Extension educational programs, presentations and marketing aspects relative to raising meat goats. Just search for OSU Meat Goat to find the Facebook page.”

Oklahoma is currently the nation’s fourth-largest meat goat producing state with 91,000 animals, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics. Historic levels of drought in recent years have played a significant role in reducing the number of meat goats in Oklahoma from its high of 115,000 animals in 2008.

Cover crops can fix farms forever

Does David Brandt hold the secret for turning industrial agriculture from global-warming problem to carbon solution?

Mother Earth News

—By Tom Philpott

| Mon Sep. 9, 2013 3:00 AM PDT

83

Photos by Tristan Spinski

CHATTING WITH DAVID BRANDT outside his barn on a sunny June morning, I wonder if he doesn't look too much like a farmer—what a casting director might call "too on the nose." He's a beefy man in bib overalls, a plaid shirt, and well-worn boots, with short, gray-streaked hair peeking out from a trucker hat over a round, unlined face ruddy from the sun.

Brandt farms 1,200 acres in the central Ohio village of Carroll, pop. 524. This is the domain of industrial-scale agriculture—a vast expanse of corn and soybean fields broken up only by the sprawl creeping in from Columbus. Brandt, 66, raised his kids on this farm after taking it over from his grandfather. Yet he sounds not so much like a subject of King Corn as, say, one of the organics geeks I work with on my own farm in North Carolina. In his g-droppin' Midwestern monotone, he's telling me about his cover crops—fall plantings that blanket the ground in winter and are allowed to rot in place come spring, a practice as eyebrow-raising in corn country as holding a naked yoga class in the pasture. The plot I can see looks just about identical to the carpet of corn that stretches from eastern Ohio to western Nebraska. But last winter it would have looked very different: While the neighbors' fields lay fallow, Brandt's teemed with a mix of as many as 14 different plant species. Click here to read more.

Goat meat popular in Washington, D.C., area

By Ike Wilson, Frederick (Maryland) News-Post

When she began to raise goats to sell 15 years ago, Pam Adams used to get one or two calls a month. Today, she gets at least three calls a week.

The demand for goat meat is strong, said Adams, president of the Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia Meat Goat Producers Association.

More people are interested in healthy eating, and goat meat offers a healthy alternative to beef, pork or chicken, said Adams, who has 70 goats on six acres on her Bridgestone Manor Farm in Carroll County.

“We have quite a few goat producers and quite a few people come into Frederick County from D.C. and the Chambersburg, Pa., area to buy goats,” Adams said.

In addition, several goat producers set up shop at farmers markets in Bethesda and Washington.

Demand from restaurants in Baltimore and Washington that serve goat entrees, along with a desire for locally raised meat, explain a growing goat meat market, said Will Morrow, co-owner of Whitmore Farm in Emmitsburg, and one of about 100 goat producers in Frederick County. Morrow sells his meat on the farm and at farmers markets.

“Goat meat is hot,” Morrow said. “We can’t keep enough in stock.”

Komi restaurant in Washington goes through 20 goats a week, he said.

Family Meal restaurant in Frederick ran a weeklong goat ravioli special recently using Morrow’s meat.

“It sold like crazy,” he said.

Raising goats has been a health-changing experience for Carol Rollman, owner of Sycamore Spring Farm.

When she was diagnosed with osteopenia — a precursor to osteoporosis — Rollman was upset at the thought of taking prescription drugs, she said. Because there was no family history, Rollman did not believe her problem was genetic, so she began to research the dietary aspects of the disease.

“I was intrigued with the claims that raw goat's milk could rebuild bone density, so we added on the goat business, and in only 18 months my bone density returned to normal,” Rollman. “I am now a believer and an advocate for this natural treatment.”

Her farm cross-breeds Saanan dairy goats with Boer meat bucks to produce “the really nice, large, dual-purpose goats that have proven perfect for our small diversified farm,” Rollman said, “and by word of mouth, we sell every goat before it hits the ground.”

Goat production has increased in Frederick County, as in other counties and nationwide, said Susan Schoenian, University of Maryland Extension sheep and goat specialist.

The market for goat meat is largely ethnic: Muslims, Hispanics, Africans, Asians and Caribbean islanders are interested, Schoenian said. But Morrow said 90 percent of his customers are white Americans.

Goats grow more slowly than sheep or pigs, so they are less profitable for farmers, so many farmers don’t invest in them, Morrow said.

The University of Maryland offers a pasture test annually to identify farms that have the highest-performing meat goats.

“We’re lucky to have it, and we have it because the demand for goats is so high,” Morrow said. “It’s kind of like having bragging rights — which farm has the fastest-growing, well-muscled goat?”

The top goat then goes to auction and is sold for the most money.

Several meat goat projects are underway at the university's Western Maryland Research and Education Center in Keedysville. A buck performance test identifies genetically superior bucks for breeding, Schoenian said. Goats fed in a pen on hay and grain and those grazing on pasture are being examined.

Increased interest in goat is also seen in 4-H and FFA, at Boer goat shows, and in using goats for vegetation control, Schoenian said.