Improving a System: Sheep,
Goat Farmers Explore State of the Rumen
It's easy to see why small-scale farmers
or those looking for new enterprises swell
the ranks of the rapidly expanding meat goat
and sheep industry. “Small ruminant
systems offer greater flexibility to diversified
small farms, and start-up costs are considerably
lower than they are for a cattle operation,” said
Joe Tritschler, small ruminant extension
specialist at Virginia State University.
Moreover, slaughter-age lambs and kids can
be raised on the farm, a more profitable
venture than selling weaned calves.
So many producers joining a fast-growing
industry translates into a learning curve
that's as wide as it is steep. Two Sustainable
Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)
grants in Virginia are helping them maneuver
the curve without crashing. With a SARE producer
grant, Martha Mewbourne organized a hair
sheep festival that attracted more than 150
to an event combining workshops on selecting,
maintaining, and marketing hair sheep with
music, sheep dog demonstrations, and grilled
lamb.
“It was such a success that we're
having a bigger one this year,” said
Mewbourne, adding that so many people want
to attend that she's received funding from
the Farm Bureau, the Virginia Sheep Industry
Board, and others. “Thanks to SARE's
confidence in me last year, we've initiated
a project that's good for the farmers and
the economy.”
One of the topics addressed at the Scott
County, VA, fair—“internal parasite
management”—garnered particular
notice.
“The most serious problem we have
encountered, indeed the limiting factor to
our profitability, is intestinal worms in
our goats,” said Tony Burgess, owner
of Holly Oaks Goats in Crewe, VA.
Those intestinal worms are adult nematodes,
and fighting them is a protracted battle,
Tritschler said. While the lack of effective
de-wormers designed specifically for small
ruminants is an obstacle, so is not removing
treated animals from heavily infected pastures,
a practice that can result in re-infection.
Using a Southern SARE on-farm research grant
(a new grant program), Tritschler and technician
Michaela Dismann are interviewing small ruminant
producers about their parasite management
programs and collecting fecal samples from
their herds to determine which conventional
and alternative methods are most effective.
With more than 50 producers interviewed
and data collected from about a dozen herds,
Tritschler found that parasites have developed
resistance to the most popular anthelmintics,
and that no “magic bullet” has
turned up in the alternative treatments.
“A combination of lower stocking rates
and annually rotating small ruminants with
cattle, hay, or other crops provides the
best environment for keeping nematodes in
check,” he said.
Information developed by the project will
be used to train producers and extension
agents in sustainable parasite control practices.
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