2014 Cornell Sheep & Goat Symposium

October 3 - October 4, 2014


The hands-on activities Friday will start with a tour of the Cornell Sheep Farm and explanation of ongoing research and management. Dr. Mary Smith, DVM, will conduct a necropsy demonstration covering goat and sheep anatomy and what to look for to determine an animal's cause of death. She'll demonstrate proper tubing techniques on newborns and the results of improper tubing.

Afterward, there will be two hands-on sessions to give goat and sheep owners an opportunity to brush up on their herd management skills. We'll primarily work with sheep but will have a few goats available to practice on as well. Experienced farmers can opt to spend the first session participating in a hands-on field necropsy workshop with Dr. Mary Smith. Participation in the field necropsy workshop is limited to one member per farm. Advance sign up is required and space is limited.

The Saturday sessions will be in Morrison Hall on the Cornell Campus, Ithaca, NY. Dr. Dave Thomas from the University of Wisconsin, Madison will give the opening talk on sheep dairying in North America. He will also give a later talk on dairy sheep research at the Univ. of Wisconsin. Much of their research on the effects of day length, different types of supplementation, and increasing percentages of legumes versus grasses on milk production in pastured ewes also has implications for dairy goat and meat goat/sheep production.

Representatives from the USDA APHIS Wildlife Services will discuss livestock husbandry practices to reduce coyote predation as well as integrated direct control programs adopted in other states experiencing severe coyote predation problems. Other activities at the Symposium include a FAMACHA certification workshop with lecturers from throughout the U.S. including Dr. Dwight Bowman, Cornell, Dr. Katherine Petersson, Univ. Rhode Island and Dr. Anne Zajac, DVM, Virginia Tech. A panel of farmers and grazing specialists will relate their experiences using brassicas, small grains and pasture renovation to expand the grazing capacity of their sheep and goat farms. Dr. James Kotcon from West Virginia University will lead a workshop on pasture management for organic goat and sheep production. He will discuss evasive grazing techniques used to successfully control parasites in the sheep flock at the WVU Organic Research Farm and also cover organic weed control and research at WVU on immune system response to parasites in small ruminants. We are honored to have Rene DeLeeuw, manager of Vermont Creamery?s Demonstration Goat Dairy and one of the most experienced managers of commercial dairy goat herds in the U.S., talk on best practices for successful goat dairy management. Our speakers also include several Cornell students discussing their work with Fibersheds, out of season breeding, and the biology of maternal behavior in small ruminants.

For those of you needing lodging, we have blocked rooms at the Ramada Inn (607-257-3100, $99.95/night plus tax, reservations by Sept 12th) for Friday and/or Saturday nights. Please specify that you are reserving rooms as part of the "Sheep Goat Symposium" in order to get this reduced group rate. The Ramada Inn is located at 2310 N. Triphammer Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850. Additional options for lodging in Ithaca can be found at: http://www.visitithaca.com/lodging/search.cfm . Keep in mind that weekend rental cabins and tent camping are still available in the Ithaca area in early October. Phone numbers for these campgrounds are available at http://www.visitithaca.com/camping/browse, however, the availability function is not working on that web site so you will need to contact the private and town owned campgrounds directly to make reservations. Reservations for cabins and tent sites at the State Park Campgrounds (Treman, Buttermilk and Taughannack) need to be made through Reserve America at 1-800-456-2267 or http://www.reserveamerica.com/ . You can also check out hotels in Cortland, NY.

Go to http://www.sheep.cornell.edu (click on 2014 Symposium) to obtain the complete program and registration information. Online registration for credit cards is available. Please contact Barbara Jones, 607-255-7712 or bjj6@cornell.edu with any questions.

The data that is collected, and the subsequent reports/findings/resources will be helpful for all of us to answer that call of "What's the average rental rate in my area?" and "How much do people charge to combine oats?"