North Carolina Small Ruminant Improvement Program

This project has benefited the rapidly growing number of small ruminant producers in North Carolina. Through personal conversations with new producers or through conversations with county extension agents, multiple inquiries (phone or email) are received per week from individuals interested in raising small ruminants. Based on workshop evaluations, most attendees have been raising small ruminants for less than 5 years. For small ruminant production to be sustainable in North Carolina, these new producers need to be provided with resources necessary to succeed. These resources include educational information about small ruminant management and skills necessary for day to day management.  Through the North Carolina Small Ruminant Improvement Program (NCSRIP), we are able to provide producers with these resources with an emphasis on data collection and analysis to help with decision making. 

This program offers flexibility in providing virtual and in-person learning opportunities. The combination of webinars and workshops offer monthly learning opportunities through the winter months and in-person trainings to teach skills associated with small ruminant management. Further, by posting these webinar recordings and making other resources available on our webpage (https://smallruminants.ces.ncsu.edu/nc-small-ruminant-improvement-program/), these producers can continue to reference these resources even after the program.

Prior to receiving SARE funds, the NCSU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences funded a workshop series in the spring of 2022 to promote improved management practices. These three workshops included a lambing/kidding school, on-farm producer workshop related to health and nutrition, and an on-farm grazing school. This started the momentum that led into the SARE funded programs. 

Environmental and economic benefits have been realized through better animal and forage management. Through the numerous workshops and webinars conducted over the last three years, we have provided producers with information on all facets of animal management including forage and grazing management, lambing and kidding, genetic selection for adaptability traits (parasite resistance for example), and improving reproductive outcomes. This information has been presented in the context of data driven decision making with farm profitability in mind. Based on producer feedback in evaluations, these producers plan on adopting many of these management practices. 

To build on the NCSRIP, the program team was awarded a National Sheep Industry Improvement Center Grant to start the Lead Shepherd Program. This program focuses on innovative management practices and networking to allow mentorship opportunities for producers. This program has worked in conjunction with the SARE funded NCSRIP to provide social benefits through improved communication and producer networking opportunities. 

One outcome project leaders have realized is the challenge of balancing the needs of new producers with those of more seasoned producers. With the growing number of new producers, we have shifted some focus to this demographic while still including more advanced information for experienced producers. Long-term sustainability and growth in the small ruminant industry relies on informed decision making and using tools and technology for more accurate and efficient management. To address some of the needs from this new producer demographic, more focused programs were implemented in Year 2 such as the lambing and kidding school. The available seats for this program were filled in only 5 hours after registration opened and I received 15+ emails from individuals and families hoping to be on the waitlist or attend future programs of this kind. This supports the demand for this type of basic training.

In addition to educational materials and events, the NCSRIP team has established research and extension sheep flocks at Upper Piedmont Research Station (Reidsville, NC) and Upper Mountain Research Station (Laurel Springs, NC) to demonstrate management and data collection practices in various locations across the state representing differing geographic and climatic regions. This system of flocks is known as the NC Sheep System. A NCSU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences equipment grant has helped with the establishment of this flock by providing funding for a Shearwell Livestock Data Management System and other handling equipment. Additionally, the North Carolina Department of Agriculture has supported these efforts by investing in a Te Pari HD4 sheep handler and Portayards handling system further streamlining data collection and demonstrating advanced tools available for the industry. Since establishing these flocks over the last two years, they have been used for multiple workshops (FAMACHA training, Shepherd’s Bootcamp, Lambing Schools, student and producer tours) and data has been collected for a variety of research projects.

Partner farms have also been identified that serve as an example and role model for data collection practices. These farms include the Biltmore Company, LeeDer Farm, Carolina Solar Services, Back Creek Angus, and the Sparrow Family. Relationships have been established with these partners and data has been collected on carcass traits and parasite resistance. Approximately 370 lamb fecal egg counts were measured and carcass ultrasound data was collected on 245 lambs. These measures have allowed for enrollment in the National Sheep Improvement Program and/or improved selection decisions on these operations. An additional 332 lamb records (fecal egg counts and carcass ultrasound) were recorded within the NC Sheep System. 

Due to unforeseen circumstances, a no-cost extension was requested and granted for one additional year. During this year, the final workshop was completed. This workshop was held in Lenoir County in Eastern NC. Thus, over the duration of this project, two workshops were held in each of the three regions of North Carolina. An additional goal of this final year was to publish best management practices for small ruminant production in North Carolina. While drafts were written, final publication has not been completed. Teaching responsibilities of the principal investigator and delays in peer review limited time to work on this objective.

Objective one was successfully completed with multiple webinars and in-person trainings reaching hundreds of producers not only in North Carolina but across the country. However, completion of objectives two and three were more challenging. As mentioned previously, many producers in North Carolina are new producers with small flock sizes. Identifying producers with appropriate contemporary group structure for effective data collection and analysis was challenging. Some data collection did take place with positive feedback from participating producers. These producers and our NC Sheep System will serve as leaders moving forward demonstrating the opportunities available with data collection and effective selection practices. Additional challenges in objective completion were due to teaching responsibilities and other extension program demands of the principal investigator and should have been more closely considered prior to committing to this project. Due to the failure to fulfill all expectations, $29,821.58 were returned to the sponsor for reinvestment in other programs.