Enhancing Educator Knowledge of Sheep and Goat Production

Enhancing Educator Knowledge of Sheep and Goat Production

Summary

Increasing interest in sheep and goat production in the Southern Region has been noticed in recent years. Cooperative Extension agents and other educators are in many cases not knowledgeable about small ruminants, and there is a need to train the educators so that they may better serve the farmers. Resources will be helpful, and especially resources that encourage sustainable production of sheep and goats. Communication among researchers, agents, and farmers willl also be useful in increasing knowledge of sheep and goat production.

A group of farmers, researchers, and NRCS and CES agents met in August of 2002 in Fayetteville, AR, to brainstorm a list of topics important to sustainable sheep and goat production. This list has been organized and condensed and was used to construct a Small Ruminant Sustainability Checksheet. This document is meant to be used by educators and farmers to help farmers evaluate and improve the sustainability of their sheep or goat enterprises within their whole farm plan.

On March 26, 2004, a group of cooperators met in Fayetteville, AR to discuss revisions to the Checksheet, materials for a training manual to be offered to agents, and a schedule for workshops to be held in the next six months in Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Arkansas.

Objectives/Performance Targets

Producers and educators will cooperatively design a sheep and goat checksheet, and use it as a tool in assessing the sustainability of a sheep or goat farm or enterprise.

Through workshops, demonstrations, and farm visits, educators’ knowledge increases and they improve their ability to work with small ruminants.

Through the establishment of a listserv, educators and producers in the Southern region are actively engaged in communication about research needs, educational opportunities, and practical methods of overcoming challenges or small ruminant production.

Accomplishments/Milestones

Since the spring of 2003, the Small Ruminant Sustainability Checksheet has been written, and drafts have been tested by farmers and Extension agents in at least six states (AR, KY, NC, GA, OK, and TX). Feedback has been generally positive, though several agents are concerned that the length of the document will make it less likely to be used. The farmers who have tested the checksheet think that it is a helpful tool, and note that it takes about 2 ½ hours to read and answer the questions.

On March 26, 2004, a group of cooperators met in Fayetteville, AR, to work on revisions to the checksheet and to discuss the manual and workshops. This group included:

Farmers—Jack Black, AR goat producer; Delane Wright, AR goat and cattle producer; Jim Morgan, AR hair sheep producer; Ken Hargis, AR wool producer; Linda and Ken Coffey, AR wool sheep and dairy goat producers

Extension agents—Dr. Jodie Pennington, AR State Livestock Specialist; Steve Morgan, GA CES agent; Johnny Gunsaulis, AR CES agent

NRCS agents—Dr. Ron Morrow, AR State Grasslands Specialist, and author of previous checksheets for beef and for dairy production; Rhonda Foster, AR NRCS

Researchers—Dr. Jean-Marie Luginbuhl, NCSU; Dr. Steve Hart, Langston University; Dr. Ken Coffey, University of AR; Dr. Dianne Hellwig, D.V.M., Berea College, and wooled sheep producer (called in on conference phone)

NCAT staff—Dr. Ann Wells, D.V.M., author of previous checksheets for beef and dairy and member of the Association of Small Ruminant Practitioners; Tim Johnson, Linda Coffey, and Margo Hale

Each of the participants came well-prepared with a marked-up copy of the checksheet draft, and all contributed to a great discussion. The changes suggested by the group will be made within a week and the corrected version circulated to all cooperators. We agreed to a one-week time limit on further comments; therefore, we expect the finished version to be published in May, 2004.

Participants expressed interest in a manual composed of ATTRA publications and other resources, so that agents will have a ready source of reference material to help producers. The group agreed that the manual should be offered in two versions, a 3-ring binder with printed materials and an accompanying CD with the resource materials in down-loadable, compact form.

Currently, Extension agents in GA, NC, and KY are testing the checksheet with farmers. We plan to use their comments to guide workshop development. At this time, only two workshops have been scheduled, since the production of the checksheet and manual must be accomplished first.

The main objective of the workshops is to give the trainers an understanding and appreciation of Whole Farm Planning and sustainability, especially in the context of small ruminant production. The main goals of the workshops are to show the trainers how to use the Small Ruminant Sustainability Checksheet, how to teach it, and where to get more help; and to offer the trainers hands-on experience with sheep and goats.

To meet these goals, we plan to hold the workshops on sheep and goat farms and use the farm as a visible example. Dr. Ron Morrow and Dr. Ann Wells (NRCS, NCAT; cooperators on this project) have successfully used this strategy to train agents about sustainable livestock production during previous projects.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

As a result of this project, communication has increased among researchers, farmers, and educators in the Southern region. Opportunities for further cooperation are great, and other collaborative efforts are being planned. The checksheet will be used as a basis for educational efforts in the Southern region and beyond.

A Small Ruminant Resource List has been compiled as an appendix to the checksheet, and this list will provide agents with help in finding websites, books, publications, suppliers, and organizations to help farmers.

The development of resources and the training of agents will help producers in the Southern region as they will find agents better equipped to help them with their sheep or goat production questions. This support will be valuable to producers as the sheep and goat industries grow to meet consumer demands.

Collaborators: