Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Agronomic: corn, millet, oats, grass (misc. perennial), hay
- Animals: goats
Practices
- Animal Production: feed/forage, housing, parasite control, animal protection and health, feed rations, inoculants, manure management, mineral supplements, grazing - multispecies, pasture fertility, pasture renovation, preventive practices, range improvement, grazing - rotational, stockpiled forages, vaccines, watering systems, winter forage
- Crop Production: agroforestry
- Education and Training: decision support system, demonstration, display, extension, farmer to farmer, focus group, participatory research, study circle
- Farm Business Management: whole farm planning
- Natural Resources/Environment: afforestation, habitat enhancement
- Pest Management: disease vectors, genetic resistance, sanitation, weed ecology
- Production Systems: agroecosystems, holistic management
- Sustainable Communities: sustainability measures
Abstract:
: The Regional Goat Production and Marketing Project with six (6) collaborative states provided professional and farmer training on sustainable goat production and marketing systems including forages, environmental aspects, economics, budgeting, marketing, business planning, parasite and disease management, production, breeds and breeding, and outreach to non-traditional producers and consumers. Multi-disciplinary expertise and educational materials were shared across the region. Three facilitated regional collaborators and advisory committee meetings were held which also involved training. The final meeting included a Goat Summit. Participants from collaborator and other states worked together to review, expand, and develop materials, and developed many multi-disciplinary and multi-university collaborative teams and efforts. Collaborators included Kentucky State University (outreach, economics, and animal science), University of Kentucky (animal science and agronomy), Fort Valley State University (animal science), Tennessee State University (animal science, weed science, and outreach), Prairie View A&M University (economics and outreach), and Florida A&M University (veterinary science), farmers and agents from the respective states.
Overall, the committee and advisory considered this a cost-effective project that brought states together to share resources and develop new collaborative efforts. The committee feels that these collaborative efforts should continue and expand throughout the region.
Project objectives:
Providing education on sustainable goat production and marketing systems to agricultural professionals, paraprofessionals, non-profits, state and federal agencies, veterinarians, and farmer mentors, when combined with farmer listening forums to identify the research and educational needs for professionals and farmers, should result in these behavior changes.
OBJECTIVE 1. Agricultural professionals and paraprofessionals accept meat (and dairy goats) as sustainable farm enterprises for small farmers in the region. Upon accepting goats as a viable, sustainable enterprise, they will initiate farmer education and hands-on demonstration programs in their counties on sustainable goat production including feeds/forages, breeding programs, parasite control, environmental aspects, housing and economics. They will facilitate efforts to develop sustainable systems for goat production, marketing, and value-added goat products. They will facilitate efforts to develop farmer cooperatives, goat associations, marketing associations, and the potential markets for goats and goat products.
OBJECTIVE 2. Agricultural professionals and paraprofessionals target educational programs to nontraditional clientele. Because many goat producers and consumers are nontraditional including Middle Eastern, Hispanic, African American, women, youth (4-H and FFA), religious groups, small and limited-resource farmers, educational programs for consumers and producers, must include outreach and material targeting nontraditional clientele. In developing and delivering educational programs, the professional must become sensitive to social and environmental issues as well as the economic and production aspects of the goat industry. As a result, the professional strengthens his or her social and outreach skills leading to the inclusion of diverse groups in Extension programming.
OBJECTIVE 3. Agricultural professionals and farmers from across the Southern region will share expertise to develop multi-state, multidisciplinary teams (including 1890, 1862, and farmers).