Project Overview
Annual Reports
Commodities
- Agronomic: barley, corn, soybeans, grass (misc. perennial), hay
- Animals: sheep
Practices
- Animal Production: feed rations, mineral supplements, pasture fertility, preventive practices, grazing - rotational, stockpiled forages, vaccines, watering systems, winter forage, feed/forage
- Education and Training: farmer to farmer, on-farm/ranch research
- Farm Business Management: budgets/cost and returns
Proposal summary:
Modern sheep management systems that allow production of lambs throughout the year provide an economically viable farm enterprise opportunity in the Northeast, but many producers have had problems adopting year-round lambing systems because of problems with animal fertility from February to July. To determine if the problems with animal fertility are due to environment or genetics, two flocks with similar genetics will be compared for animal condition score, ewe weight, plasma leptin concentration, selenium status, and ovine progressive pneumonia status. Within-farm and between-farm comparisons will be made for each factor, and management strategies will be devised to address specific factors that influence aseasonal fertility. Outreach will be through the Cornell University Sheep Program web site, a field day, presentations and the media.