March 15, 2010

Contacts:
• Betsy Hodge, CCE St Lawrence County, 315-379-9192
• Chet Parsons, UVM Extension, 802-524-6501
Jpg of lambs or goat kids available by request to karalynn@gisco.net

UVM Specialist to Speak at NNY Sheep & Goat Week Programs March 23-25

Northern New York -- University of Vermont Livestock Specialist Chet Parsons is the keynote speaker for the Northern New York Sheep Week presentations March 23-25, 2010. Parsons will present the latest in-formation on preventing and treating foot rot in sheep and goats, and will share observations from his re-cent travels to Norway, where he attended the Small Ruminant Veterinary Symposium, and to France on a livestock marketing study trip.

“The Northern New York Sheep Week programs provide shepherds and goatherds with the opportunity to learn the difference between foot scald and foot rot and ways to eradicate, and better yet, avoid the disease and keep it from spreading,” Parsons says.

Parsons and Betsy Hodge, the small ruminant educator with Cornell Cooperative Extension St. Lawrence County, will also present an introductory talk about a breeding aide – a progesterone-releasing device - that encourages estrus cycling in sheep and goats.

“In Europe, sheep producers take advantage of fresh semen artificial insemination breeding practices to produce consistent carcass quality,” Parsons says. “The technology is now available to breeders in the U.S.”

Registration is appreciated for the NNY Sheep Week programs offered:
• Tuesday, March 23, 7:00pm, Extension Learning Farm Classroom, Canton, NY, $5/person, 315-379-9192 x227, bmf9@cornell.edu

• Wednesday, March 24, 6:30pm, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Jefferson County, Watertown, NY, $5 or bring dessert to pass, 4-H members free, 315-788-8450

• Thursday, March 25, 7:00pm, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Clinton County, Plattsburgh, NY, $5/person, 518-561-7450.

Producers can learn more about raising and marketing livestock on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website at www.nnyagdev.org.  # # #