The Nebraska Sheep and Goat Producers Association will hold its annual conference Oct. 22-23.
The conference will start at 5 p.m. Oct. 22 with a tour of the new veterinary technology facility at Northeast Community College in Norfolk, Neb. The association will continue its conference Oct. 23 at the Madison County Fairgrounds in Madison. The event will start at 9 a.m. and finish with a lamb dinner about 5 p.m.
Speaker lineup
Richard Ehrhardt of Michigan State University will be the keynote speaker. Ehrhardt has been the small ruminant specialist at MSU since 2009, holding a joint appointment between the departments of animal science and large-animal clinical sciences.
His interest in Extension and applied research were fostered by a diversity of experiences with sheep, including purebred sheep during his youth, shearing professionally since his early teens, field research in New Zealand and Australia, and managing his own flock of commercial ewes on an accelerated lambing program for the past 20 years.
Ehrhardt’s applied research interests revolve around increasing production efficiency in small ruminants through strategic nutritional management, optimizing aseasonal reproduction, improving whole-farm forage utilization and by establishing preventative health programs.
Lisa Surber will also speak to the group. She was born and raised on a ranch near Medicine Hat, Alberta, and is still active in her family’s commercial cattle operation. Surber obtained her bachelor’s degree, masters and doctorate in animal and range sciences from Montana State University.
During her time at Montana State, she was the managing director of the Montana Wool Lab. Surber served as a wool education consultant for the American Sheep Industry Association and with WestFeeds as a ruminant nutritionist.
She now runs her own consulting business, providing nutritional expertise for cattle and sheep, wool buying, classing, education services, NSIP certified ultrasound services, and OFDA on-site wool testing services. She is the executive secretary for South Dakota Sheep Growers Association, living in Newell, S.D.
Topics for the conference will include new ideas on feeding your flock, sheep and goat budgets, nutrition and flushing, membrane protection technologies, fueling fertility, and marketing your product from farm to harvest. The schedule includes a producers panel and vendors to check out.
To register, visit nebraskasheepandgoat.org, or contact Melissa Nicholson at ne.sheep.goat@gmail.com, or call 308-386-8378.