Ed Heckman
There are many factors that play a role in pasture productivity. The grazier can control many factors and some cannot be controlled. Considerable improvement could be made in the state’s permanent pasture, if sound management practices were implemented. Below are some considerations that each grazier should evaluate as good pasture management decisions are made.
Ethnic holidays factor significantly in the demand for sheep meat and to a lesser extent for goat (chevon). The type (size, sex, and condition) of lamb (or goat) desired by particular people at particular holidays varies. The following table gives the dates of various ethnic holidays for the next five years (2012-2016).
MATTHEW ERNST
The number of farmers markets in the U.S. has doubled in each of the past two decades, creating more opportunities for farmers nationwide to access this classic form of direct farm marketing. In 2004, the year after the Royers first sold lamb at an Indianapolis–area farmers market, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) counted 3,706 farmers markets nationwide. Last August, there were 7,864 farmers markets counted nationally, a 9.6% increase over 2011 numbers.
NATHAN GRIFFITH & HELMUT LANG
Triticale is a crossbred crop made by pollinating durum wheat with rye pollen. This particular combination can result in a grain that breeds true. Which is to say it doesn’t veer towards becoming more like wheat, or more like rye, even after successive generations of replanting.
GAIL BOWMAN
Artificial Insemination is not even close to the leading edge of technology any more, but for most of us, it is as close as we are going to come. There are many excellent reasons to learn to AI. For one thing, an AI tank doesn’t tear down your fences and smell up your living room! Even if you are breeding by AI, though, you have to have a reliable way to tell when your does are in heat. For many people, that still means at least borrowing a buck for the girls to flirt with.
FRANK J. BUCHMAN
“Goats really don’t like tin cans, but they are a lot of fun. There’s not anything better for a young person to learn about livestock and responsibility than owning a meat goat.” Jamie Garten of Garten Boer Goats at Abilene, Kan., is emphatic in her certainty of the many assets of meat goats.
DR. CLIVE DALTON
This article delves into the different types of breeding methods including pure breeding, pedigree breeding, strains within breeds, crossbreeding, grading up, interbreeding, inbreeding, linebreeding, and new technologies.
