By The Fence Post
Spending 30 seconds cleaning up a fleece after shearing can add 10 cents a pound. If a fleece averages 12-13 pounds, a producer can add $1.30 to his pocket in just 30 seconds. However, 95 percent of U.S. producers will just take what they can get.
By Julie Stepanek Shiflett, Sheep Industry News
After more than a year of suspending the price report for slaughter lambs on formula, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service reinstated the series. The move by AMS is an important step toward improved price information and market efficiency. It is also hopefully a step toward getting LRP-Lamb, the lamb price insurance program, back on track.
By Richard Halleron, AgriLand
Livestock farmers should make the most of spring grass by getting stock out to graze where possible, according to CAFRE Beef and Sheep Advisor Darryl Boyd.
Trial work continues to prove the benefits of dividing larger fields – with livestock grazing a selected area for no more than three days. The benefits are due to the grazing of younger, leafier grass, he said.
By VT Digger Press Release
For many mindful eaters and conscious carnivores, rejecting industrial meat doesn’t require them to reject meat eating. Truly sustainable meat production calls for a moderate, respectful, and solemn perspective that centers the animal’s well-being and seeks to minimize environmental harms. The School of the New American Farmstead at Sterling College is offering the course “Ethical Slaughter and Butchery” for those looking to explore how to safely, ethically, and humanely bring our livestock from the field to the table.
By Farm & Ranch
The good news for American sheep producers is that the industry has scrapie on the run. The bad news is that the current status makes carriers of the fatal disease more difficult to find.
By Martha Blum, AgriNews
An accelerated lambing program can increase the lambing rate of a sheep flock without increasing the number of ewes.
“Fall lambing does not mean accelerated lambing, but you will have fall lambs in order to be able to accelerate,” said Terry Becherer, who owns a sheep flock near Trenton. “Accelerated lambing is when the same ewe gives birth more than once a year.”
By John Large, Independent
We should be finished lambing by May 1. About half the ewe-lambs have lambed now. They performed well; the singles lambed mostly themselves and had enough milk for their lamb. They were only housed the end of March, got good bale silage and 250 grams of meal since being housed.
By Martha Blum, AgriNews
At the Double M farm, a managed-pasture grazing system is used to optimize the return per acre of land while focusing on sustainability for the livestock and land.
“We have about 400 acres, and our sheep, cattle and goats graze 12 months a year and are fed minimal amounts of mechanically harvested feedstuffs,” said Mike Wallace, who owns the operation near Nelson, Neb.
By Chris Wilcox, American Sheep Industry Association
ASI commissioned Chris Wilcox, a leading analyst and commentator on the global wool industry, to supply his quarterly ASI Wool Journal, which offers insight into the U.S. and global wool markets.
By Terri Queck-Matzie, The Sheep Industry News
If his commercial customers aren’t happy, John Anderson isn’t happy. Providing the breeding stock they require for profitable operation is the cornerstone of his business, Lambshire Polypays, of Shreve, Ohio. That means directing his efforts toward breeding and marketing the sheep that commercial producers need.
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