Story in Brief
Small ruminant livestock such as sheep and goats have been popular for many beginning producers in White County. The White County Extension agent hosted a three-part webinar series in coordination with small ruminant specialists from the University of Maryland Extension Michigan State University. These webinars provided a broad spectrum of information covering raising sheep in intensive systems and housing, and providing a year-round supply of lamb with accelerated lambing. A total of 127 live viewers participated in the series, and 1,098 additional viewers have watched the recordings, representing over 20 states and three countries in all. Fifty-seven percent of survey respondents indicated they had a better knowledge of intensive production systems that involves dry lots and infrastructure, and 97 percent would apply some component of what they learned into practice. Locally, all White County sheep producers said they will implement some sort of partial confinement during high risk stages of development of their animals
