Rain Grows Grass and Parasites

Few things make a West Texan smile like spring rain, green grass, and young lambs and kids frolicking in the pastures. This year has been a bountiful reminder of the joys of livestock production.

When my early onset grumpy-rancher syndrome flares up and I catch myself grumbling as thunderheads roll in day after day, I realize that a little mud and moisture is nothing to really complain about. I also have to remind my son that rain is good thing, when his baseball tournaments continuously get rained out. We all know that it is better to have too much rain than not enough.

In reality, there is cause for some concern for those of us with sheep and goats. Internal parasites love rain and warm weather and spring storms seem to invigorate these little suckers (literally, blood suckers!). Warm and wet conditions allow the parasites that have survived in the animals over the winter to amplify on pasture at an alarming rate. The barber pole worm is the most damaging internal parasite of small ruminants and it targets the weak animals in a flock, which tends to be lactating females, young growing offspring, and animals in poor body condition.

Managing sheep and goats to prevent animal health issues from internal parasites is complex and should be a top priority for all small ruminant owners. I recommend farmers and ranchers educate themselves at the following websites: https://www.wormboss.com.au and https://www.wormx.info. These two websites have an abundance of factual and relevant information produced by qualified educators. It goes without saying that there is a lot of misinformation on the Internet if you look in the wrong places.

I also recommend that you follow our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TAMUSheepandGoats/) and YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJNtVhyg2crdb4GIrDP891Q). We have produced numerous educational videos on the most effective treatment protocols, such as using combination drenches or copper oxide wire particle boluses.

However, isn’t the best way to deal with a problem is to prevent it from even occurring? With this mindset, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension is working towards breeding sheep and goats that are quantifiably more resistant to internal parasites. We are using the National Sheep Improvement Program to generate Estimated Breeding Values (EBVs) for reduced fecal egg count, the primary measurement of parasitism within the animal. In addition, we are working to validate a new genomics test called Flock54, which has markers for internal parasite resistance.

Although we are only a few years into these breeding programs, we have identified large differences in parasite resistance among our sheep, both wool and hair breeds. Recently, we have attained a couple of grants to conduct research and collaborate with Texas seedstock sheep and goat breeders whom are already using this technology. In other regions of the U.S., attempts at breeding for parasite resistance have paid big dividends, such as with many Katahdin breeders in the Southeast. I am optimistic that this technology will be a real game-changer here in Texas in regards to breeding sheep and goats that require less deworming. Stay tuned!

Texas A&M and other breeders who use this technology will be selling breeding animals after the Texas Sheep and Goat Expo on Aug. 16-17 that will have EBVs for parasite resistance and other performance traits. We encourage that you attend this event, even if you don’t pick up a bidders number we hope you are at least inspired to incorporate parasite testing into your management scheme. Contact your local county extension office or the district office in San Angelo to get registered 325-653-4576.

More and more evidence is mounting that a lot of what makes a sheep or goat profitable comes from characteristics that you simply cannot see. Whether it is parasite tolerance, reproductive capability, disease resistance, etc. we are realizing more of the keys to these real-world difference-making traits lie within the genetic make-up of the animal. Technology is allowing us to explore this at a level that monetarily and scientifically wasn’t possible ten or twenty years ago. The future of our industry is much brighter if we effectively we implement the tools that have been laid out for us. Either stick with traditional methods and remain stagnant or incorporate new ideas and elevate our industry to new levels.

To provide feedback on this article or request topics for future articles, contact me at reid.redden@ag.tamu.edu or 325-657-7324. For general questions about sheep and goats, contact your local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county office. If they can’t answer your question, they have access to someone who can.

Travel is the Best Teacher

Do you ever drive down the road and think “That field needs some sheep to manage their weed problem!” or “Why are those folks spending so much money on mechanical brush work? I’d have a herd of goats do that job for me.”

Am I the only one who uses these lines on every journey I’ve ever taken? The sheepman in me can’t help but see potential pasture at every turn. My job provides a lot windshield time to ponder on this.

This travel also provides the opportunity to see how “somebody else does it.” In my opinion, it is always the right decision to travel and learn when the opportunity arises to take a trip, and I have been fortunate that my studies and career have allowed me to do just that.

American land grant universities are renowned for laying the educational building blocks of the stable agriculture industries our society enjoys. I often take for granted the foundation of science and dedication to research that 9 years of higher education at three of these great schools has instilled in me.

In 2017, I traveled to Kenya and Ethiopia. It reminded me how important it is to properly educate the agricultural producers of your country. Without a secure and affordable food supply, societies have issues that we rarely think about.

Looking back, my time in Montana taught me the most about sheep production. It wasn’t just that the university had some great teachers and top-notch advisors, but it was the drastically different production systems required to raise sheep in an environment completely dissimilar to Texas that taught me the most. Literally and figuratively, I learned there was more than one way to shear a sheep when I was working on my PhD at Montana State.

My desire to learn about agriculture and sheep and goat production did not cease when they handed me the diploma. Throughout my career I have been fortunate enough to visit ranches and farms in nearly two dozen states and half a dozen countries. Textbooks and lectures instilled the fundamentals, but the life lessons and information I receive from producers like you is what I treasure the most.

The folks who have dedicated their lives to raising sheep and goats are not all cut from the same cloth, but most share a similar set of common core values. Sheep and goat people are absolutely a brother/sister-hood. It may be a bumper sticker denouncing coyotes or a shirt that is only dirty on the left side, but you know another sheep person when you see them. They love what they do and tend their flocks and herds for the lifestyle, not the money. Farming with sheep and/or goats can be profitable but there may be easier ways to make a living. I truly believe that sheep and goat farmers are the most passionate and dedicated of all agriculturalists.

In April, I was part of an American delegation chosen by the American Lamb Board that took a weeklong tour of New Zealand’s sheep industry. Beef and Lamb New Zealand LTD hosted three Americans and three Australians on this tour, along with a delegation of young farmers from New Zealand. We visited numerous farms on both the North and South Islands.

I was impressed at their management practices and how precise their goals are. It was repeatedly stated that lamb crop is the most important factor and they shoot for a minimum of 130% lambs weaned per ewe joined with ram. This is the national average and many farms we visited were attaining 160% or higher weaning rates, and these managers were able to do this on a very large scale. According to USDA-NASS surveys, Texas generally produces an 80 to 100 percent lamb and kid crop.

In New Zealand there are 30 million sheep and the land base is roughly half the size of Texas. We have ¾ of a million sheep in Texas. Yes, Texas is generally regarded as a beef cattle state; however, New Zealand has a similar number of cattle as Texas. They are able to raise this number of cattle and sheep due to high rainfall and a temperate climate. Plus, the vast majority of land is improved pasture, growing forages for sheep and cattle (beef and dairy) production. I did not see much land being farmed for cash crops as you would in Texas.

If Texas is going to become a larger producer of lamb and goat to meet domestic demands, I foresee the need to dedicate farmland to forage crop production, primarily for raising lambs/kids with their mothers and potentially for grass finishing. High quality rangeland can rival cultivated ground in cash value and not to mention, livestock can be more intensively managed and predation control is much easier when there isn’t a thick stand of brush.

In June, I have the good fortune of participating in a similar tour of the UK sheep industry. I look forward to seeing the similarities and difference from the NZ sheep industry.

In August, the American Lamb Summit will take place in Fort Collins, Colo. This is a new conference looking to shape the future of the sheep industry. There will be a group of Texans attending this meeting. We are looking forward to what we’ll learn from our travels and we hope to see you there.

Thank you for allowing me to be your state sheep and goat specialist. It is truly my honor and a unique privilege. I promise to always seek new ideas and knowledge wherever I can. I’d like to leave you with this final piece of advice; always make the decision to go! You’re only one good high school kid to do chores – and a few bucks for a plane ticket – away from being forever changed in a way that only a new voyage can provide.

To provide feedback on this article or request topics for future articles, contact me at reid.redden@ag.tamu.edu or 325-653-4576. For general questions about sheep and goats, contact your local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county office. If they can’t answer your question, they have access to someone who can.

Market Growing Pains

From fine dining to food trucks, dishes like crispy lamb ribs, pulled mutton shoulder pad-thai, and cabrito kabobs are popping up almost everywhere. Lamb and goat, long disregarded by backyard barbecue enthusiasts and weeknight chefs alike, has not only reemerged onto restaurant menus, but it has morphed into a force to be reckoned with amongst an evolving food scene. Eating lamb and goat meat is all the rage!

Most exciting to us producers is that long-term projections are forecasting continued increases in demand for sheep and goat products, both domestic and international. The Aussies and Kiwis are looking to exportable more and more product to geographically closer China. Current domestic production is slipping, but with the expected increase in demand, prices should stay strong. Money talks and I expect more of the ranching community to get on board with having a few sheep and goats around.

Long term is the key word unfortunately as the Texas lightweight slaughter lamb market trended downward rather sharply in early April, but a spring-time dip in prices is not totally unexpected. To most folks the longer days mean it’s time to run outside and take photos in the blue bonnets. To the sheepman? Well besides the denning coyotes being on the prowl, stomach worm boom, noxious weeds erupting in every corner of the pasture, and the shearers being late for the 8th day in a row…. I forget where I was going with this. Oh yeah, the market takes its annual nosedive. Does it have to be this way though?

The predictable drop is likely result of an increased supply of lambs. Producers Livestock Auction in San Angelo sold roughly 50% more sheep and goats per week in early April than in March. With the largest percent of these animals being lambs from hair sheep breeds, which tend to go to the lightweight slaughter market. Supply hasn’t been as markedly increased for wooled lambs and goat kids and ultimately the market for these animals remained stable.

Bill Thompson, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension economist, has been reporting the effect of supply on the lamb and goat market for a few years. This data can be found at the following website. https://sanangelo.tamu.edu/extension/west-central-agricultural-economics/small-ruminant-mpa-project/ Supply volume has consistently been the best predictor of long-term price trends.

I feel strongly that sheep and goat producers should take a long look at this data and consider management practices that will allow them to market portions of their lamb crop during the late fall and winter, especially hair sheep producers who can capitalize on the aseasonal reproductive capabilities of these breeds. Market volatility limits industry expansion, so transitioning some of the lighter slaughter lambs that are hitting the traditional late spring and summer logjam to a the fall and winter could have reverberating benefits throughout the sheep industry. A consistent supply of fresh lamb product inspires confidence at each level of the production chain, and ultimately the consumer. Consumers always have and always will drive the market.

Almost daily I receive calls or emails from people in Texas who want to get into the sheep business and most all of them are looking towards hair sheep. This also begins to ask the question “Has the hair sheep industry oversupplied the market?” Time will tell, but at present, no. In the United States we have 300 million potential customers, of which most have never even tried lamb or goat. We have the potential to easily consume all we can produce domestically, but a flatter supply curve is still a must.

Folks who are interested in getting into small ruminants need to keep an open mind to raising goats. Meat goat prices have been consistently strong with less seasonal fluctuation. Plus, imported goat meat was down 30% in 2018, which had been steadily increasing the 5 previous years. The largest importer is Australia and I suspect that they aren’t able to supply the product due to drought and the feral management systems used to source goats.

In the past, most sheep and goat producers tend to be price takers. They have little control or ability to influence demand, unless they direct market to the consumer. Direct marketing isn’t for everyone but it doesn’t hurt to try to develop and grow our consumer base. My family eats lamb regularly at your home and we expose our friends and family to this great protein. It has had an impact. My extended family eats lamb regularly and my mother has added two lamb items to the menu at the family restaurant. They are selling at a pace that is far beyond our expectations. We must continue to promote our product. If we don’t eat it regularly, what kind of statement does that make to our consumers?

Also, I encourage the sheep community to stay up-to-date on what the American Lamb Board is doing to promote our product. They have fantastic programs that are responsible for some of the increased demand in lamb. A recent study by Texas A&M took a look at their impact. The report showed for every $1 invested into the American Lamb Checkoff Program it provided $14.20 to industry stakeholders!

In summary, the future is bright for the sheep and goat industry. But it is imperative for farmers and ranchers to stay up-to-date on the details of the industry. Producers should pay particular attention to supply a product that is in high demand at the time of market. Change is inevitable and we must see change as an opportunity, not a threat.

To provide feedback on this article or request topics for future articles, contact me at reid.redden@ag.tamu.edu or 325-653-4576. For general questions about sheep and goats, contact your local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county office. If they can’t answer your question, they have access to someone who can.

Three Strikes and You Are Out!!!

Spring is my favorite time of the year. Green grass, newborns frolicking in the pasture, and baseball. As a youngster, baseball was easily my favorite sport. Now I am blessed to have a son that loves the game and I have the honor to be the head coach of his little league team. Naturally, our team name is the “Yard Goats.”

Springtime is also when many of our sheep flocks and goat herds are at their highest risk of predation. If you have been reading my column for long, you know that I am a big advocate for livestock guardian dogs.

If you are “still on the fence,” we are hosting a livestock guardian dog field day in Menard on April 12. The field day will include two ranch tours and various presentations from Texas A&M AgriLife employees and allied industry professionals. For more information visit our webpage: http://sanangelo.tamu.edu/events. Call the Menard County Extension office at 325-396-4787 to register for the event.

I am a big fan of statistics and numbers. Maybe it is because math was my favorite subject in school or maybe it is a carry over from baseball. Specifically, I like the rule of 3.

The third time a female fails to raise twins, she is either culled or bred to terminal sires so her progeny are not kept as replacements. Unless she doesn’t lamb until she is a two-year-old, then she starts her at bat with 1 strike, so to speak. If you pasture lamb and don’t know which lambs belong to which ewes, you could pregnancy scan the ewes before lambing and use this information to employ the rule of 3.

The third time that a sheep or goat requires deworming based on bottle jaw, FAMACHA score, or fecal egg count, the animal is likely to be culled. However, it must be noted that if all animals within a similar management group are heavily infested with worms, then I don’t apply this rule. It was more of a management or environmental effect and not necessarily genetic inferiority of the animal.

The third time a goat gets its head stuck in the fence, a range ewe needs her feet trimmed or a ram hits me in the back; they are on the chopping block. A simple way of keeping track of how many “strikes” an animal has is to notch their ear or place a “black’ tag every time they swing and miss. If you are like me, some consistent way of keeping track is vital.

The rules of 3 are easy to understand and implement by commercial producers. But science has proven that estimated breeding values produced via the National Sheep Improvement Program are much more reliable sources of genetic predictions for traits such as twinning rate or resistance to parasites. For me, I will not buy breeding animals without EBVs, unless an overwhelming amount of data has been used to make within flock decisions.

Many of you may be familiar with Billy Beane, the Oakland A’s general manager, and his reliance on statistics or you have seen the movie “Moneyball.” He has made a famous career for himself by analyzing players by their statistics over traditional methods. Some years his teams are more successful than others, but indisputably he makes the most of his roster with a smaller payroll than most other successful programs.

Hope you all have a great spring and lets “play ball!”

To provide feedback on this article or request topics for future articles, contact me at reid.redden@ag.tamu.edu or 325-653-4576. For general questions about sheep and goats, contact your local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county office. If they can’t answer your question, they have access to someone who can.

Next Generation Ranchers

My job has two main audiences; youth between 9 and 18 years of age and ranchers whom are generally 55 years of age and older. This is true for most AgriLife Extension employees.

Youth programs are geared towards 4-H and FFA members, such as livestock projects and wool/mohair judging contests. These interactive programs have been extremely successful at getting youth involved with agriculture, ultimately leading to a better appreciation, if not a lifelong passion, for food and fiber production.

According to the USDA, two out of every three current farmers and ranchers are 55 years of age or older, and only 5 percent are less than 35 years of age. The average age of new farmers and ranchers is nearly 50 years of age.

It is an asset and a liability to have a more mature ranching community. With age comes wisdom, more financial security, and careful decisions that are more likely to keep an operation running. However, there is a forgotten generation of folks who we simply don’t target enough of our extension and industry resources to helping, and that is the young adults.

The term ‘millennial’ often leaves a poor taste in the mouth of the older crowd, but that is largely due to an ill-conceived perception that ALL millennials still live off of their parents and don’t know how to work. There is a large sector of this age group however, that do, in fact, have both aspirations and a work ethic, and are looking for a chance to thrive in agriculture

Youth brings energy and a desire for new technologies and innovation. The sheep and goat industry has a limited amount of new technologies and innovative programs being put into practice, which I would argue is a direct result of the lack of managers under 35 years of age. Is this limited number of younger sheep and goat producers a result of low enthusiasm (like we hear is the case all the time) or is it simply because opportunities are few and far between?

The current ranching community has developed an admirable courage to sustain their way of life regardless of any challenges they face. Through thick and thin, the rancher is the epitome of steadfastness. But a side effect of this can be a resistance to those who approach the ranching way of life differently than themselves. Cell phones have replaced pocket books and the internet is now the first place many of us look to for an answer to a problem, but don’t confuse this with a lack of passion for feeding and clothing the world. The love of land and livestock persists, that much you can be sure of.

A small group of folks, including myself, have started a committee within Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association called “TEXAS RANCHERS OF TOMORROW” or TROT for short. It is made up of TSGRA members that are less than 40 years of age and want to be active sheep and goat producers. Since 2016, TROT has hosted a couple of ranch tours each year for members to attend to learn more about making a living from ranching.

Most members of TROT are part-time ranchers and rely on other forms of income to support themselves and their families. They would very much like to ranch full-time, but access to land resources prohibits that dream from becoming a reality. As we all know, land value has greatly exceeded ag valuation. Therefore, it is unrealistic for young ranchers to buy land and pay for it raising sheep and goats, or any other form of livestock, unless they inherit or earn a small fortune elsewhere. To get started in the industry, it must come from lease land.

Finding lease land for sheep and goat production has become a difficult task. Many landowners, absentee or resident, don’t want someone else on their land or only want to lease land for hunting purposes. There is also a misconception that sheep and goats don’t mix well with certain wildlife species, such as whitetail deer and quail. We all know that good land stewardship can be beneficial to both livestock and wildlife.

If you are a landowner and have land that is currently without sheep and goats, or may be in the near future, I’d encourage you to consider leasing some land to someone who’d love to have the opportunity to try and make this their living. Also, encourage your fellow landowners that don’t have active livestock leases on their land to a consider helping a next generation sheep and goat raiser get started. There is a large cohort of young adults that would be great assets to our industry, if we could find the right opportunities for them to get started.

The TROT committee is developing a directory of its members that are seeking lease land. The information gathered will include where they are located, the type of livestock they wish to raise, their education, and livestock experience. So if you don’t know of a next generation sheep and goat producer in your area and you have land to lease, this organization can help you find the right person.

While people in this industry are the most important thing to consider, the lack of production is also an important aspect. In the US, we are importing more lamb and goat meat than ever before, simply because we just don’t produce enough to meet our domestic demands. If we keep shrinking as an industry, the infrastructure to support this industry will shrink as well. Without a viable infrastructure to support sheep and goat producers, it will become harder and harder to compete with imported products.

To provide feedback on this article or request topics for future articles, contact me at reid.redden@ag.tamu.edu or 325-653-4576. For general questions about sheep and goats, contact your local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county office. If they can’t answer your question, they have access to someone who can.

Starting the New Year with a Bang

The pace of life these days seems to be moving too fast. We all seem to have so many different things going on at the same time, without nearly enough down time to stop and appreciate the small things.

The month of January epitomizes this for me. The month starts off with an AgriLife agency conference in College Station, then we have our sheep shearing school in San Angelo and, to wrap things up, there’s the annual American Sheep Industry Association conference in New Orleans. Not to mention that January kicks off the start of stock show season.

At the AgriLife conference, our leadership team explained how we in agriculture are going to see a change in philosophy. It is not enough to produce an abundance of food to feed the world. We must also provide the world with research and education to improve human health. Plus, build stronger connections between consumers and producers. This will shift us from a “feeding the world” to a “nourishing the world” mindset.

Our fourth annual sheep shearing school was held Jan. 12 to 14 at the AgriLife Center in San Angelo. Our goal is to provide the necessary foundation of knowledge to anyone who aspires to shear. The industry needs more qualified shearers and we aspire to help fill this void.

Although most of the school attendees won’t end up shearing professionally, students tend to enjoy learning about the trade and experiencing the reward of acquiring a new skill. The physical demands of shearing can be intimidating, but it’s a lifestyle that allows a person to aid in the husbandry of livestock, work with their hands and travel all over the world if they so choose. It can also be financially rewarding, whether a person shears full-time or is a weekend warrior. If you know of someone who might find that appealing, encourage them to apply or have them contact us for more details.

By the time you read this, the ASI convention in New Orleans will be over. This convention is the annual meeting place for ASI and many other industry leadership organizations, such as the American Lamb Board, American Goat Federation and the National Sheep Improvement Program.

Texas has some great folks who routinely attend this convention, but there is a need for more Texans to get involved. I highly encourage you to consider attending next year’s event in Scottsdale, Ariz. which will run from Jan. 22-25.

I have attended the convention each year since 2010. During that time, I’ve developed some lifelong friendships and I look forward to reconnecting with my friends and colleagues each year. For a sheep guru, it’s like Christmas comes in January!

Given my January schedule, it’s not surprising that my New Year’s resolution to slow down and enjoy the small things isn’t going very well so far. I hope that you are having better luck with your resolutions!

To provide feedback on this article or request topics for future articles, contact me at reid.redden@ag.tamu.edu or 325-653-4576. For general questions about sheep and goats, contact your local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county office. If they can’t answer your question, they have access to someone who can.

BioWorma: What is it?

Hopefully, you and your family had a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year. The reality of a new year is upon us and we wonder where all the time went. With all the new technology that inundates our lives, time seems to be speeding up and it is harder and harder to keep up. As such, my new years resolution is to slow down and enjoy the small things in life.

I foresee the newest sheep and goat product in 2019 will be the fungus, Duddingtonia Flagrans. It is a biological control tool for internal parasites that feeds on parasite larva in the fecal pellet. This fungus has been proven to reduce the number of larva that escape the fecal pellet and onto the pasture by 60 to 90 percent for cattle, sheep, goats, and horses. This naturally occurring fungus already exists at some level in your pastures, but animals do not ingest enough on their own for it to be effective.

An Australian company, International Animal Health Products, will market the product under the trade name, BioWorma®. The product has been approved for use in most states in the US, including Texas. Distribution of the product in the US has not been completely worked out. It is unclear when the product will make it to a feed store near you. Tell your local feed store about it and ask them to make it a priority. If they have questions, refer them to the websites below or they can contact me.

For the fungus to be effective, the product must be fed to livestock daily. It travels through the digestive tract and works in the fecal pellet. It is recommended to feed this to susceptible animals, such as females during late gestation and lactation as well as growing lambs and kids. It is also recommended to use the product just prior to or during the peak parasite season, which is typically, March through June in the majority of sheep and goat producing regions of Texas. It can be fed during other periods of the year and to all classes of livestock; however, it may not be economical to feed it to all livestock, year-round.

THIS PRODUCT WORKS TO PREVENT PARASITES. IT DOES NOT AFFECT THE INTERNAL PARASITES THAT CURRENTLY EXIST IN THE ANIMALS!!!! WORMY ANIMALS NEED TO BE TREATED WITH AN EFFECTIVE DEWORMER.

BioWorma® will be marketed to feed dealers who will add it to supplements and potentially minerals. The fungal spores cannot survive heat and pressure that results from pelleting; therefore, it will not be in breeder cubes or cooked molasses tubs. Livamol® with BioWorma® are trade names for the product that will be sold as a feed additive that ranchers can use to top dress other feeds.

More information about Duddingtonia Flagrans can be found online at: https://www.duddingtonia.com/, https://www.wormx.info/, or https://www.bioworma.com/.

BioWorma® is not likely to be the silver bullet for parasite control. But it does have the potential to be an integral part of Texas sheep and goat producer’s arsenal of parasite control tools.

To provide feedback on this article or request topics for future articles, contact me at reid.redden@ag.tamu.edu or 325-653-4576. For general questions about sheep and goats contact your local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county office. If they can’t answer your question, they have access to someone who can.

Winter is Coming, Are You Ready?

As I write this, we are supposed to get our first hard frost. It is mid-November and the late summer and fall moisture has produced a lot of winter forage. Be sure to keep a close eye on what has grown in the pastures.

As was discussed last month, some warm season weeds were produced that can be toxic to sheep and goats. Now, most of these plants have withered or the animals have learned to avoid them, especially if there is abundance of favorable forages.

It appears to be a great year to grow cereal forages crops, such as wheat, oats, and triticale. These are fantastic crops for sheep and goats to grow out fall- and winter-born lambs and kids. Hopefully, the winter (December, January, and February) markets for lambs and kid goats returns to normal highs. It is especially important to provide minerals that are specifically designed for cereal crops. Magnesium deficiency is something we want to watch for in livestock grazing small grains. Providing the animal with a free-choice loose mineral or hay will usually supply enough magnesium to meet the necessary levels in the animal.

There has been quite a lot of interest in cover crops and diverse winter forages. Below is a photo of triticale and turnips they are growing for winter forage. For years, ranchers in Northern states have used sheep to harvest beet tops, prior to harvesting the sugar beets. Not only could these crops increase forage volume and diversity but the could also improve soil health. If you have experiences with highly productive forage varieties, share them with us. We’d love to hear of your experiences.

For range operations that lamb or kid in the spring, winter can be a slow time of the year. I encourage operations to consider testing for pregnancy status via ultrasound and/or body condition scoring females. These practices have been highlighted on recent FaceBook Live videos that we have been producing weekly. Follow our facebook page: @TAMUSheepandGoats. We’d appreciate your views, shares and comments.

Body condition scoring is a good management practice to gauge nutritional status of livestock. It is best that dams give birth at or above a body condition score of three, sheep and goats typically range from 2 to 4 on a 5-point scale. Those that are thinner will often rear smaller offspring and lower lamb/kid crops. In addition, they will harbor more internal parasites next spring. Now is a good time to sort off these females and provide better pasture or supplementation, so that they are in ideal condition come late gestation. Once animals are in late gestation, it becomes much more difficult to increase their condition. However, it is also important not to overfeed dams that do not need additional condition. Animals in a BCS of 4 or greater can have issues, such as small or larger than normal lambs/kids, pregnancy toxemia, and/or reduced milk production.

Pregnancy ultrasound will allow sorting of open and late lambing/kidding from the main flock/herd. Producers will also be able to get an overall pregnancy rate (number of pregnant ewes/number of ewes exposed) for their flock/herd prior to lambing and allow for identification of those females with twins or triplets. In range lambing operations, these are both challenging to determine, but this information can allow operators to know the breeding effectiveness of their rams, determine less fertile females, and identify more highly fecundous females that may be at risk for a negative energy balance in the coming third trimester. Plus, sorting off these more productive females allows ranchers to retain replacements from more productive flocks and herds. Along, with use of EBVs, this will allow the Texas sheep and goat industry to move towards a 150% lamb/kid crop!!!

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and wish you all a Merry Christmas!!!

To provide feedback on this article or request topics for future articles, contact me at reid.redden@ag.tamu.edu or 325-653-4576. For general questions about sheep and goats contact your local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county office. If they can’t answer your question, they have access to someone who can.

Precipitation, Parasites, and Prussic Acid

As I am writing this article, the temperature dropped 40 degrees overnight and it is raining. The abundance of rain over the last two months has been a welcome change from the dry hot summer. However, ranchers are keenly aware that changes in the weather bring “good” and “bad” alike.

In September, the rains came with warmer weather and there was an explosion of warm season grasses and weeds. The perennial warm season grasses shot up and went to seed in a matter of days. In addition, a wide-variety of weeds sprang up from any bare ground uncovered by grasses. Unfortunately, some of these weeds are toxic to sheep and/or goats.

I received numerous reports from ranchers with concerns of toxic plants. However, with so many new plants available to the animals, it is very difficult to determine which plant is the likely culprit. In most cases, the animals were “naïve” to these plants because they had not seen them before. Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service has published a book called “Toxic Plants of Texas.” Every rancher should have a copy of this book.

Another lurking issue that occurred from this late summer rains was internal parasites. Typically, internal parasites, specifically Haemonchus Contortus, are an issue in the spring and early summer. Young animals are more susceptible to parasites in the summer/fall because their immune system is not as able to suppress them.

Animals under 1 year of age have a higher nutritional demand for growth and their immune system may not have the sufficient nutrients to function, similar to an adult. Also, these young animals may not have been exposed to a parasite challenge during a dry year, and their immune system is “naïve” to them. It can take weeks for the immune system to fight off a new challenge. In some cases, the parasites get the upper hand and the animals may succumb to the parasites.

But this is not always a bad thing. At the research station in San Angelo, we used this parasite challenge to identify the animals that are better able to maintain low fecal egg counts when their flock/herd mates were not. This allows us to make better selection decisions on which animals to keep as replacements. It allows us to enter more data into NSIP (National Sheep Improvement Program) and improve the accuracy of the animals EBVs (estimated breeding values) for parasite resistance.

Fall is also a good time to conduct a fecal egg count reduction test. This is when you deworm animals with different drenches or drench combinations. You should have around 10 animals per treatment and the animals should be of similar age, condition, and production stage. Determine the fecal egg count for every animal at the time of drenching and the again 10-14 days later. Subtract the second fecal count from the first fecal count and divide by the first fecal count. Multiply by 100 and this will be percent effectiveness of the drench in your flock/herd. Effective dewormers should be at least 98% effective. Parasite resistance to drenches are different for every farm/ranch, so it is best to determine it on your own animals. Then, come springtime and parasites return, you will know which drenches to use to get the best parasite control.

If you follow the Texas A&M AgriLife Sheep and Goat Extension Facebook page you can stay up-to-date on projects such as the one mentioned above. We published 3 videos on the different classes of dewormers, shared the protocol to conduct a fecal egg count reduction test, and discussed copper oxide wire particles boluses.

Late summer rains did wonders for hay grazer that was planted to be grazed or harvested for hay. However, be cautious, when grazing this into the fall after a freeze. Prussic acid poisoning can occur. The withered parts of the plant and new growth contain higher concentrations of the toxic compound. After a freeze, it is best to keep animals off of a field until the wilted plants dry. And don’t turn out hungry animals onto a new field. It is best to fill them up on hay prior to turning them onto a new field.

Armyworms marched their way on fields and pastures with the summer rains and warm weather. But now that it has cooled off, both armyworms and internal parasites are going to be less of a problem until next year.

Today, I brought out the wool sweater to stay warm. This reminded me that registration is open for the Texas A&M Sheep Shearing, Wool Classing, and Animal Fiber 101 Schools. These schools are one of the highlights of the year for me.

We raised wool sheep but I did not grow up shearing sheep or classing wool/mohair. After attending a sheep shearing school in Montana, I developed a great appreciation for the fiber segment of the sheep and goat industry. More information about these schools can be found at: https://agrilife.org/sheepandgoat/.

To provide feedback on this article or request topics for future articles, contact me at reid.redden@ag.tamu.edu or 325-653-4576. For general questions about sheep and goats contact your local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county office. If they can’t answer your question, they have access to someone who can.

150% Lamb Crop Challenge

There are times in life when someone says something that you remember forever. The quote sticks with you and the person that said it may not even remember or recall the conversation. One of these instances happened to me when I was in high school.

My father and I had just finished working lambs. We weaned an 85 percent lamb crop. I was proud of this set of sheep because we raised show lambs from this group of ewes. I commented to my father “This was a good year and we raised some good show prospects.”

In a disappointed tone, my fathers said, “We can raise an 85% calf crop and do not have to fight predators and parasites. They’ll have to do better than that, if we want to continue to raise sheep after you are done showing lambs.”

This was a punch in the gut for me! I thought the ewes raised award winning lambs; therefore, they “must” be superior animals. But he was absolutely right! Commercial sheep that can consistently raise twins are far more profitable than sheep that consistently raise singles. Raising show lambs requires a completely separate set of selection criteria.

Most years in Texas, the average lamb crop is ~80 percent and the average kid crop is ~100 percent. While predation is a major problem, it is a separate issue and predation shouldn’t always be the “scapegoat” for a poor lamb or kid crop.

Selection of sheep or goats for their ability to raise twins should be a priority but can be a challenge. For most range operations, ranchers don’t know which animals are twins and singles. Plus, other factors influence the chance a dam has a single or twin, such as age of ewe and nutrition. These challenges can be overcome but it requires years of accurate data collection.

One approach to select for twins on range lambing operations is to pregnancy ultrasound the ewes and sort them into twin and single-baring pastures. Then select for replacements from the twin pasture. We have been working with a group of ranchers as a case study. This project was funded by an American Sheep Industry’s Lets Grow program and is title “The 150% Lamb Crop Challenge.”

Five different range sheep operations participated in the program representing nearly 3,000 sheep. On average, 30 percent of the ewes were carrying twins the first year. Four of the five ranches scanned in the 25 to 35 percent twins depending on pasture and age of ewes. Ranch #4 was an outlier and nearly half of the ewes were carrying twins. An obvious difference was this ranch selected smaller-framed replacements and emphasized fertility.

Four ranches scanned all the ewes again the following year. The ewes that were twins the prior year were 10 to 20 percent more likely to have twins the following year. For instance, all ewes at Ranch #4 scanned at 47 percent twins the first year. The twin lambing ewes scanned at 60 percent twins the second year.

At weaning most ranches reported a 20 to 40 percent increase in number of lambs weaned in the twin vs single pastures. However, the ranch with the 50 percent twins scanning also had the highest weaning differential (80%) between twin and single pastures. This was likely due to years of selection for fertility. Variations in weaning rate by year and pasture were thought to have occurred from predation and drought. But, there were serious concerns by the ranchers that their ewes were not properly caring for twins-born compared to single-born lambs.

While, we would have liked to have seen consistently larger lamb crop in the twin ewe pastures. And we wish that ewes who give birth to twins in 1 year, consistently rear twins every year. Nevertheless, the early stages of this project indicate that there is potential for an improved lamb crop using pregnancy scanning.

There are other tools to select for sheep and/or goats that consistently rear twins. Most notably, estimated breeding values (EBVs) are accurate predictors of genetic potential for an improved weaning rate; however, it requires a full sheep generation for rams to sire daughters that are kept back in the flock. Ultrasound works faster and can be used in combination with EBVs to reach a 150% lamb crop faster.

To provide feedback on this article or request topics for future articles, contact me at reid.redden@ag.tamu.edu or 325-653-4576. For general questions about sheep and goats contact your local Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service county office. If they can’t answer your question, they have access to someone who can.