By Mark Badertscher
Tuesday, Feb. 3 will be the first of four Sheep and Goat Webinar programs being offered at the Hardin County Extension office, in a coordinated effort with the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association.  

Roger A. High, The Ohio State University, will present the first program “The Management Continuum and Success during the Lambing/Kid Time Period” this week, starting at 7 pm. 

The program will be held at the OSU Extension office located at 1021 W. Lima Street in Kenton. There is no charge to attend the series of programs.  Please call the Extension office at 419-674-2297 if planning to attend one or more of these programs so that all participants can be accommodated.

Jeff McCutcheon and Rory Lewandowski, OSU Extension, will present the Feb. 10 program “Successfully Producing Small Ruminants in a Forage Based System.” The Feb. 17 program will be Roger A. High and Tony Nye, The Ohio State University, presenting “Sheep and Goat Breeds and Breed Types: Selecting the Right Breed Type for your Market.” 

The final program on Feb. 24 will be Dr. Richard Ehrhardt, Michigan State University, presenting “Management and Records – What are the important records to make Key Management Decisions for your Sheep Flock or Goat Herd?”

The Ohio Sheep Improvement Association and Ohio State University Extension are pleased to offer these 2014 Sheep and Goat Webinar Programs.  The Sheep and Goat Webinar Program series was started in 2012 due to an increased need to get educational programming to the sheep and goat producers in state of Ohio and other states. 

The Sheep and Goat Webinar programs followed 10 years of “District” type programming.  This program offers a wide variety of topics and speakers in most areas of the state of Ohio, but allows the use of speakers from other states, universities, or industry relationships with those speakers attending all of the different sites.  In 2014, we are offering 18 “District” Sheep and Goat Webinar program sites.

The Sheep and Goat Program Webinar series is sponsored by the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association and OSU Extension.  Cancellation due to inclement weather will be announced on local radio stations if necessary.  For more information about the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association please refer to its website at www.ohiosheep.org or contact the OSIA office at (614) 246-8299. 

For more information about OSU Extension, Agriculture and Natural Resources, visit the Hardin County OSU Extension web site at www.hardin.osu.edu, the Hardin County OSU Extension Facebook page or contact Mark Badertscher at 419-674-2297.