There will be a Goat and Sheep Health Day at Cornell University this year. The event will take place primarily on Saturday, September 21st, 2013 at Morrison Hall and the Livestock Pavilion on the Cornell University Campus in Ithaca, New York. It will have educational workshops and “tracks” for both youth and adults.
However, there will also be some activities on Friday evening, September 20th, 2013 such as 1) a cheese making workshop taught by Holly Phillips of Straitgate Farm, 2) Goat/Sheep Bowl led by Jo Ellen Roehrig, and 3) “Basic Health Management for Goats and Sheep” taught by Dr. Michael Thonney.
Saturday’s activities will include tracks geared towards 1) the 12 yrs. old and under crowd, 2) the teen crowd, and 3) adults. All youth 16 years and younger must be accompanied by adults. Adults can opt to attend the youth workshops with their children or attend the adult activities. There will be a recreational goat track ( Mark and Janet Collier) with limited space where youth can make a pack saddle frame and learn about managing and handling pack goats, etc. There will also be a workshop on pack goats in the adult track.
The 12 and under crowd will get to work on crafts such as leather making, fiber arts - felt making, dyeing, etc., cooking with lamb and goat (fudge making and lamb burgers?), and a hands-on workshop led by Dr. Susan Kerr DVM on making sure your animal and their products are top notch in quality. They will also have hands-on activities on how to tell if your goat is sick, handling lambing and kidding, and management skills such as hoof trimming, eartagging, etc.
The teen track will have workshops on evaluating breeding stock animals for show and commercial use, quality assurance (where they will do hands-on necropsies looking for human caused damage- taught be Dr. Susan Kerr, DVM), and on possible careers in livestock health (moderated by Dana Palmer). They and the adults will have hands-on practicals on dealing with dystocia and weak kids, management skills and emergency health care.
Dr. Mary Smith DVM will lead a field necropsy workshop (space limited) geared primarily at adults and young adults. She will also teach a lambing and kidding workshop for all ages and a workshop on “Highlights of the International Sheep Veterinary Congress in New Zealand” which is geared towards adults and will focus on innovative programs to control or eradicate specific contagious diseases in sheep and goats. The adult track will also include a sheep and goat parasite workshop series for those adults and older teens wanting to obtain FAMACHA certification. This series will include a lab on fecal worm egg evaluations. There will also be a lecture geared towards adults on “new innovations in goat and sheep parasite control” which will include the preliminary results of our copper oxide wire particle studies as well as the results of other recent research in the U.S.
For those who want to spend either Friday and/ or Saturday night in the Ithaca area there are some options. They have blocked rooms at some hotels in Ithaca and Cortland. Prices are relatively high because it is also Homecoming Weekend. In addition they have rented 4-H Acres in Ithaca, NY for Friday and Saturday night for 4-H families and 4-H clubs. All adults who stay at the camp must be screened as approved volunteers by their respective counties. There will be both a girls/women dorm and a boys/men dorm. Those staying at 4-H Acres will need to provide their own cot or air/foam mattress and sleeping bag. They will provide an extra chaperone of each gender in the event that groups are bringing youth that are a different gender than their chaperones. A limited amount of tent camping is also permitted. Again, this facility is limited only to enrolled 4-H families or clubs.
The full schedule and registration form for our September 21st Cornell Goat and Sheep Day should be available by Friday, August 23rd. Some of the workshops will be limited in space and they will be very serious about registration deadlines. They will also be posting it on-line at http://www.sheep.cornell.edu/ , http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/goats/ and http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/4H/goats/ .
