Sheep have taken over the job of lawnmowers and maintenance workers in parts of Turin, Italy, according to Ananova news service. But in some cases city police are having to do shepherd’s work moving the sheep along traffic lanes from city lawn to lawn.

The city is employing about 700 sheep keep grass verges and lawns in city parks neatly trimmed. Environment officials in Turin said they were spending about $48,000 a year to cut the grass for just one of the bigger city parks. Now their lawn mowers do not require gasoline and the “mowers” can be sold at the end of the grass cutting season to bring money in to the city coffers.

Some complaints have been lodged. Drivers don’t like the sheep roadblocks when the flock is being moved, and park visitors complain about the fertilizer left behind by the grazing lawnmowers.

Forecasts for this growing season show corn production down from last year, even with heavy biofuels subsidies going to corn producers, according to the Texas Cattle Feeders Association newsletter. The National Agriculture Statistics Service reports that farmers plan 86 million acres of corn this year, an 8 percent drop from last year. The recently released report has already caused a rise in corn on May futures to a record $6 per bushel.

Some of that corn acreage will go to soybeans, according to NASS, as soybean acreage is projected to increase 18 percent to 74.8 million acres. Wheat acreage is up 6 percent, currently 63.8 million acres.

The United States has about 134 ethanol production plants in service, compared to 68 plants five years ago in 2003, according to an article on the Green Car Congress website. U.S. ethanol plants produced 1.9 billion gallons of ethanol during the first quarter of 2008, according to Bentek Energy, L.L.C., an energy market watch firm. In the first quarter of 2007 production was 517 million gallons less, so this year’s numbers are way up, about 37 percent.

Thanks to some behind-the-scenes work, Texas AgriLife Extension’s 2007 batch of soremouth vaccine produced at the Sonora (Texas) Experiment Station has been approved for distrubution.

I reported in an earlier post (scroll down) last month that the soremouth vaccine would not be released due to failing a dosage safety test in which a couple test animals–guinea pigs–died, but the vaccine has now received the go-ahead from officials, according to word relayed from Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association officers who heard it from AgriLife Extension.
For more information about the vaccine, call the Sonora Station at (325) 387-3168.

The good demand for finer grades of wool the industry has seen the last year and a half or so is likely to continue, along with sustained strong prices, according to Dr. Ron Pope of Producers Marketing Cooperative, Inc. Pope gave a wool and mohair market update at the semi-annual meeting of the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association in Fort Stockton Feb. 16.

The Australian wool market from August 2007 has shown a steady trend upward in prices, “not huge increases but week on week just a substantial gain . . . all the way through January of this year,” Pope said. The climb came after a three month decline in 2007.

Texas had seen “very decent prices” for its spring selling season last year and “then it started tailing off into June.” But the price rebound observed in Australian wool sales should carry over to the spring sales in Texas and elsewhere in the United States, he said.

“It’s good to see these markets rebound and continue to see a good trend and steady growth over a long period,” Pope said.
Currently the Australian market indicator is at U.S.$4.06, per pound, clean.

“This trend that we’re looking at as far as the growth is reflected in the 24 micron and finer wool types, which certainly includes the majority of wool that’s produced here in Texas,” he said. “The 25 to 27 micron range has seen growth or improvement in prices, not quite as proportional as the finer types.”

Wool coarser than 28 microns has seen flat but stable prices for several years. “There’s just not much movement in those prices on those microns,” Pope added.

U.S. Wool producers benefit with the U.S. Dollar weak against the Australian dollar. “ This creates kind of a double or two-fold increase in your prices that you receive – as the market’s moving up and the dollar gets weaker you get the benefit of both of those movements in terms of what you receive from your wool clip.” Pope said.

Only a few early clips had come into the warehouse in mid-February, but Pope said the quality of the clips he’d seen indicated strong wool with good fiber diameter “maybe just a tick coarser” than usual and relatively little vegetable matter or other contamination. Some of the wool he’d seen had shorter than average staple length.

Mohair

After nearly a year and a half of very strong prices on mohair with good clearances, hair prices began sliding a bit in October 2007. Adult mohair was bringing $3 and maybe a little above that through summer and into early October. Then at a sale in Texas a small lot of hair sold for $2.85 and prices dipped, Pope said.

The South African market remains unchanged. “Their currency was stable and yet they were being offered around 15 cents less than what the market should have been. This has continued and now we see recent sales of shorn adult at $2.70,” he said.

Though its too early to get a read on the spring Texas mohair clip, the fall clip here was “surprisingly free of defect,” he said. “It was probably one of the cleanest fall clips most people can remember seeing,” Pope said.

Demand from first stage mohair processors has dropped due larger than usual inventories of adult greasy mohair or top, he said.
“That’s putting a little bit of pressure on this adult market. Whether these inventories will be cleared by the time the spring harvest is over remains to be seen. Again, currency is playing a factor in the mohair market,” he added.

March 16-22 in National Agriculture Week and Ag Commissioner Todd Staples is taking the opportunity to both honor farmers and ranchers in Texas and educate the public about the contributions agriculturists make to the country’s high standard of living, according to a press release issued by the Texas Department of Agriculture.

“This week is a time to recognize the incredible impact agriculture has on our daily lives. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the flowers we offer on Mother’s Day and now the fuel we put in our vehicles are all rooted in one industry — agriculture,” Staples said.

The 2008 Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance Test will be conducted from June 7 until Oct. 4 at the University of Maryland’s Western Maryland Research & Education Center in Keedysville. It is sponsored by Maryland Cooperative Extension.

This Kiko buck was the top performing goat in the 2007 Western Maryland Pasture-Based Meat Goat Performance Test in Keedysville, Md.

Nomination period for this year’s test is April 1-May 15 requiring a fee of $20 per goat nomination form. Checks should be made payable to the University of Maryland. An additional $55 will be due when goats are delivered to the test site.

Goat producers from any state may consign up to five male goats of any breed or cross, though preference will be given to previous consigners and Maryland residents. The pasture resource will accommodate approximately 50 goats. Guidelines stipulate that the goats be between 3 and 5 months of age at the start of the test. There is a minimum weight requirement of 35 pounds and it is suggested that goats weigh no more than 70 pounds They should be weaned prior to the test and have received two vaccinations for clostridium perfringins type C and D and tetanus (CD-T).

During the test, the goats will be managed as a single group on pasture. They will be rotationally grazed among five 2-acre paddocks. For 2008, the paddocks will consist primarily of orchardgrass, Max Q™ tall fescue, chicory, pearl millet, and forage kale. Goats on the test will always have access to a central laneway containing Port-A-Hut shelters, water, minerals, and a handling system. As this is a pasture test, supplemental feed (nutrition tubs and/or grass hay) will only be provided if environmental conditions necessitate their use.

While on test, the goats will be evaluated for growth performance, parasite resistance, and carcass merit. They will be handled every two weeks using low stress livestock handling techniques to determine body weight, FAMACHA© and body condition scores and assess overall health. Only goats scoring 4 or 5 on the FAMACHA© eye anemia scale will be dewormed, unless other clinical signs are observed.

Fecal samples will be collected every 14 days until the goats require deworming. Scrotal measurements will be taken at the beginning and end of the test. Ultrasound carcass measurements will be done towards the end of the testing period. Consigners may nominate up to two bucks for collection of slaughter data. There will be an additional fee of $25 per head for this option. The slaughter component is new for 2008.

There will be a Performance Tested Buck and Invitational Doe Sale on Saturday, Oct. 4, at the Washington County Agricultural Center in Boonsboro. The Center is an adjacent property. The top 20 bucks, based on performance data and minimum standards for structural correctness and reproductive soundness, will be eligible to be sold via live auction. In addition, consignors will be able to nominate up to five doe kids for each male goat they have on test. Sale does must have on-farm performance records. A Goat Field Day will be held at the research center prior to the sale. The field day and sale are new for 2008.

For more information about the 2008 goat test, sale, and field day, contact Susan Schoenian at (301) 432-2767 x343 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ; Jeff Semler at (301) 791-1304 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or Jeanne Dietz-Band at (301) 432-7296 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it Information and forms can be obtained here: http://mdgoattest.blogspot.com.

Benny Cox, sheep and goat sale manager at Producers Livestock Auction in San Angelo, on Saturday said that for the most part sheep prices at the auction are good and, while slaughter kid goats are selling on the strong side, other goat prices are mixed. Cox was giving a market report to Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association members at their semi-annual meeting in Fort Stockton Feb. 16.

Shorn ewes are pushed down the alley at Producers Livestock Auction toward the sale floor, September 2007. Photo by Gary Cutrer.

Both slaughter and feeder lamb prices are very strong. However, slaughter ewes and slaughter nannies are selling on the weak side. The Mexican border was shut down for the slaughter ewe trade from August 18 through October 31 and the logjam hurt the price of ewes at Producers, selling point for the majority of slaughter ewes going to Mexico from Del Rio. Fortunately for the market, speculators kept buying and holding the ewes in hopes the border would open up, Cox said.

Also, there doesn’t seem to be as much demand for replacement females — both ewes and nannies — as there has been the past few years. As to why the many replacement ewes and nanny goats that have been offered have not found buyers, he had no explanation. “With all the rain during the growing season, and the relatively good lamb market, as well as kid goat market you’d think there’d be a good demand for these replacement ewes and nannies. That hasn’t happened,” he said.

Texas Agri-Life Research’s most recent batch of soremouth vaccine produced at the Sonora Experiment Station will not be released because it did not pass a safety test performed on guinea pigs, according to research director Dr. John Walker of the San Angelo Agri-Life facility. Dr. Walker made the announcement at the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers Association’s semi-annual meeting Feb. 16 in Fort Stockton, Texas.
Walker recommended that sheep and goat ranchers needing vaccine use one of the commercially sold vaccines such as the one offered by Colorado Serum.

Update: February 22 @ 11:30 a.m.

Dr. Charles “Butch” Taylor with Texas AgriLife Extension and Research, Sonora Experiment Station, informed me that the ONLY other place to buy soremouth vaccine would be Colorado Serum (link above). He said the batch of serum in question was put on hold by the USDA after subcutaneous injections in guinea pigs to test the vaccine resulted in two of the rodents dying. But the vaccine passed lamb tests with flying colors, he said. And in treating lambs or goats the vaccine is applied though a scratch in the skin, not by injection. Dr. Taylor is hopeful that USDA will allow an exception in this case and let the Experiment Station go ahead and sell to sheep and goat producers.

Dr. Taylor added that a new batch of soremouth vaccine would not likely be available until the fall of this year, though if the current batch were allowed by the USDA, it could be sold right away.

Goats on pasture that once was a bauxite (aluminum ore) mine, part ot the Mocho Goat Development Project, the aim of which is recovery of mined-out bauxite lands for goat production.

Jamaica’s “Goat Revolving Scheme” is a project initiated in 2000 that was initially conceptualized to provide goat meat for local consumption and the tourism sector as well as to provide quality breeding stock for local farmers.

Yesterday Jamaica’s Ministry of Agriculture announced the awarding of $5 million to Jamaican 4-H clubs to fund more programs to encourage and financially help young people get involved in agriculture. The money was made available from the country’s Agricultural Credit Board.

The ultimate aim of the Goat Revolving Scheme is to increase local production of goats for consumption and cut the island’s reliance on imported meat.

Agriculture minister of Jamaica, Dr. Christopher Tufton, left, awards $5 million to Executive Director of Jamaica 4-H Clubs, Lenworth Fulton, right.

“Between 2003 and 2007 we imported somewhere in the region of $330 million of goat and sheep meat, and therefore this says to us that there is a market that we are currently not satisfying, and this is an opportunity that we must take advantage of,” Minister of Agriculture Dr. Christopher Tufton said.

The Goat Revolving Scheme’s first phase in 2000 was funded by the Jamaica Bauxite Institute (JBI) and the American Institute for Co-operation on Agriculture.

Answering critics who claimed that any money earmarked for agricultural production and promotion was wasted, the minister said:

“Every industrialized country that boasts the highest level of GDP are countries that have extended resources, energies and hard work in establishing and preserving an agricultural base and so I do not buy the argument that some people promote, that agriculture is a hopeless activity. I don’t support the idea that we should seek our fortunes elsewhere. It is important that we expand and preserve agriculture and it has to start with our young people,”

I received the photo below and letter to the editor nearly two years ago and fully intended to publish it in the February 2007 Meat Goat Monthly News and then once again fully intended to publish it in the February 2008 Meat Goat Monthly News. Well, I missed the boat again this year. I will try to get it into the March 2008 issue and am publishing it here, now, on Valentine’s Day.

The little Boer kid shown here was born on Valentine’s Day 2006 and came out of his mama with a heart shaped spot on his side. Here are the photo and letter I received from Don Richardson:

Editor,
We thoroughly enjoy your magazine (Meat Goat Monthly News) each month and appreciate your regular and featured articles. You perform a great service to our industry. We want to share with you a photograph of a Valentine’s Day surprise for us! This little guy was born early on Tuesday morning, February 14 (2006), and we could not believe the coincidence of the date and his unique almost perfect heart shaped spot on his left shoulder.

My wife, Sharion, and I live about 3 miles South of Big Spring and have about 50 nannies and three billies at our place. The goat business is new and exciting to us and we thoroughly enjoy raising them. We have been in the “Kid” business for a combined total of over 60 years through my work in Extension and hers in public schools. This relatively new phase in our lives provides us with a lot of fun and we really enjoy it when the 4-H and FFA members that select our goats as projects do well with them.

Sincerely yours,
Don Richardson
Big Spring, Texas