Christine Gelley, OSU Extension Educator ANR, Noble County
Southeast Ohio Lambing & Kidding Clinic coming up on Tuesday, October 15, 2024 from 6:00-9:00 PM:
Sheep and goat producers with breeding operations are invited to attend our Southeast Ohio Lambing and Kidding Clinic this fall. Come out to the Eastern Agricultural Research Station in Noble County while lambing season is in full swing to learn about how to care for pregnant, birthing, and newborn small ruminants. The clinic will include a barn tour, training on assisting with difficult births, tips for recordkeeping, and information about feeding ewes and does during pregnancy & lactation. A meal will be provided for all registered attendees. Registration for the event is required by October 11th and will be $10 per person, payable by card, check, or cash in advance or at the door. Call 740-305-3173 or email gelley.2@osu.edu to register today! Space is limited to the first 30 registered and paid. The Eastern Agricultural Research Station is located at 16870 Bond Ridge Rd. Caldwell, OH 43724.
year is presenting many challenges when it comes to forage toxicity and ensuring that we have safe feed for our livestock. Drought conditions have led to an active discussion on forage toxicity and the potential for frost in the future presents an additional concern. These environmental conditions increase the risk of prussic acid poisoning, nitrate poisoning, and increased bloat in multiple methods of feeding forages. Recent rainfall has finally allowed for rapid forage growth but unfortunately in some species, this rapid growth poses a risk to your livestock during future frost events.
conditions continued to degrade across Ohio. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor report on September 17, 59.56% of Ohio is experiencing severe or greater drought conditions with 9.5% classified as D4 or exceptional drought conditions (Figure 1). It is important to remember that D4 conditions only occur once every 50 to 100 years. Approximately 98% of the state is experiencing at least abnormally dry conditions. One silver lining is the current seven-day forecast shows the potential for rain in many areas of Ohio next week which should help slow the progress of drought should it occur.
posts for today as our team is in London, OH at the 2024 Farm Science Review! This years event runs from September 17-19. There is plenty to see and do relating to small ruminant production. For example, new this year, live sheep are housed on the site in the small farms area. Each day at 11 AM I will be discussing important bits to consider when setting up your small ruminant operation. Following at noon, I will be providing a hands-on demo highlighting how to properly handle sheep as well as shearing. Last, but not least, at 2:30 on Wednesday (today!), I will be in the Ask the Experts area discussing the use of small ruminants in vegetation management.
Despite much needed rainfall occurring last week from Meigs and Athens Counties to Belmont County, it was not enough to overcome the drought conditions made worse by scorching heat with many days with high temperatures in the mid to upper 90s. Farther north, very little rain fell in August or during the summer. At the Zanesville Municipal Airport for example, only 0.17” of rain fell in August and 4.95” fell in June-August. This marks the driest August on record and second driest summer for this location for the period 1946-2024. Similar conditions are present for many counties across south central and east central Ohio.