The annual Buckeye Shepherd’s Symposium, organized by the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association (OSIA), is fast approaching as it will be held on November 30 and December 1 at the OARDC Shisler Conference Center in Wooster, Ohio. This event not only serves as the OSIA annual meeting, but also gives producers an opportunity to interact with one another and participate in educational programming that is designed to assist producers by increasing production efficiencies. 

As always, the weekend event will start with the Shepherd’s College held on Friday, November 30 from 2:00 – 5:00pm. The primary theme for this event will be improving profitability of the sheep operation through grazing and forage production principles. The speaker for this years Shepherd’s College is Dr. Woody Lane of Lane Pasture Services from Roseburg, Oregon. Dr. Woody Lane is a nationally-known livestock nutritionist and forage specialist who is commonly featured in each issue of The Shepherd magazine. Dr. Woody Lane will be sure to teach each of us a thing or two when it comes to sustainable livestock production. Some topics that Dr. Woody Lane will cover on Friday includes Management Intensive Grazing, Using graziers tools, and investigating ways to increase productivity and profits on your operation.

In addition to the Shepherd’s College, programming will continue into the evening as the second annual Young Shepherd’s Assembly Program will be held from 6:00 – 8:30pm at Jakes Stakehouse in Wooster. This event is open to shepherds that are ages 18-40. The purpose of this program is to allow young shepherds the opportunity to interact with one another as a means to learn from each others experiences. As requested by last years participants, this years program will feature topics focusing on how to attain funding for beginning farmers and how to achieve the foal of owning and operating a farming business that is profitable. For more information on how to register and participate, please do so by following the link. And did I mention that registration is free if you sign up by November 16th?

Per usual, the symposium will continue on Saturday, December 1 from 8:00am – 4:00pm at the the Shisler Conference Center. Again, Dr. Woody Lane will be joining our shepherds as he will be speaking on several topics throughout the day including basic nutrition, dealing with orphan, new industry technology, and much more. In addition to Dr. Woody Lane, the symposium will be also offering sessions on OSU sheep research, nutrient and manure management, and well as wool marketing. As always, a delicious lamb lunch will be provided during Saturday’s festivities.

For a full schedule of events, please be on the look out on our events tab. For those interested in viewing the event flyer, please follow this link. For those not eligible for the Young Shepherds Program or are interested in only attending the Symposium events, please fill out and submit the Adult Registration form. On behalf of the Buckeye Shepherd’s Symposium planning committee and the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association, we are excited for the sessions we have prepared this year and we look forward to seeing you at this years events! As always, happy shepherding and Go Bucks!