FARGO, N.D. — Nutritional impacts on ram fertility, predator management and ewe reproduction strategies are among the topics that will be covered during the joint conference of the North Dakota and Minnesota Lamb and Wool Producers associations Dec. 1-2.
“This is only the second North Dakota/Minnesota joint conference, with the first in 1992,” says Travis Hoffman, sheep specialist for the North Dakota State University Extension Service and University of Minnesota Extension. “We look forward to a dynamic lineup of speakers and interactive discussion that will lead to a growing North Dakota and Minnesota sheep industry.”
Friday, Dec. 1, will be devoted to a North Dakota sheep industry tour. Stops on the tour are the Buskohl Lamb Feedlot of Wyndmere, Dakota Fiber Mill of Kindred, Ewetopian Farms of Horace, and the NDSU Meat Laboratory and Sheep Unit. The tour will start from the Sheep Unit, 3400 19th Ave. N., Fargo, at 10 a.m. and run until 4:30 p.m.
The cost for the bus tour is $20, which includes lunch. Registration is limited to 55 attendees.
Friday evening events will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in West Fargo. Registration and a social will start at 5 p.m., followed by dinner featuring lamb at 6 and a fundraiser auction at 7. NDSU’s Carnivore Catering will prepare a variety of lamb items for the dinner.
Events on Saturday, Dec. 2, also will be held at the DoubleTree Hotel in West Fargo. The program starts with registration and breakfast at 7 a.m., and workshops will start at 8.
Other topics that will be covered include ovine progressive pneumonia, ewe feeding options, connecting farmers and the public through fiber farm tours, opportunities to improve lamb as a menu item, and sheep health. Attendees also will be able to participate in a sheep skill-a-thon and producer association meetings, and attend a trade show.
Presenters include Hoffman; Christopher Schauer, director of NDSU’s Hettinger Research Extension Center; sheep producers; and veterinarians.
During lunch, North Dakota youth selected to receive a starter flock will be announced. Make it With Wool winners and distinguished award recipients also will be announced. In the afternoon, representatives from the American Sheep Industry Association, American Lamb Board and North Dakota Livestock Alliance will provide updates.
Uptown Girl blogger Kate Lambert, whose family owns Uptown Farms, a Brookfield, Mo., sheep operation, will give the keynote address at 3 p.m. Lambert received the 2015 Missouri Corn Advocate of the Year Award for her work in sharing the story of modern American agriculture with consumers, producers and legislatures.
Registration for Friday night and Saturday is $75 per person, and $25 for each additional person from the same family. The preregistration deadline is Nov. 24.
For more information, contact Hoffman at 701-231-2222 or travis.w.hoffman@ndsu.edu. Visit www.ndsheep.org or www.mlwp.org for registration forms and hotel information.
— NDSU Agriculture Communication
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