PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas — Artificial insemination (AI) increases efficiency, provides better genetics, and increases the quality of livestock across the country. On the campus of Prairie View A&M University, the Artificial Insemination (AI) Workshop, is the first of the 2018 Small Ruminant Workshop Series.
The Program is a collaboration with the Agriculture and Natural Resources unit of the Cooperative Extension Program and the Cooperative Agricultural Research Center at PVAMU. The program started September 13, 2018 at the International Goat Research Center, located on the Bill and Vera Daniel Agriculture Research and Educational Complex (AREC) on campus. Dean, Dr. Gerard D’Souza and Dr. Gary Newton opened the program with greetings to a small group of farmers, ranchers, faculty, staff, and students. The program continued with an introduction and history of AI by Dr. Bill Foxworth, followed by an overview of goat nutrition and body condition by Mr. Scott Horner. Dr. Alphina Ho-Watson presented next, where she discussed the importance of goat health and artificial insemination. Dr. Bill Foxworth concluded the morning session with a detailed presentation on Artificial insemination and provided hands-on reproductive tract practice with the participants.
The afternoon session of the program provided the farmers and ranchers with individual hands-on practice of the various steps and procedures that should be followed in successful artificial insemination. This session was led by Dr. Bill Foxworth with assistance from the International Goat Research Center staff. In addition to the farmers and ranchers who were trained in AI, three county agents: Derrick Banks, Stedman Douglas, and Corey Hicks from the Prairie View A&M University Cooperative Extension Program, Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR) Unit was trained and received certificates of participation. Thirty-one participants attended and the purpose of the workshop was to educate and train small-scale farmers and ranchers how to do AI. That goal was met as indicated by a survey completed by the participants which show that 100% of the participants increased their knowledge of AI procedures, and 89% plan to adopt AI on their farms. One hundred percent of the participants who completed the survey also indicated that they expect to benefit economically as a result of participating in the workshop. The Small ruminant Workshop Series is in its second year since launched in 2017 and was organized by AGNR Extension Program Specialist, Dr. Kesha Henry. The second workshop in the 2018 series titled Goat Production and Marketing: Value-Added Products Workshop II began October 4, 2018, in Kendleton, Texas.
–Prairie View A&M University
