Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576, s-byrns@tamu.edu
SAN ANGELO – Three Sheep and Goat Risk Management Workshops for commercial producers have been set for May and June.
The workshops have similar curriculums tailored to their respective locations and will last from 8:30 a.m.- 4 p.m. They are scheduled for May 31 in the Texas AgriLife Extension Service office for Gillespie County, 95 Frederick Road in Fredericksburg; June 5 in the Ed Davenport Civic Center, 100 Brady Country Club Road in Brady; and June 7 at the Iraan Civic Center, 9271 Alley Oop Lane in Iraan.
The workshops are being hosted by a service partnership comprised of AgriLife Extension, the Texas Sheep and Goat Raisers’ Association, the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Risk Management Agency and the American Sheep Industry Association.
The workshops are meant to familiarize sheep and goat producers with the risk management tools now available, said Bill Thompson, AgriLife Extension economist at San Angelo and the workshops’ coordinator.
Topics at each of the workshops will include: Pasture, Rangeland, Forage Rainfall Index as a Risk Management Tool, Price Seasonality and Lamb/Kid Market Outlook, Demographics of Lamb Consumers, Successor Development and Management Transition on Family Ranches, and Livestock Risk Protection and Cost of Production Analysis.
“The workshops target commercial producers, but the information is applicable to producers with operations of any size,” Thompson said.
“Prices paid for sheep and goats continue to be excellent and the future of the industry is bright,” he said. “It is the partnership’s aim to help growers incorporate risk management strategies into their plans as they contemplate either expansion or drought recovery efforts.”
Individual preregistration due one week before each workshop date is $15. Late registration and registration at the door is $40. To preregister and for more information contact Thompson at 325-653-4576, w-thompson@tamu.edu .
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