The NDSU Extension Service is organizing a webinar series in May and June about the National Sheep Improvement Program. The program is a quantitative genetic selection tool designed to help sheep and goat producers make good breeding decisions, according to NDSU Extension sheep specialist Reid Redden, who is organizing the webinars.
All of the webinars will start at 8 p.m. EDT.
The webinars are:
• May 1 - Robert Banks, director of the Animal Genetics and Breeding Unit at the University of New England, Australia, will discuss how the sheep industry can benefit.
• May 8 - Ken Andries, animal scientist at Kentucky State University will talk about the benefits for the goat industry.
• May 15 - Cody Hiemke, program vice chair will present “How, when and what data to collect.”
• May 22 - Bill Shultz, owner and operator of Bunker Hill Farm, DeGraff, Ohio, will discuss “Challenges of moving to a performance-tested flock.”
• May 29 - Christopher Schauer, director of NDSU's Hettinger Research Extension Center will talk about how to enter and submit data.
• June 5 – A producer panel will discuss how to use the data.
Susan Schoenian of the University of Maryland will host the webinars.
To preregister for one or more of the seminars, send an email to pthomas@umd.edu. Persons who register will receive login information via email.
Contact Redden at 701-231-5597 or reid.redden@ndsu.edu for more information.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.