The Dutchess County Sheep and Wool Growers Association invites DCSWGA Members
and the public to join our FREE on-line ZOOM based seminar. Register here and we will email you the Zoom Link for
Sat. Feb. 25th - 6pm. FREE TO THE PUBLIC. - Registration Deadline Feb. 24th, 6pm.
SEMINAR SUMMARY:
Jennifer Phillips will be sharing her experiences from years of raising Icelandic cross sheep utilizing spring pasture-based lambing. From ensuring ewe-lamb bonding to observation of health and illness in large extensive grazing fields, Jennifer offers insights to what outdoor spring lambing is all about.
Graeme Stewart will then offer a contrasting dialogue from his own experiences with winter lambing of Romney sheep at Anchorage Farm in Saugerties, NY. Close-up ewe observation, helping with survival of newborn lambs in frigid conditions, and the various pros and cons of lambing in January and February will be part of his discussion.
Dr. Gillian Ferguson will then wrap up the seminar with insights into pregnant ewe care, lambing issues, and newborn lamb health concerns.
SPEAKER INFO:
Jennifer Phillips is on the faculty at the Bard Center for Environmental Policy at Bard College where she teaches graduate courses on environmental science, agroecology and climate change. Jennifer has lived in Columbia County since 2001 and has been raising grassfed livestock since 2002. Her farm has produced 100% grassfed lamb sold directly to customers plus wool comforters and pelts from her mainly Finn-Dorset-Icelandic- cross flock. She is also working on increasing trees on her farm with silvopasture, shade trees, and native woody hedgerows plus a new planting this year of a hardy walnut orchard and a forage tree planting, all aimed at complementing a grazing system.
Graeme Stewart grew up on a dairy and sheep farm in St. Lawrence County New York and started his sheep career at the age of four when he showed his first sheep. Over the years Graeme has taught showing and fitting techniques for 4-H clubs around the state and has shown and judged at some of the top sheep shows in the country. He has been the manager of Anchorage Farm Romneys for 19 years. Lambing is Graeme’s favorite time of year- it is a time of great joy to see new lambs running around the pens, but also heart break when a lamb is lost.
Dr. Gillian Ferguson has been providing ambulatory veterinary services for sheep and other small ruminants in the Hudson Valley for over ten years. She takes care of the various medical and surgical needs of her patients and is always excited to be involved in pre-purchase consultations for those people interested in livestock ownership but don’t know where to start.
In addition to her duties as a veterinarian she also has a flock of commercial crossbred sheep to keep herself busy as well as a small herd of Labrador Retrievers.
-----------------------------------------------
DAY TWO: In-person Workshop: Solutions for
common lambing presentation issues & necropsy wet-lab
DATE: Sunday February 26th
TIME: 10 AM
LOCATION: TBA (Red Hook, NY)
Open to DCSWGA Members ONLY
Limit: 8 people (email or call Mary Drumm to register for this)
Instructor: Gillian Ferguson, DVM
WORKSHOP INFO:
Dr. Ferguson will provide discussion on difficult lamb birthing presentations (“dystocias”) with hands-on demonstrations on how to correct them. Whether it is manual manipulation, using lambing assisting devices, or medications that may be helpful to deliver stuck lambs, insight on what a producer can do on-farm will be provided. Following the dystocia section, the discussion will then turn to post-mortem examinations of animals that have died from a variety of causes.
Understanding why an animal died is vital to prevent further livestock losses and there is much a producer can learn from performing a necropsy. Basics of required tools, proper personal protective equipment, and normal vs abnormal findings will be demonstrated.
