By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Managing predators is one of many topics that will be covered at the Ohio Sheep Day July 11, from 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
The field day for sheep producers is sponsored by the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and The Ohio State University extension, said Roger High, executive director of the Ohio Sheep Improvement Assoc. (OSIA).

“Any sheep producers are welcome and invited to come,” High said. “Each year the field day is held on a farm and this year it will be at the Eastern Agricultural Research Station one of OARDC’s research stations which concentrates on sheep and beef cattle. It’s in the Appalachian area; we really feel that this is an area where we should be producing these types of animals.”

Predators continue to be a major problem in the sheep industry, High said.

“We’ve now lost, through the state budget cuts, the indemnity program which paid producers for some of the losses caused by coyotes and black vultures,” High said. “What we’d like to do at Sheep Day is to give our producers a practical approach or an approach that they can manage these predators by themselves.”
A private trapper will discuss some of the ways in which producers can trap coyotes. Other speakers, very knowledgeable in the area of coyote and black vulture management, will also address the topic, High said.

“We have a lot of topic areas but that is one that we feel is of critical importance for the survival of our industry,” High said.
Black vultures are very aggressive birds, High said. They are protected under the migratory bird act. They attack sheep, cattle, goats and other species and do severe damage to the animals.
Other topics include: lamb carcass cutting and cooking demonstrations, comparing annual and perennial forages, ruminant nutritional programs utilizing dried distiller’s grains, marketing to the ethnic population, grazing paddock demonstrations, Eastern Agricultural Research Station (EARS) sheep handling facilities, pasture walks with Bob Hendershot, NRCS, and Rory Lewandowski, OSU Extension, sheep genetics and why they work for EARS, tour of the EARS sheep facilities and farming operation, risky behaviors in your parasite program, pulling it all together: Management decisions for profitability, sheep equipment and supply trade show.
“We hope that a lot of producers attend,” High said. “We are going to be providing a lamb meal for those who register; we also have a ‘special’ for those in attendance who are not members of the OSIA. They can join for part of the year plus get their meal for a reasonable rate.

BIOSECURITY NOTE: Please don’t enter the premises if you’ve been outside the United States in the past 10 days. This is to protect livestock from the threat of hoof-and-mouth and other contagious diseases.

The OARDC’s Eastern Agricultural Research Station is at 16870 Township Road 126, Caldwell, OH, 43724.

For more information contact Roger High at 614-292-0589, by e-mail at high.1@osu.edu or www.ohiosheep.org