Released: March 13, 2006

Commercial Meat Goat Production Focus of Four April Tour-Workshops

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Commercial meat goat production will be the focus of a series of four tour-workshop combinations across Kansas April 3-6.

Each event in the series will include tours of local commercial and purebred goat operations and a producer panel. Nationally recognized for his expertise in meat goat production, Preston Faris of Sonora, Tex., will be featured as the keynote speaker at each site. Cliff Spaeth, sheep specialist with Kansas State University Research and Extension, will discuss goat marketing options in Kansas.

All four meetings will begin at 1:30 p.m. and conclude with a dinner program. A $15 registration fee – due March 27 in one of the sponsoring local K-State Research and Extension offices – will cover the cost of the meal and handouts. The host offices also can provide more specific information about their meeting’s tour stops.

The meeting dates, start-out locations and contact phone numbers are:

* April 3 - 4-H Building, Burlington (southeast of Emporia in Coffey County) - 620-364-5313

* April 4 - 4-H Building, Garden City (Finney County) – 620-272-3670

* April 5 - Cargill Ag Horizons (south from exit 249 on I-70 in Saline County) – 785 309-5850

* April 6 - American Legion, Olsburg (north of Manhattan in Pottawatomie Co.) - 785-457-3319

All four programs will address commercial goat facilities, herd health and nutrition, and meat goat management and marketing. Other discussion topics will include using goats to manage brush and weeds, including eastern redcedar and sericea lespedeza.

Those attending will get to tour production facilities and discuss with local producers the herd management practices they use.

Helping support the program is the Kansas Center for Sustainable Agriculture and Alternative Crops, based at K-State in the College of Agriculture.

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K-State Research and Extension is a short name for the Kansas State University Agricultural Experiment Station and Cooperative Extension Service, a program designed to generate and distribute useful knowledge for the well-being of Kansans. Supported by county, state, federal and private funds, the program has county Extension offices, experiment fields, area Extension offices and regional research centers statewide. Its headquarters is on the K-State campus, Manhattan.

Story by:
Kathleen Ward
kward@oznet.ksu.edu
K-State Research& Extension News