Each year the Cornell Dept. of Animal Science puts on the Cornell Sheep & Goat Symposium. Co-sponsors for 2023 include the Cashmere Goat Association, Empire Sheep Producers Assoc. and the NYS Dairy Goat Breeders Assoc. The primary day will be Saturday Oct 28th when several tracks will be conducted simultaneously focusing on the concerns of beginner versus experienced farmers or on meat vs. fiber vs. dairy enterprises. The afternoon and evening of Friday Oct 27th consist of specific interactive workshops requiring advanced sign up while Sunday morning will feature a sheep and goat parasite workshop with FAMACHA certification.

The 2023 Cornell Sheep & Goat Symposium is scheduled for Oct 27th through 29th on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, NY. Goat and sheep raisers and industry stakeholders are welcome to register for the whole event or individual days. Friday Oct 27th is devoted to advance sign-up workshops on: 1) learning to process sheep and goat for meat - Jess Waltemyer, 2) Learning to do a field necropsy - Dr. Mary Smith DVM, 3) Demos and hands-on practicals for new goat and sheep raisers - Betsy Hodge and Dr. tatiana Stanton, and later in the afternoon or evening, 4) Intro to artificial insemination - Dr. Megan Bernard, DVM.

Saturday will be our main event with multiple tracks available. The morning begins with Dr. Mary Smith discussing emerging health issues such as deer worm infection and Cache Valley Fever. We'll have presentations by state and Cornell veterinarians on laparoscopic AI and embryo transfer, mastitis, Johnes and other high impact diseases as well as a farmer panel on diversifying your on-farm enterprises (on-farm stores, goat yoga, farm public events, etc.), a workshop on "Farm taxes 101", and updates from NYS Ag & Markets on new federal regulations affecting small ruminant farmers and federal and state programs that may benefit the small ruminant industry. The afternoon includes a track focusing on dairy goats ("Using ADGA Production, Linear Score, and Genetic Evaluation Records to Help Make Breeding Decisions", and "Raising Dairy Kids to their Full Potential") as well as tracks focusing on fiber and meat sheep/goats. Dr. Richard Ehrhardt, renown small ruminant specialist for Michigan State, will do presentations on "Impact of nutrition, genetics and season on litter size and other reproductive outcomes" and "Forage & grain finishing systems for lambs and meat kids". We'll have a session on small ruminant handling systems and hands-on sessions on fiber fun and beginning cheese making (Nellie's Knoll Creamery) as well as a demonstration workshop on making goat milk lotions. Additionally, our Intro to Fiber Evaluation workshop will cover evaluation of various goat and sheep fleeces and discuss products suited to different fiber types and the supply chains you need to access to target their respective markets. The program schedule, registration and additional information on parking etc. are available at both the Cornell Goat Program Website and the Cornell Sheep Program Website Registration deadline is Friday, Oct 20th. Please contact Barbara Jones at 607-255-7712 or bjj6@cornell.edu with further registration questions.