Throughout 2022, sheep and goat producers from 37 farms across 13 counties gathered monthly to participate in the Small Ruminant Profit School hosted by the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Office in Bullitt County. The classes utilized a Kentucky Sheep and Goat Development Office curriculum to teach local producers about all aspects of small ruminant husbandry. After the course came to a close, producers were eager to continue meeting for more opportunities to learn from each other. 

Several producers expressed an interest in gaining experience trimming hooves, checking parasite levels using the FAMACHA technique, and determining body condition scores for maintaining a healthy herd or flock. Two classmates and farmers from Honey Lane Farms were excited by the opportunity to share their successes and challenges with their herd of registered Kiko goats. Field Day participants practiced trimming hooves, inserting CIDR progesterone implants, and estimating body condition scores.

In September 2022, 19 producers from 7 Kentucky counties and 2 Indiana counties attended a field day co-hosted by the Bullitt County Cooperative Extension Service and Honey Lane Farms. With a walking tour of the farm, producers learned about pasture rotation to improve soil health and manage parasite pressure. Then, the host farmers shared their experiences with forage sampling to make more informed nutrition decisions. Then each attendee selected a goat and got to work checking eyelids for color, matching them to the FAMACHA scale to determine parasite load, trimming hooves, and body condition scoring . Finally, the farmers gathered some fecal samples to demonstrate how to do a fecal egg count to identify parasitic pressure in the herd. Most participants had never attempted a fecal egg count before.

Youth participant exposes the goat's lower eyelid to quantify parasite load.Farmer collects fecal sample for fecal egg count demonstration.

Participants went home with laminated body condition score reference sheets to keep in the barn, as well as University of Kentucky and Kentucky State University publications on these topics to learn more.