Russell County has always been a county of great agricultural diversity.  In the past 10 years sheep and goat production has become a major part of that diversity.  With an increase in the number of sheep and goats in the county, I felt that there is a need for more education on sheep and goat production.  Small ruminants have always been part of the ag community, but with more people working away from the farm and having smaller acreage, sheep and goat production tends to be a more viable option for producers, but the main component of this type of production seemed to be missing.  That burning question was, and still is for some, " what do I need to do, to start raising sheep or goats"?  This question was the basis of the Sheep and Goat short course.

After meeting with my Ag Advisory Council, they felt that small ruminant production was an important part of the community, and continuing to get questions on sheep and goat production, I contacted specialist and began to design the series of introduction courses.  The three meetings covered topics related to starting production, herd management, forages and birth management.  The average attendance was 13 producers.  We also visited a local sheep producers farm and the class was able to get first hand knowledge from a production based farm.