Extension Briefs

Goat and Hair Sheep Field Day: Knowledge Is Power

Since 1986, the American Institute for Goat Research (AIGR) has held an annual field day to equip small ruminant producers with essential skills, knowledge, and abilities to sustain their operations profitably. One of AIGR’s core cooperative extension events, the field day focused on goats until 2018, when hair sheep programming was added to the event and the name became Goat and Hair Sheep Field Day. Each year is focused on a different theme, the most recent being “Holistic Practices.” Field day proceedings books are handed out to attendees and posted on AIGR’s website. In 2019, for the first time, AIGR livestreamed the morning’s plenary sessions, reaching many who could not attend in person. The Goat and Hair Sheep Field Day is popular with producers. Over the past several years, more than 200 have attended annually. The field day is an important opportunity for the AIGR team to share successful production methods and challenges and to meet face-to-face with producers and other stakeholders from Oklahoma and other states.

A future goat owner holds an Alpine kid at the Goat and Hair Sheep Field Day.

For more information about the annual field day, contact Dr. Terry Gipson, terry.gipson@langston.edu.

Extension Partnership: Farmers Market & Agritourism Conference

Why can using plasticulture help me raise more vegetables to sell? What is the most economical way to control pests in a market garden? How can I take the gardening lessons learned by the diverse cultural groups in Oklahoma and apply them to grow unique, marketable crops? These were a few of the many questions posed to the LU-SAAS horticulture team of Dr. Joshua Ringer, Dr. Tracey Payton, and Micah Anderson at the Oklahoma Farmers Market and Agritourism Conference in February 2020 in Edmond, Oklahoma. Sponsored jointly by LU-SAAS; the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry through a USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant; and the University of Oklahoma Health Science Center’s Oklahoma Nutrition Information Education Project, the Aquaponics is the raising of fish and plants symbiotically in a water-efficient circulating system. Dr. Malcolm McCallum, assistant professor of aquaculture, reports that the Oklahoma aquaponics industry, just a decade old, is conference drew over 500 participants. The three-day event kicked off with a day of workshops, including one that proved why Anderson is the “extension educator of choice” on all things plasticulture. Day two gave all three SAAS extension team members time on the stage. Ringer gave lessons on cultural gardening, Payton discussed integrated pest management, and Anderson preached the do’s and don’ts of plasticulture. The third day wrapped up the conference with farm tours. Listening to producers, learning their production constraints, and providing useful information are key components of the SAAS extension strategy.

For more information on market gardens and agritourism,

Aquaponics: A Growing Industry in Oklahoma

contact Dr. Joshua Ringer, joshua.ringer@langston.edu. growing rapidly. To provide much-needed education and information to new producers, SAAS researcher Dr. Yonathon Tilahun led a team that proposed and was awarded an 1890 Institution Capacity Building Program Grant entitled

“Aquaponics Education: The Solution for Food Deserts in America’s Heartland.” With the grant funding, the SAAS team is providing aquaponics training and management information to help small-scale producers sustain and enhance their systems and to high schools to prepare an educated workforce. Tilahun and his team see aquaponics as a long-term means to produce food in rural and urban areas of Oklahoma that are classified as “food deserts.”

For more information on aquaponics, contact Dr. Malcolm McCallum, malcolm.mccallum@langston.edu, or Dr. Yonathan Tilahun, yonathan. tilahun@langston.edu. Vegetables growing in the SAAS aquaponics facility

Cheesemaking in Jamaica: A Caribbean Extension Experience

In 2019, Dr. Steve Zeng traveled to the Kingston region of Jamaica to teach cheesemaking to goat producers, extension agents, college students, and teachers. The trip was funded through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Farmer-to-Farmer Program implemented by Partners of the Americas. Conducted in conjunction with the Jamaican Rural Agricultural Development Authority, Zeng’s training program was designed to help Jamaican dairy goat producers generate income and enhance farm sustainability. Zeng developed teaching materials and provided training on goat milk quality, testing, and standards as well as cheesemaking basics, principles, processes, quality control, and marketing. Zeng left Jamaican farmers better prepared to add value to their goat milk operations and enhance their livelihood.

For more information on cheesemaking, contact Dr. Steve Zeng, steve.zeng@langston.edu.

Dr. Steve Zeng teaches cheesemaking to a Jamaican farmers group.

Goat Birthing Centers: Sharing the Miracle of Birth

Many urban children have never witnessed the miracle of birth. The American Institute for Goat Research (AIGR) has been teaching children where baby animals come for more than 20 years, providing goats to birthing centers each fall at the Oklahoma City and Tulsa State Fairs. Preparations begin in spring, starting with the AIGR staff counting back 150 days from the fairs’ opening days to pinpoint breeding dates, caring for the mother goats during their five-month gestation, and, as the big day nears, preparing pens at the fairs. The birthing centers are popular exhibits, attracting tens of thousands of children “Where can I raise my own goat?” This was the question asked by several eager Oklahoma City teenagers after touring the Oklahoma County Junior Livestock Show in February. SAAS extension staff Keisha Scott and Iliana Rodriguez planned the outing as part of their strategy to get more urban middle and high school students involved in agriculture and 4-H. Their effort paid off. Ten young people participated in the tour, and, after 4-H members explained the basics of raising and showing livestock, many of them expressed interest in beginning their own 4-H livestock projects. The budding urban livestock owners haled from Dove Science Academy, Epic Charter Schools, Classen School of and adults hoping to see a live birth. While few have the good luck to be in the right place at the happy moment, everyone enjoys seeing the goats — and especially the newborn kids. Once they arrive, the kids become the stars of the show as they prance, play, and climb on each other and on their mothers. The centers are prime opportunities for cooperative extension personnel to answer questions, provide information, and tell visitors about all that Langston University has to offer.

For more information about the birthing centers, contact Dr. Terry Gipson, terry.gipson@langston.

City Agriculture: SAAS Brings the 4-H Experience to Oklahoma City Youth

edu. Advanced Studies High School, Santa Fe South Pathways Middle College, and Douglass High School in Oklahoma City. All are youth interns at RestoreOKC, a non-profit whose aim is to improve the lives of area families. SAAS’s partnership with RestoreOKC began in 2018, when SAAS extension horticulture educator Micah Anderson taught vegetable gardening, plasticulture, and container gardening techniques to local families. In 2019, Scott started working with RestoreOKC’s interns and was soon planning a SAAS-sponsored 4-H club.

For more information on the Langston University 4-H Program, contact Dorothy Wilson, dorothy.wilson@langston.edu.

SAAS Extension personnel Keisha Scott (left) and Joshua Davis (driver) take a group of youth to the Oklahoma County Junior Livestock Show.