Sheep Production – Online Course

Managing Your Flock for Success

Have sheep or thinking about getting a flock? Producers of all experience levels will find something for them in this lively, wide-ranging course. There is no one right way to raise sheep – just a palette of options for you to choose from, to suit your farming objectives and lifestyle. Taught by experienced sheep producers and Cornell Cooperative Extension educators, this course covers many of these different options, and strongly encourages active student participation.

Target Audience

All levels – This course is designed for commercial producers seeking to build their knowledge in production, marketing, processing, and sales of lamb and sheep products, to have a more profitable enterprise. We will cover management styles and marketing, focusing on meat production. While NOT focused specifically on meat goat production, much of the course content will be applicable to goat producers. While producers from any location are welcome to take the course, those in temperate Northern climates will get more out of the course weeks that focus on forages and nutrition, housing, and grazing.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course you will have:

• Enhanced knowledge of nutrition, health management, housing and fencing, handling, record keeping, and selection of animals.
• Identified opportunities for improving profitability through improved pasture productivity, controlling parasite issues, and reducing predator losses.

Webinars

The bulk of the course happens on your own time, with discussions, readings, and assignments in Teachable, our virtual classroom. To add to the experience, webinars will be woven into the online interface of the course to allow you to meet on a weekly basis to learn from presenters and ask questions in real time. If you miss one, they are always recorded and posted for later viewing.

Webinars Schedule

Live instruction for the 2021-2022 season will begin on Thurs Jan 13, 2022 from 7-8:30pm Eastern time, and continue for 6 weeks, with the final webinar on Thurs Feb 17. While we encourage live attendance so you have the opportunity to engage with the presenters and ask questions, all webinars we will be posted in our online classroom for students to watch anytime.