This year’s party (the Guild’s December meeting) will be at Imagine Dairy in Warren Maine. The party offers an opportunity for members to gather in a festive, relaxed format that is heavy on socializing, sharing cheese and other goodies and conversation, along with a brief business meeting. You can find a map to Imagine Dairy here.
**Saturday, October 22, 2016: Save the Date**
Free: Sheep and Goat Parasitology Seminar
Kennebec Valley Community College:
Carter Hall
Fairfield, ME
9 am to 3 pm
Please join us for an informative workshop about internal parasites of sheep and goats, especially our worst enemy, the “barberpole worm” (Haemonchus contortus). Since 2015, University of Maine has conducted studies on controlling this parasite by optimizing pasture management to reap the effects of natural “winter kill” of this parasite, along with strategic deworming. Many producers have benefited by learning whether this parasite is in their flock, and new results will help producers change their pasture strategies to reduce losses due to parasitism in their sheep and goats. We will also give a “live” parasite egg count demonstration. We’ll present guidance about the current scrapie program, and the difference between ID tags and scrapie tags. This seminar will include the “how-to” aspects of parasite management and disease prevention: please bring your questions!
Speakers:
Jim Weber PhD DVM: SARE sheep and goat parasite project
Anne Lichtenwalner DVM PhD: Sheep and goat CL project;
Wildlife/Livestock “crossover” diseases
Gary Anderson PhD, Jim Weber PhD DVM:
Sheep ID and scrapie issues with information provided by Justin Bergeron BVMS, Assistant State Veterinarian
Small ruminant vet panel: (to be announced)
Schedule:
Opening remarks at 8:30 am
9 to noon: Sheep and goat parasite control methods for Maine, pasture management suggestions, and your questions about worming answered.
Noon-1: lunch (on your own)
1-3: Sheep and goat infectious diseases update: what’s in our area? Scrapie from several perspectives (producer, regulatory vet), the use of genetic screening for prevention, and a discussion about demystifying sheep ID: eartags and scrapie tags.
No charge; please RSVP to Melissa Libby (Melissa.libby1@maine.edu) or (207) 581-2788
Cornell University, Dairy Foods Extension, Ithaca NY
October 19 – 20, 2016 Short Course
“This course is an advanced level course and will discuss the complex chemistry of cheese making, advanced culture microbiology, affinage, common cheese composition and typical and atypical defects, critical issues in processing, and advanced techniques. Participants should ideally have previous cheese-making experience.”