Yes, it’s the fourth Thursday of the month again.  SVMGA calling all Southern VA small ruminant producers to come out and play with Roberts Rules of Order during our monthly business meeting. Unmatched entertainment on a Thursday night at 7.

Seriously, each time you attend, your name is entered into the raffle bucket to win either the Kiko buck or $300 in October. The handsome devil is pictured on our Facebook page.  His parents are Eunice and Zeus. (I put the wrong name of the buck on our first posting.) Both parents registered with the National Kiko Registry.

On the agenda this evening: the date of our next consignment sale. We have traditionally held one in August (last year we deviated from the pattern a little in the Fall). Would like to hear from membership if they have any animals they would like to sell in August, or whether members prefer September. Please drop me a note this week.

Upcoming:  Greg Wade will speak on Forages for Small Ruminants and Cattle as part of the August meeting. (August 23, 2018)  Dr. Dahlia O’Brien, Small Ruminant Specialist at VSU, will be our featured speaker in September, date TBD.

Hope all are well and your goats and sheep are thriving.  Let me hear from you about a preferred sale date, and please forward any suggestions for next year’s programs.

Best regards,
Pam Alderson

Katahdin Rams for sale from Poplar View Farm, LLC in Dillwyn, VA. Asking $500.00 each for them. All of these rams were sired by “Red TLF 1420” that was purchased in September of 2014 at the Virginia Tech Southwest AREC Performance Ram Test Sale in Glade Spring, VA. He did extremely well in that test for both growth and resistance to internal parasites (the Barber Pole Worm.)
Please contact David Wise at [email protected] or 434-983-8780 if you have questions or if you’re interested in purchasing one of these rams.Rams available for sale as of 6-08-2018 Click the blue link for pictures and information. Rams available for sale from Poplar View Farm LLC as of 6-08-2018

On June 16, 2018 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.,Dr. Anne Zajac, Professor at the Virginia Tech College of Veterinary Medicine, will present a program on Intestinal Parasites in small ruminants (this event is for both Sheep and Goat producers) that will include a “hands-on” session with microscopes to determine fecal egg counts. This event is open to the public and is being presented by the Southern Virginia Meat Goat Association.

This program will start at 10 a.m. at the Halifax County Agricultural Center, 1001 Farmway Lane, Scottsburg, Virginia.  Lunch will be served. The program registration is $5.00, payable the day of the program. The deadline to register is June 11, 2018.

Registration is required, so to register for this event, please contact Rebekah Slabach, Agriculture Extension Agent, (434) 476-2147 or [email protected].

There were 80 animals sold by 12 consignors for a gross amount of $8,886.00.

The prices per pound were:

kids $2.20

cull goats 1.10

lambs 2.00

cull sheep 1.00

The SVMGA will have a consignment sale Friday evening June 8th at 6:00PM. If you have already notified me that you will have animals to sell, I will consider them as consigned for the sale. If there is any change, please let me know.If you have not previously notified me and want to sell on June 8th, please contact me at 434-470-0550 to avoid the $10.00 late fee. Note: I do not answer calls at work but will get back with you ASAP. If you do not hear back from me within 24hrs, try again. My cell phone does not always have great coverage

Goat/Lamb Sale – The SVMGA Consignment sale for good quality kids and lambs will be held 8:00AM Saturday April 28th at the Halifax Co. Ag Center. Call Debbie, 434-470-0550, by April 18th to consign.

I do not answer calls at work. Leave a message, I will call you back. If you don’t hear from me, I didn’t get the message, call again

The next SVMGA meeting will be held 3/22/18.

A motion passed at the January meeting to raffle off a Kiko Buck from the Grossmans (or $300—winner’s choice) at the end of the SVMGA year. Each time you attend a meeting, your name will be added as an entry into the “basket.” Someone will be quite lucky in October.

The Association will again support the Pittsylvania/Caswell County Junior Livestock show (April 27 at the Old Dominion Ag Complex, Chatham) and the Halifax County Junior Livestock show (May 4 at the Halifax County Fairgrounds).