Sept. 17, 2007
TDA Gives Texas Agricultural Experiment Station Sheep and Goat Research a $300,000 Boost
Writer: Steve Byrns, 325-653-4576,s-byrns@tamu.edu
Contact: Dr. John Walker, 325-653-4576,j-walker@tamu.edu
LUBBOCK – Sheep and goat research in West Texas got a strong financial
boost thanks to more than $300,000 in Texas Department of Agriculture
funding that was awarded earlier this week.
"This particular funding source is very important to our area," said
Dr. Dan Waldron, a funding recipient and Texas Agricultural Experiment
Station geneticist at San Angelo. "The Texas Department of Agriculture
monies allow our scientists to target specific research efforts aimed at
helping the producer in the short term.
"These projects are generally production oriented and are tailored to
the needs of West Texas producers or those who raise sheep or goats in
similar climatic conditions."
Todd Staples, Texas Department of Agriculture commissioner, announced
the funding Sept. 10 at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. The agency
awarded $1.2 million in grants to five Texas universities to fund 39
research projects designed to "bolster and enhance the state's food and
fiber industry."
Recipients of the sheep and goat research funds to be awarded over the
next two years, were researchers at the Texas A&M University System
Research and Extension Center at San Angelo and the Sonora Research
Station, one of the center's satellite stations.
One of the projects is a comparison of Texas Rambouillet sheep with
Australian F1 crosses. Dr. Chris Lupton, head of the center's wool and
mohair laboratory, heads that project.
"The crossbred, fine-wool sheep we are attempting to produce should
grow more wool and finer wool, which is more valuable, than our current
flocks without any reduction in lamb production," Lupton said.
"Thus, net income per sheep will be increased without increased
management or increased use of resources. Any time value can be added to a
product with no further inputs involved, it's a plus to the producer's
bottom line. Eventually, that savings could be passed on to the consumer."
Other projects include:
Breeding strains of meat and Angora goats to better manage cedar;
testing the effectiveness of redberry cedar as a possible goat de-wormer;
determining the digestibility of certain Edwards Plateau plant species;
evaluating the economics of Spanish and Boer goat crosses, Dorper and
Barbado sheep crosses, Angora goats in low input West Texas grazing
systems, and evaluating early season breeding goats.
For more information contact Dr. John Walker, the center's director of
research at 325-653-4576,j-walker@tamu.edu.
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