Selecting the Optimal Sheep for Solar Grazing

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While this article focuses on solar grazing, the principles discussed are relevant to all low-input, grass-based production systems. This article was originally published in the August 2025 issue of the Sheep Industry News and is reposted with permission. The rise of agrivoltaics—where solar energy production coexists with agricultural practices—has created new opportunities for sheep producers across the United States. As solar developers seek sustainable vegetation management solutions, sheep have emerged as an ideal partner, offering cost-effective and environmentally favorable grazing services. However, success in this dual-purpose system depends on more than just turning sheep loose under panels.A balanced approach to…

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Understanding How the Heat Beats Your Sheep

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Have you felt pretty beat up by the heat when you work outside for long hours in the summertime? Well, let me tell you that the summer heat does not only affect us, but also our flock. Imagine that you are training for a marathon at 100 degrees Fahrenheit with a quilted puffer jacket on. That is exactly how our animals feel when experiencing heat stress conditions. Heat stress is defined as when the ambient temperature and relative humidity increase to a point where it affects the animal’s capacity to dissipate their internal heat to the exterior, causing an increase…

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Sick Sheep? Let Us Inspect Their Earwax.

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Reprinted with permission. Ambrook Research publishes original research and stories on issues facing modern agriculture, to read more:  Ambrook Research A USDA lab devised a way to ID toxins from common poisonous plants using “non-traditional” bodily excretions. Recently, Raye Walck recounted for this inquisitive journalist a grim story from some high-desert grazing lands in Grand Junction, Colorado. “I had a case a couple of years ago where these sheep came off the range and were brought into a dry lot situation, into a bunch of old pens,” the director of the Western Slope Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Colorado State University (CSU)…

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Preparing for the Storm

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As many are aware, and many experienced, extreme weather devastated the southeast region last fall. These storms caused significant loss of life and billions of dollars in damages. As we reflect on these losses and look ahead to future extreme weather events, we need to consider the resiliency of our operations. Some questions that I have pondered over the last few months include; how reliant is a flock on outside resources? How adapted are livestock to their environment? If you were shut off from the world for a week, would you and your flock survive? What about for two weeks?…

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Management Intensive Grazing

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I realized the benefits of grazing early on in my livestock career. Most everybody that I knew had animals on grass; it was the confinement operations that seemed so farfetched to me. It wasn’t until I heard someone talking about a form of rotational grazing called “Management Intensive Grazing” or “MIG” that I started to think about grazing in a whole new way. Instead of just turning animals into a pasture and letting them eat all that was there, even though most of the time that wasn’t much, you would just give the animals a small portion of the pasture…

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Producer Profile: Tom Perkins, Con-O-Creek Farm, PA

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“I do what is best for the grass and that is good for the sheep too.” says Tom Perkins, who grazes his sheep 365 days a year on his farm in Fombell Pa. ‘Big Tom,’ as he is known, runs his 150 registered Katahdin ewes on 70 acres of owned land and eight acres of leased ground. On Big Tom’s Con-O-Creek Farm, he has created a unique system utilizing both fields and barn for optimal production. Big Tom grew up on his family’s farm milking cows until the mid ‘80’s when the farm was transitioned to a beef cattle operation.…

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Producer Profile: Alex Caskey from Barred Owl Brook Farm, NY

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As producers we cannot control the weather, but we can build resilience into our farm systems to mediate its effects. Silvopasture - the intentional integration of trees and grazing livestock - has been a hot topic of agricultural webinars because growing trees can do just that. Alex Caskey combines his education in conservation biology with his love of lamb chops. His Katahdin sheep graze the trees along with the pasture grasses and then chew their cud under the shade of those same trees. "Rotational grazing is foundational to silvopasture since trees cannot thrive under continuous livestock pressure. I approach it…

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Winter Grazing for Livestock: Enhancing Animal Performance, Health, and Farm Profitability

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Winter grazing for livestock offers numerous benefits that extend beyond traditional feeding practices. This article explores the advantages of winter grazing, including improved animal performance, enhanced animal health, reduced labor for farmers, and ultimately, improved profitability. Improved Animal Performance: Winter grazing allows animals to continue their natural behaviors which limits exposure to mud and pathogens that often occur at hay feeding stations. Research by Johnson et al. (2018, "Effects of Winter Grazing System on Cow Performance and Pasture Productivity") demonstrates that properly managed winter grazing can maintain or even enhance body condition in livestock leading to improved reproductive performance and…

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Meningeal Worm

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Meningeal worm (Parelaphostrongylus tenuis), also known as deer worm or brain worm, is a parasite of white tail deer that typically causes disease in sheep in the late summer and fall. In deer, the adult P. tenuis worms live on the membranes covering their brains, the meninges. In most deer there is no adverse effect from the parasites. Female worms lay eggs on the meningeal membranes, they hatch, the larvae migrate into the bloodstream and travel to the lungs. Here larvae are coughed up and swallowed, passing through the intestinal tract and larvae are excreted with the deer manure. These…

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Plant Toxicity in Sheep

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Like many sheep articles, personal experience was the inspiration for this one. And like most sheep problems, the exact cause isn't certain, but the pattern of symptoms - photosensitivity and the sudden death of a few 7-month-old ram lambs - led to a suspected diagnosis of plant toxicity and photosensitivity exacerbated by a brutally hot summer. Photosensitization is an inflammation of the skin and is caused by either primary sources (e.g., direct contact with photosensitizing plants) or secondary causes from liver damage caused by an accumulation of toxins. Primary plant toxicity is the most common cause in sheep and occurs…

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