Small Ruminants

The Small Ruminant Program was initiated in 1992 as a meat goat research program in response to producer needs for information on goat breeds and management practices to successfully access the expanding ethnic goat market. The overall objective of the program is to develop sustainable, forage-based small ruminant production systems (nutrition, breeding and health) for alternative and niche markets. The program currently maintains a herd of several meat goat (Boer, Spanish and Myotonic) and hair sheep breeds (St. Croix and Barbados Blackbelly) and a small herd of alpacas. Current research evaluates small ruminant energetics, non-conventional feeds, and strategic supplementation, gastrointestinal parasite control, assisted reproductive technologies and molecular genetic disease resistance.

The Small Ruminant Germplasm Laboratory is located at Randolph Farm and currently maintains a flock of two purebred Caribbean hair sheep breeds (St. Croix and Barbados Blackbelly) used in refining year-round mating systems, and for in situ preservation of the breeds. It also uses a male alpaca herd to study management practices for fiber production. Other research in the Germplasm Laboratory involves different aspects of forage-based, low-input production for hair sheep, and the development of liquid semen storage and an artificial insemination system for small ruminants. The Germplasm Laboratory has extensive animal handling and housing facilities, and an on-farm animal reproduction and semen collection/processing laboratory. Past research evaluated the performance of various hair sheep breeds, including Katahdin, and several landrace breeds of goats. This research determined how breed type and management, and their interaction, affect growth and carcass composition, established strategies for accelerated mating, and identified species and breed differences in parasite resistance/resilience. Research is conducted in cooperation with a number of land-grant universities and USDA partners, and as part of two multi-institutional regional research projects.

The Small Ruminant Animal Nutrition (AN) Laboratory is located in a structure at VSU Randolph Farm in the west unit of the facility. The AN section maintains several breeds of meat goats and is equipped with an indoor feeding facility, and rumen fistulated goats for in vitro digestibility studies. Complex feed analysis is performed in the common laboratory, located in the M.T. Carter Research building that is equipped for protein, fiber and fat analyses. The facility has also a capacity for blood analysis (PCV), gastrointestinal nem

atode Haemonchus contortus egg count, and collection and larvae harvest. The laboratory currently conducts research to determine the metabolizable energy cost of gastrointestinal nematode parasite infection, to evaluate the potential of use of stinging nettle as forage and, alkali treatment of crop residues to improve nutritive value as feed for small ruminants. Future research will focus on performance evaluation of various goat breeds under different environmental and management conditions and the use of plant based compounds to control parasite infection. Research is conducted in collaboration with ARS scientists and other land-grant universities.

The Animal Molecular Immunogenetics lab (AMI) is Located in M.T. Carter Research Building at Virginia State University. Research on animal genetic disease resistance and the use of animals to model human genetic disease are current foci of the lab. It is equipped with an MJ Mini-Opticon Real Time PCR thermocycler for gene expression and genotyping studies, a bench darkroom and Gel documentation system for DNA image analysis, a microplate reader for protein studies, and other sample preparation equipment.