OSU Sheep Team

Rory Lewandowski, Extension Educator Athens County

Ohio Sheep Day is scheduled for Saturday, July 12. It will be held on the Cline family farm, located just outside of Albany Ohio in Athens County. Curt Cline was the 2007 Ohio Sheep Improvement Association Environmental Stewardship Award winner and at the recent American Sheep Industry meeting was named the national Environmental Stewardship Award winner. Curt is currently serving as a director on the board of the Ohio Sheep Improvement Association.

Curt and Wendy Cline run a forage based sheep operation and are currently undergoing an expansion of their sheep flock that will take them from 120 ewes to 300 plus ewes by the time Sheep Day arrives. The expansion is the result of some significant management changes that revolve around internal parasite control, more intensive use of traditional and alternative forages and the economic potential of the Ohio sheep industry. Visitors to the Cline farm during Sheep Day can expect to hear about the importance of economic analysis as a base to decision making.

The 2008 Sheep Day at the Cline farm will focus on forage demonstrations, grazing management and stored forage use. A partial list of what visitors will see includes:

• Fall (2007) seeded grass plots
• Fall (2007) seed grass plots frost seeded in late winter 2008 with red and white clover
• A Tekapo orchardgrass field established in 2004, interseeded/frost seeded in late winter of 2008 with red and white clover, using grazing sheep to insure good seed/soil contact
• Forage chicory field
• Several fields of Brown Mid-Rib (BMR) sudangrass and sorghum x sudangrass hybrids being strip grazed by sheep
• Surplus BMR sudangrass and sorghum x sudangrass forage harvested/chopped and stored in silage bags
• Paddock and water system for cool season grass pastures

In addition to talking about the agronomic characteristics of forages used on the farm, other topics that will be addressed include:

• Soil fertility management using grid sampling and GIS fertilizer application on pasture paddocks
• Internal parasite management within a rotational grazing system
• Handling and caring for foot rot
• Economic issues and considerations in a forage based sheep operation
• Utilizing cost-share assistance programs like EQIP to protect the environment and improve grazing management

There will also be vendors/exhibitors dealing with all aspects of sheep production.

Ohio Sheep Day will offer visitors the opportunity to visit a farm that has been in the Cline family since the late 1800’s where today 3 generations come together to live and work. Curt and Wendy are excited about the future of agriculture and the opportunities for profit that a sheep operation can generate. Sheep owners and anyone interested in forage management is cordially invited to Ohio Sheep Day at the Cline farm in scenic Athens County.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for July 11 as well as once again the Ohio Forage and Grassland Council will be sponsoring a pre-Sheep Day tour of some area farms. More details will follow.

DIRECTIONS TO THE CLINE FARM; SITE FOR OHIO SHEEP DAY –

From Columbus take U.S. 33 East to Athens and then SR 32/50 West to Albany. At the traffic light in Albany turn right, go past the Marathon gas station down to Lee Street. Turn right on to Lee Street (Hocking Valley Bank on the corner), go 1 block and then turn right on to SR 681. Go approximately a quarter of a mile and turn left on to Factory Road. Go 1.25 miles on Factory Rd to 3933 Factory Rd and you have arrived at the Cline Family farm.

For a pdf flyer visit here