Quite a few of us in the Southeast are still in the middle of some very hot, humid weather. For the most part that’s how summer is in Tennessee and Kentucky, along with the rest of the Southeast. Not only do we have hot weather to contend with, but we are also trying to breed sheep and goats during this time of year.

Ewes typically work 7 to 9 months of the year (5 months gestation and 2 to 4 months lactation). The rest of the time is spent on vacation.

by Sarah Carr, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Kentucky State University Figure 1: Crossbred Boer x Kiko kid. Crossbreeding is not just randomly mixing breeds and hoping that the offspring do well. Rather, crossbreeding is a deliberate management technique that can have significant impacts on production outcomes. Generally, when implementing a crossbreeding program, the goal would be to maximize specific attributes such as carcass characteristics or material traits. Crossbreed

by Dr. Jessie Lay, DVM Udder with mastitis Mastitis is very common in domestic livestock and can lead to many economic losses for producers. Losses may come through not only decreased production, but also loss of breeding stock, lower weaning weight of offspring or decreased milk quality for dairy animals. Mastitis is a term that refers to an inflammation or infection of the mammary glands (udder). It may be caused by many different types of bacteria or caused by certain viru