Time is fast approaching for the 36th annual Sheep and Goat Field Day set Sept. 3 at the Texas AgriLife Research and Extension Center located just north of San Angelo on U.S. Highway 87.

The field day starts with registration at 8 a.m. followed by the morning program at 9:00 a.m. “This year’s theme is ‘Ranching Solutions’ and we feel we have some good ones to offer,” said Dr. John Walker, AgriLife Research resident director at the center.

Dr. Allan McGinty, AgriLife Extension range specialist, will start the program with a talk on identifying poisonous range plants in this region and the symptoms they cause, Walker said.

Dr. Travis Whitney, AgriLife Research nutritionist here, will continue the plant theme with a look at the beneficial effects some chemicals in plants such as juniper (cedar) can offer.

“Dr. Frank Craddock, AgriLife Extension sheep and goat specialist and Dr. Dan Waldron, AgriLife Research geneticist, will conduct an exercise meant to test the ram selection skills of our field day participants,” Walker said. “They’ll be using live rams and their data from the Texas Rambouillet Superior Genetics flock; that’s so the participants can use both visual and performance data to test the correlation between the two methods.

“Hopefully, we’ll prove it takes both methods to pick a truly top individual,” Walker said.

The morning session will conclude with a talk on genetic conservation of livestock by Dr. Harvey Blackburn, coordinator of the National Germplasm Program at Fort Collins, CO.

Following a catered lunch at noon, the field day will conclude with the results of a recent predator survey and industry updates.

One and a half Texas Department of Agriculture continuing education units will be available for those with a private applicators license.

For more information, contact the center at 325-653-4576.