Livestock

Identifying Pollen to Improve Honeybee Health

HUDSON, North Carolina – Honeybees forage their nutrition from two key plant sources: nectar and pollen. And while nectar is important, it’s the quality of pollen that is linked to colony health and growth, and may be the key to managing some of the major pollinator health issues like varroa mites and Colony Collapse Disorder. […]

Drought-tolerant Feed Alternatives for Small Ruminants in Arid Texas

MARFA, Texas – Visitors to Big Bend Country in far West Texas come for the desert mountain views, mystery lights in the sky, a burgeoning art culture…and Malinda Beeman’s goats. Beeman and her partner Allan McClane run Marfa Maid Dairy – a 25 dairy goat herd operation where they sell artisan cheeses and give weekly […]

Texas Beekeeper Rethinking Bee Hive Boxes for More Honey and Better Bee Health

MABANK, Texas – Texas beekeeper Daniel Brantner has a simple and economical solution for increasing honey production and improving the health of honey bees: redesigning the industry-standard bee hive boxes. Brantner, owner of Texas Honey Company and a certified Texas master beekeeper, is using his skills as an architect to turn the typical standard 16”X22” […]

Mississippi Farmer Optimizing Animal/Crop Production in a Unique Integrated System

KILN, Mississippi – The damage brought about by Hurricane Ida in 2021 was a light bulb moment for Mississippi farmer Stephen Wyatt, who was looking for ways to maximize production of his two high-demand cash crops: strawberries and rabbits. With the storm came massive flooding, disease and predators. In less than one season, most of […]

Exploring Warm Season Grasses for Parasite Control and Performance in Sheep

HIDDENITE, North Carolina – A North Carolina livestock producer is exploring the use of native warm season grasses as forage for Katahdin Hair sheep as a way quickly bring the animals to market weight, and for better parasite control. Lee Holcomb of LeeDer Farm, situated in a rural area just north of Charlotte, is establishing […]

FAMACHA

FAMACHA is a diagnostic tool to help farmers identify parasite infection in small ruminants, allowing them to cut the cost of deworming agents by targeting treatments only to infected animals. Training is required before purchase.

Southern SARE Awards $1M Grant to Explore Regenerative Agriculture

Griffin, GA- The Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program has announced a $1,000,000 Research and Education Grant, the largest awarded since the program launched in 1988.   The National Center for Appropriate Technology, the project lead, selected a systems research approach to identify practical and regionally-appropriate methods of regenerative grazing that can be implemented […]

Imidacloprid Residue in the Soil Harms Wild Bees

ATHENS, Georgia- New research funded by the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program and conducted at the University of Georgia shows that imidacloprid residue harms wild bees. In a first-of-its-kind study, Christine Fortuin, now a post-doctorate researcher at the University of Georgia, developed a more accurate understanding of the lethal and sublethal effects of […]

The 2020 Southern SARE Large Systems Grant is Released.

The Southern Sustainable Research and Education Program has announced its 2020 Large Systems Grant award. The project will create a group of 1890 Universities and farmer cooperators to conduct large systems research on sustainable meat goat production and marketing. Large systems research is designed to increase our understanding of the complex relationships between parts in […]

Agroforestry an Alternative for Farmers Transitioning Away from Tobacco Production

BEREA, Kentucky – A Kentucky farmer, exploring alternatives for tobacco production, has found that elements of an agroforestry system may prove viable to increasing farm profitability and providing environmental benefits. Through a Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SSARE) Producer Grant, Matthew Wilson of Rindlewood Farm studied the feasibility of incorporating sweet sorghum and pasture […]

Southern SARE Releases Grant Call for Proposals on Sustainable Meat Goat Production and Marketing

GRIFFIN, Georgia – The Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SSARE) program is soliciting grant Calls for Proposals for sustainable meat goat production and marketing across the Southern region. The 2020 Large Systems Research Grant Program on Sustainable Meat Goat Production and Marketing in the Southeast United States must include both components of production and […]

Preparing Producers for the Grass-fed Beef Industry

MISSISSIPPI STATE, Mississippi -- Livestock producers in the Southeast are getting the educational resources and training they need to meet the consumer demand for grass-fed beef. In states like Mississippi and Alabama, where production and marketing materials, field events, enterprise budgets, and training programs in forage-finished beef are lacking, researchers at Mississippi State University, Auburn […]

The Effects of Probiotics on the Survival Rate of Farmed Shrimp

BOLIGEE, Alabama -- In an effort to reduce incidences of disease and increase the survival rate, and subsequent yields, of farmed shrimp, an aquaculture farmer received a Southern SARE Producer Grant to determine if probiotics could be a sustainble way to boost the health of the animals. Probiotics are commonly used in hatcheries, but their […]

Transforming Existing Forested Land into Silvopasture Systems

GREENVILLE, South Carolina – Livestock producers with patches of established forested land on their farm can turn to agroforestry practices as an option to increase economic stability while enhancing environmental quality. Researchers at Furman University, through a Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SSARE) grant, studied the feasibility of transforming forested land on farms in […]

Cover Crops Incorporated into Rotational Grazing Improves Soil Health

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana – Over-seeding a diverse cool-season cover crop mix into a rotationally grazed warm-season grass pasture appears to improve soil health, especially when the system is managed over a longer period of time. In a limited study, funded by a Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SSARE) Graduate Student Grant, Louisiana State University […]

Integrating Legumes with Grass to Improve Forage-Livestock Systems

In a Southern SARE-funded Research and Education Grant (LS14-261), "Long-term Agroecosystems Research and Adoption in the Texas Southern High Plains -- Phase III," Texas Tech University researchers conducted a steer grazing trial comparing a grass only system to a grass-legume system for animal productivity and water use efficiency.

Searching for New Strategies to Control Gastrointestinal Parasites in Small Ruminants

PROSPECT, Tennessee – Jo Ann Harris calls out to a flock of Dorper sheep in a pasture:  “Sheeep. C’mere sheep.” Almost immediately the animals come running to her side, head bumping her leg and begging for a head scratch before moving on to the food pellets Harris has laid out for them in containers. With […]

Artificial Nesting Sites Attract Native Pollinators

LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia – Artificial nesting sites for pollinators placed in apple orchards have shown to boost native bee populations, according to results of a Georgia Gwinnett College study. In a Southern SARE-funded On-Farm Research Grant project, researchers focused on nesting sites for mason bees and mining bees – the workhorses of the native bee world […]