The 53rd Biennial Spooner Sheep Day will be held on Saturday, August 23, 2008 at the Spooner Agricultural Research Station. The theme for this year’s program is “Surviving in the Sheep Business with $7/bu. Corn, $200/ton Alfalfa Hay, and $4/gal. Fuel.”

Yves Berger, recently retired Superintendent of the Spooner Station, will set the stage with a presentation of the current economics of sheep production. This will be followed by presentations on ways to increase income or reduce costs. Dr. Dan Morrical, Sheep Extension Specialist at Iowa State University, will discuss the use of alternative energy feeds, including distillers grains, in practical rations for lambs and ewes. Dan also will discuss considerations in pasture versus grain finishing of lambs in a second presentation. Jim and Ruth Ann Schultz, long-time sheep grazers from Clintonville, WI will discuss successful management strategies for ewes and lambs on pasture. Spooner research results with several alternative forages will be presented by Phil Holman, the new Spooner Station Superintendent. Getting more value from your wool will be the subject of the presentation by Paul and Carol Wagner, sheep producers and successful value-added wool processors from Valders, WI.

Registration begins at 8:30 a.m., and the formal program is scheduled to end at 3:00 p.m. Participants are invited to view the sheep and visit the sheep facilities and pastures in the afternoon after the conclusion of the program. Attendance at the educational sessions of the Spooner Sheep Day is free, but there is a nominal charge for the lamb barbecue lunch served at noon.

The Spooner Agricultural Research Station is located in northwestern Wisconsin on Highway 70 just west of Highway 53 and just east of the town of Spooner. For more information, contact Lorraine Toman (715-635-3735, lltoman@wisc.edu). The complete program can be viewed at www.uwex.edu/ces/animalscience/sheep/index.cfm.