Lamb and Wool Management:  Online Sheep Management Courses

Introduction to Sheep Management - LWMP 1001
Equipment & Facilities - LWMP 1202
Introduction to Sheep Health - LWMP 1300
Ewe Ration Formulation - LWMP 1502
Wool Characteristics and Properties - LWMP 1701 

Introduction to Sheep Management LWMP 1001 (one credit)

Offered each Spring and Fall Semester online or via mail.
This course introduces basic sheep management principles. Students will study the year-round management and production cycle for a sheep enterprise and understand how each production stage influences enterprise profitability. This course also studies the philosophy of sheep management and its relationship to business goals.

Required textbook: None, lesson materials provided.
Lesson Topics

1. Getting Started in the Sheep Business
2. Your Ewes, Your Rams, and Their Health
3. Breeding Strategies
4. Lamb Feeding
5. Facilities and Equipment
6. Ewe Flock Economics
7. Wool
8. Pre-Lambing Management
9. Lambing Time Management, Difficult Births, Baby Lamb Health
10. Orphan or Bonus Lambs, Grafting
11. Creeps and Creep Feeding
12. Weaning and Weaning Methods
13. Fitting and Showing Sheep
14. Raising Versus Buying Replacement Ewes

Equipment and Facilities LWMP 1202 (two credits)

Offered online each Spring and Fall Semester.
This self-paced online course will cover planning for sheep facilities, barn design, lot layout, and sheep feeding equipment. Students will become aware of housing and feeding requirements and how to effectively plan for them.

Required textbook: SID Sheep Industry Handbook 2002 Edition, Vol.7
Lesson Topics

1. Feeder space requirement
2. Building and lot requirements
3. Cold and Warm barn housing
4. Insulation
5. Air Intake and Ventilation
6. Feeding and Watering Systems
7. Making Lambing Time Easy
8. Working Facilities
9. Lambing Barn Evaluation

Introduction to Sheep Health LWMP 1300 (two credits)

Offered online each Spring and Fall Semester.
This self-paced online course helps students become familiar with sheep diseases that need to be managed in a successful sheep enterprise.

Required textbook: Gates’ Practical Guide to Sheep Disease Management, Third Edition
Lesson Topics

1. Animal behavior
2. Animal space requirements
3. Ventilation and air quality
4. Importance of nutrition
5. Quality assurance
6. Bio-security
7. Young lamb health
8. Metabolic diseases
9. Diseases causing abortion
10. Lameness
11. Diseases affecting rams
12. Parasites

Ewe Ration Formulation LWMP 1502 (one credit)

Offered online each Spring and Fall Semester.
This self-paced online course will make students aware of the methods used to balance rations to meet the sheep's nutrient needs for each specific stage of production. The course will also cover the least cost ration balancing.

Required textbook: SID Sheep Industry Handbook 2002 Edition, Vol.7
Lesson Topics

1. Digestive physiology of the sheep
2. Nutritional safety
3. Feeder space requirements
4. Nutritive requirement of sheep
5. Nutritional values of feed ingredients
6. Reading a feed tag
7. Forage sampling and interpretation
8. Ewe diet formulation and evaluation
9. Price per pound of nutrient
10. Year-round feeding plan

Wool Characteristics and Properties LWMP 1701 (two credits)

Offered online each Spring and Fall Semester.
This self-paced online course will provide an in-depth look at the biological development of wool fiber and the properties that make it a unique clothing fiber. In addition, this course will study the factors that determine the value of wool, how these can be improved, and methods to measure these qualities.

Required textbook: SID Sheep Industry Handbook 2002 Edition, Vol.7
Lesson Topics

1. Biological development of wool
2. Characteristics of wool
3. Wool improvement
4. Harvesting and preparing wool
5. Wool contaminates
6. Wool marketing
7. Worsted and Woolen processing

Registration

To register for online courses, use the Online Course Registration Form or contact:
Sue Lovell, Management Programs Support Staff
507-847-7929
sue.lovell@mnwest.edu

North Dakota and Wisconsin residents will be charged a higher tuition cost unless a reciprocity form is completed. A copy of the completed reciprocity form must accompany the registration form. See the application form for your state. Follow the instructions on how to print and complete the form. Contact the Lamb and Wool program if you need help completing the reciprocity form. Reciprocity forms must be completed online. 

South Dakota students should contact Minnesota West directly. South Dakota residents don’t need to send a form to their home state.

Lamb and Wool Management:  Lambing Time Short Course

The Pipestone Lambing Time Short Course & Bus Tour is a premier lambing time management school of the sheep industry. The program’s purpose is to help you improve your management skills during lambing, improve facility and labor efficiency, and form relationships in your business. The program combines lecture, group discussions, and tours of outstanding sheep operations. Program leaders include expert instructors with diverse and practical sheep experience and a highly-qualified veterinarian who enjoys sharing his sheep health knowledge. The farm tours highlight labor-savings management practices including barn layout and flow, raising lambs on milk replacer, lamb processing, and ewe and lamb feeding systems.

Lamb and Wool Management:  Sheep Facility Tour Lodging Information

Pipestone Lodging Information
Americas Best Value Inn – 605 8th Ave SE (Hwy 75 & 23)  507-690-0091
Arrow Motel – 600 8th Ave. NE (Hwy 75 North)  507-825-3331
GrandStay Hotel & Suites – 915 7th ST. SE (Hwy 75 & 30)  507-562-1100
Historic Calumet Inn – 104 West Main St. 507-825-5871
Pipestone RV Campground – 919 North Hiawatha Ave. 507-825-2455
Split Rock Creek State Park (6 miles South on Hwy 23)  507-348-7908

Additional lodging is available in Luverne, MN, and Flandreau SD (Approximately 30 miles away).