ASCI Students Attend Alpaca Bootcamp in Ecuador

UVM ASCI 297 students in a group photo with alpacas.

Animal and Veterinary Sciences students in ASCI 297: Bootcamp in Alpaca Husbandry spent two weeks in Ecuador during the summer of 2022, with Adjunct Assistant Professor Stuart White. They learned alpaca management skills including restraint, SC, IM and IV injections, castration, oral administration of liquids, gastric tubing, toenail and incisor trimming, blood drawing, shearing, fiber classification and body scoring. Continue reading “ASCI Students Attend Alpaca Bootcamp in Ecuador”

Sheep and Goat Farmers Earn Certification in IPM

A group of farmers and trainers are sitting in a barn learning about sheep and goat parasites.
Photos by Jake Jacobs and Kelsie Meehan

Twenty-two sheep and goat producers from Vermont and the Northeast earned certification in the FAMACHA method of monitoring small ruminants for internal parasites in a three-part workshop series culminating in an on-farm training held on May 23, 2022 in Whiting, VT. Part 1 and Part 2 of the workshop series are available to view as recorded webinars. The course was co-hosted by UVM Extension, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and the Cornell Sheep and Goat program. Continue reading “Sheep and Goat Farmers Earn Certification in IPM”

May 2022 CALS in the News

Megaphone shouting news about agriculture.

CALS and Extension faculty, staff and students are making headlines for their commentaries, research findings, as subject matter experts, and for outreach collaborations. Below is a collection of recent stories.

The Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) is among several partners listed in this article from Daily Coffee News about a new open-access platform that has been developed called the State of the Smallholder Coffee Farmer. Continue reading “May 2022 CALS in the News”

Students Explored Antimicrobial Resistance in Research Methods Course

Students in a laboratory culturing bacteria cells.

In Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Instructor Kari Hodge’s Bioprospecting: Drugs from Bugs class, students spent the semester exploring the many facets of the antimicrobial resistance crisis. The course, a part of the Small World Initiative, is a research methods lecture and laboratory course framed around identifying strains of bacteria that may produce novel antibiotic compounds. Continue reading “Students Explored Antimicrobial Resistance in Research Methods Course”

The Vermont Big Tree Program

A black cherry tree is recognized as a Vermont Big Tree
The state champion black cherry, located in Rupert, is pictured here with owner, Madeline Leach and big tree enthusiast, Don Lewis.

When hiking in Vermont’s woods, have you ever been wowed by a larger than average tree? Or perhaps you have a mammoth specimen growing in your own backyard. If so, you may be looking at a champion tree, one worth adding to the state’s big tree database. Continue reading “The Vermont Big Tree Program”