At the height of spring Kidding season at WVU Potomac State College's Gustafson Farm, the College sought expert advice on its herd of curious ruminants.
Dr. Scott Bowdridge is the program coordinator of animal and nutritional sciences and a professor of food and animal production at WVU Morgantown. He traveled to Keyser to visit with the “new kids on the block” (literally) and to inspect the adult goats, talk about the care and rearing of the herd with College representatives, and make a few recommendations for potential sustainable improvements and future programs at the farm itself.
“Just remember, quality adults produce quality offspring,” he said. “Potomac State College has an opportunity with this farm to be price makers and not price takers. The quality is here.”
Dr. Bowdridge’s research interests are centered around improving small ruminant production. His basic research program is focused on identifying immune mechanisms necessary to clear helminth parasite infection using parasite-resistant St. Croix sheep as a model. To better translate this basic research into an applied setting, his lab has recently acquired a flock of Texel sheep to determine differential immune response to Haemonchus contortus, demonstrate how these sheep may be used in crossbreeding systems interested in maintaining parasite resistance, and establish a fecal egg count EBV for the Texel breed in the US.
Additionally, Dr. Bowdridge collaborates with a team of faculty across the School of Food and Agriculture to evaluate grazing practices that will reduce the impact of gastrointestinal parasitism of grazing livestock.
“PSC has a phenomenal facility and a great barn, but there are always ways to make it bigger and better,” he said. “I would challenge the College to think about how that could be done. What can be done to make it more efficient, more cost-effective, and to get the students more involved and to teach them what is possible on a farm this size? There is real value in what can be learned here. This facility is actually super cool. The barn and the whole property here are just fantastic.”
Bowdridge said Gustafson is a working farm, of course. But at its heart, it is a teaching farm and an educational facility – just like any other building on campus where the focus is academics.
“What PSC can do best here is to involve as many students as possible,” he suggested. “Get as many students here and let them experience this farm as much as possible. Think about your students, and then think about the animals you have. Now think about the value of introducing your students to those animals.”
As far as critiques, Bowdridge said Gustafson has the potential to recapture the “glory days” of community involvement – of not just livestock sales on the property but of involving the community with tours, and sales of other products – like plants, flowers, and even maple syrup.
“There could be one day or one weekend where the farm hosts a festival that could be attended by the public, where items could be purchased,” he recommended. “Get the community involved. Hold an auction where the livestock is thinned out through an auction. Keep your top producers and your best mothers and your best stud goats, and sell the rest. There is a market here that Potomac State could be taking advantage of. Have a Catamount Production Sale Day.”
Bowdridge said that while the infrastructure of the farm is in attractive shape and the property is in excellent condition and seems to be managed and organized very well, the property is still “underutilized.”
“This College could produce more. It does well for its size. But my advice would be to focus on quality. Create a standard,” he said. “What is the standard of a goat at Potomac State College? What is that goat’s function? You want to do that, so when people do buy an animal here, there is an expectation that the animal meets those set standards. It guarantees a quality sale on the marketplace.”
Bowdridge said a “quality” goat is measured by its size, muscle, thickness, stamina, and balance. If a goat gets high marks in those areas, it should continue to have a home and a place on the farm. If not, it should be sold.
“It either winds up someone’s pet or on a plate,” he said. “But not all of them are going to serve a purpose. But each animal you have on a farm costs you money, so each one must serve a purpose. Nostalgia for animals is not a farming strategy. You need to keep things moving forward.”
Bowdridge visited Potomac State at the invitation of President Jerry Wallace, who took the opportunity to include Bowdridge in a short video production about goats in general and in one goat in particular, a goat named Kevin, purchased by Dr. Wallace at an auction from an incoming PSC ag major last year.
And what about Kevin the Goat? He cannot breed, which is the main function of a billy or buck on a farm. And he is even de-horned, which makes him more vulnerable to predatory attacks.
“Kevin’s purpose then is to be a type of unofficial mascot for Potomac State,” said Bowbridge. “Now he has a purpose. In this way, he has a use on the farm. But if you are going to make him a mascot, then make him a mascot. He should be all groomed and cleaned up and paraded around at events and brought around for people to meet. If he is going to be an unofficial face of the campus, he needs to show his face.”
Kevin is expected to make a public appearance at the Day of Giving event at the Student Union between 8 a.m. and noon on March 25.
Natasha Henry, manager of Gustafson Farm, accompanied Bowdridge and Wallace and guided them on the tour.
“I was interested in hearing what we were doing right and what we could improve,” she said. “I appreciated the visit. I had a lot of questions, and I liked getting the feedback. It was a very informative visit, and I learned a lot about what we could do better. We are always looking for ways to grow and improve.”
March is designated as National Agriculture Month in the United States, dedicated to recognizing the vital role farmers, ranchers, and agribusinesses play in producing food, fiber, fuel, and their agricultural contributions to the economy and daily life. In its 125th anniversary year, WVU Potomac State College celebrates its rich history of educating leaders in the agriculture industry.