FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 13, 2006

Contact: Candace J. Semien
Communications Coordinator
(225)771-2242 ext. 303
www.suagcenter.com

Southwest Center Schedules Pastured Goat Training

OPELOUSAS-Louisiana agriculture producers interested in pastured goats can participate in a two-hour training Tuesday, September 26, 2006, hosted by the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center's Southwest Center for Rural Initiatives, St. Landry Parish School Board and the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Working Group (Southern SAWG).

Ken Andries, Kentucky State University animal specialist and a Louisiana, will present Southern SAWG's video-based learning system on pastured goats as well as the group's Enterprise Handbook that compiles "the most informative and easy to understand production and marketing materials available, " says LaVonya Malveaux, director of the Southwest Center.

Because of its distance-learning capacity, the training will be held at the St. Landry Parish School Board meeting room at 1013 Creswell Lane, September 26, 2006, at 6:00 p.m. The Board's distance learning facility will allow transmission of the training via web-satellite to Oak Grove for the local community and agricultural producers in East Carroll, its surrounding parishes, and portions of Arkansas and Mississippi.

Seating is limited to the first 50 participants. Interested persons should pre-register by contacting the Southwest Center for at Rural Initiatives at (337) 943-2410 by Monday, September 25. To be a part of the teleconference outside of St. Landry, contact Ag Center agent Glenn Dixon at (318) 559-0060.

Southern SAWG is an agriculture group that exists to empower and inspire farmers, individuals, and communities in the South to create an agricultural system that is ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just, and humane. Through its work, the regionally-based group links dozens of diverse organizations and thousands of individuals in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.

The training is part of the Center's on-going efforts to promote interest in goat production and to develop a potentially viable alternative market for Louisiana's agriculture industry.

The Southwest Center for Rural Initiatives is a satellite entity of the Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center. Its mission is to promote socioeconomic development within a 10-parish region. This training was coordinated with Theresa Walsh, a research specialist for the Southern University Ag Center, who introduced the Southwest Center to Southern SWAG. Southern University Agricultural Research and Extension Center is a statewide campus of the Southern University System and provides equal opportunities in programs and employment. For more information, contact Malveaux at (337) 943-2410 or Walsh at (225) 771-2242 ext. 316.

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