9th Annual Guinea Fowl Conference - Kent, OH - Sept,19 - 21, 2014

[Sandshaven]

I thought this might interest a few





The agenda for Friday:

Friday

8:30 Welcome and Introductions

9:45 Break while we get remote viewers on GTM

10:00 Roland Romig: Guinea Fowl Judging; Breeding; Standards; Other Guinea Fowl Subjects

11:00 John Anderson: Poultry Nutrition, “Naked Oats” (and briefly about guineas in Africa)

Noon Lunch

1:00 El-Gazzar: (He’ll be answering questions we’ve accumulated.)

2:00 Sharon Dodds: (Therapy Birds and Autism)

3:00 Break

3:15 Introduction of Guinea Fowl Anatomical Drawings

4:15 Review of auction items.

 

[Sandshaven]

CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

Rev. Roland Romig
We are pleased that the Reverend Roland Romig has agreed to be our keynote speaker. Rev. Romig has 60 years experience breeding guineas. His father was very knowledgeable about breeding guineas and used unconventional methods. Rev. Romig is a nationally reknowned poultry judge and has had his general license (licensed to judge all poultry - chickens, waterfowl, turkeys, guinea fowl) for 15 years. He was chair of a committee to get guinea fowl into APA recognized standards. For several years he served on the live bird market committee for the state of Pennsylvania. As our keynote speaker, he will discuss a variety of guinea fowl topics including standards, breeding, and judging.
Rev. Romig is scheduled to speak at 10:00 AM on Friday, September 19.

John Anderson
John Anderson is a Research Associate in the Department of Animal Sciences of the College of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State University. He works with Dr. Michael Lilburn, where they and others are studying an interesting way to reduce the cost of chicken feed and thus reduce the cost of organic chicken. Working under a four-year grant they are studying hull-less oats – also known as “naked oats.” The high cost of organic feed makes the difference between just “pasture-raised” and “organic” chickens. These non-GMO oats have potential applications in human nutrition as well. As a bonus, John will talk a little about being in Africa in the Peace Corps, where he saw guinea fowl in the villages and in the wild.
John is scheduled to speak at 11:00 AM on Friday, September 19.

Dr. Mohamed El-Gazzar
Dr. Mohamed El-Gazzar is the Poultry Extension Veterinarian at Ohio State University. He received a BVSc from Cairo University, a Master of Avian Medicine from the University of Georgia, and a PhD from the Ohio State Department of Veterinary Preventative Medicine. He is a Diplomate of the American College of Poultry Veterinarians. His research interests include Avian Mycoplasma, Molecular Diagnostics, and Epidemiology of Poultry Diseases. We have given him a list of questions that have come up in our forum and at our conferences, and he’ll be providing us some answers and an opportunity for discussion. At the completion of Dr. El-Gazzar’s talk we’ll display the guinea fowl anatomical drawings that GFIA commissioned from North Carolina State University Vet School. He will be available to answer questions about the drawings.
Dr. El-Gazzar is scheduled to speak at 1:00 PM on Friday, September 19.

Sharon Dodds
We were fortunate to find Sharon Dodds nearby when we selected Eastern Ohio for the 2014 GFIA Conference. She is a native of Western Pennsylvania – not far away from Kent Ohio. Sharon is a Licensed Certified Poultry Technician (CPT) for the PA Department of Agriculture. Sandshaven is the name of Sharon’s farm, which is family operated. It is a NPIP certified hatchery in PA. They raise and train guinea fowl and alpacas as therapy animals for autism. They have trained guineas for therapy birds since May 2011. During the first year they had 1,476 recorded hours. They have raised alpacas since Sept 2013. Sandshaven is also a vermiculture Farm. Sharon has cared for many kinds of animals over the last 30 years: dogs, cats, alpacas, horses, domestic birds, rabbits, variety of reptiles, insects, and of course guinea fowl. Sharon will talk Friday afternoon about Therapy Birds and Autism
Sharon is scheduled to speak at 2:00 PM on Friday, September 19.

Denise DiGeronimo
Denise is a member of the Ohio Egg Artists Guild and is a talented pysanky artist. She will be presenting a demonstration of pysanky. Pysanky is the Ukrainian art of decorating eggs with traditional folk designs using a “wax-resist” method. Guinea fowl eggs are often sold as craft eggs due to their thick shells and are well-suited for pysanky art, especially if they are sparsely spotted. Denise will be providing three decorated eggs – with packing materials – for our auction!
Denise is scheduled to speak at 4:00 PM on Saturday, September 20.