About the author
Sheep 101 is authored by Susan Schoenian (Shay-ne-un). Susan has been involved with sheep since she was 7 years old. When she was growing up, her family raised and showed Dorset and Southdown sheep and sold lambs to the ethnic markets. Currently, she raises Katahdin sheep on her small farm, called The Baalands, in Clear Spring, Maryland. She sells breeding stock and lambs for meat. She also keeps a few goats and rabbits.
Susan is a retired Sheep & Goat Specialist from University of Maryland Extension. She was with University of Maryland from 1988 to 2022. Susan began her extension career as an agricultural extension agent ("county agent") in Wicomico County, Maryland. For several years, she served as a Farm Management Specialist for Maryland's nine Eastern Shore counties. Susan's first job out of college was as Sheep Specialist for the West Virginia Department of Agriculture. In West Virginia, Susan was a USDA-certified livestock grader and market news reporter. During high school and college, Susan worked at veterinary hospitals.
Susan achieved the rank of Principle Agent (full professor equivalent) at the University of Maryland in 2007. She was granted Emeritus status in 2022. During her career, Susan was a member of many professional organizations that pertained to sheep (and goats), including the American Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control (ACSRPC), whose web site she maintained for many years, and two USDA ARS groups: NCERA-214 (Increased Efficiency of Sheep Production) and SCC081 (Sustainable Sheep and Goat Production in the southeastern United States) .
For many years, Susan judged sheep, goat, livestock, wool, and carcass shows. She started the 4-H/FFA Meat Goat Show at the Maryland State and the Junior Sheep & Goat Skillathon at the annual Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival. She enjoyed working with youth. Susan earned BS and MS degrees in Animal Science from Virginia Tech (1984) and Montana State University (1984), respectively. She began her college career at Ohio State University. While in college, Susan participated in both the livestock and meat judging teams and was a member of the Block and Bridle Club. The title of her Master's thesis was "Direct and Correlated Responses to Selection for Reproductive Rate in Rambouillet Sheep."
During her career, Susan traveled many times on behalf of the University of Maryland, Maryland Department of Agriculture, USDA, CNFA, ACDI-VOCA, and Winrock International. She gave invited presentations in several countries. Her travels took her to Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Hungary, Russia, Spain, England, France, Belgium, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Moldova, Egypt, Brazil, China, Mexico, Canada (Alberta, Nova Scotia, and Ontario), and the Caribbean (Barbados, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Trinidad and Tobago, and the British Virgin Islands).Susan's first trip was to the Soviet Union, a year before it broke up. Her favorite trip was to Egypt, where she had the chance to interact with Bedouin shepherds. Now Susan travels for fun. So far (in her retirement), she's visited Ontario, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Iceland. She says sheep live in the prettiest places in the world. Next on her agenda is Scotland (Highlands) and Patagonia (Argentina and Chile).
Most of the images in Sheep 101 link back to Susan's Flickr™ site. Photography is a life-long hobby of hers. Images may be used with her permission. Many more images pertaining to sheep and goats may be viewed at Susan's Flickr™ site. Susan's main web site is the Maryland Small Ruminant Page (sheepandgoat.com). It is an informational portal for sheep and goat producers and anyone else interested in small ruminants. It was started in 1998 and has undergone many changes. Susan continues to keep her Extension Facebook page active.
