Welcome to the DAKOTA GOAT ASSOCIATION (DGA).

“A Goat’s View of Nutrition”

Keynote Presentation

by Dr. Steve Hart

Langston University Goat

Extension Specialist

Steve received his B.S. in Dairy Science from Texas A & M in 1972 and graduated with High Honors.  He had the distinction of being one of the last of the draftees and served in the US army for two years at Ft. Belvior, Virginia as a personnel management specialist.  He returned to Texas A & M for his MS in Dairy Science, working with forage sorghum hybrids for silage for dairy animals.  He worked on his Ph. D with Dr. Carl Polan at Virginia Tech, doing studies in calf nutrition and branch-chain volatile fatty acids for lactating cows.  Upon graduation in 1981, he went to work for the USDA at Ft. Reno, OK conducting research with forages for cattle and sheep and later did collaborative work with Langston University in Oklahoma with forages and nutrition for goats.  Steve was hired by Langston University and conducted studies with forages for goats and nutrient requirements.  He did a number of studies with using goats for vegetation management and is still involved in such studies.  He has also worked in control of gastrointestinal nematodes, working with sericea lespedeza for parasite control as well as testing a variety of alternative dewormers.  He is part of a large study with farmer collaborators on selecting goats for genetic resistance to gastrointestinal parasites.  He recently was awarded a grant to work with controlling redcedar with goats.