The West Virginia Sheep Management Project and West Virginia University Extension Service will sponsor a conference,”Reinventing the Appalachian Shepherd: Lamb and Goat Marketing,”Thursday and Friday (Nov. 8-9) in Morgantown.

The conference, organized by faculty and staff at Extension and the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry and Consumer Sciences, is aimed at lamb and goat producers in West Virginia and the region. The program includes sessions on current marketing conditions, ethnic niche markets, hidden costs, producerscase studies and demonstrations.

Keynote speaker is Cynthia Hessemer of the Campbell Mithun Advertising Agency, producers of such memorable campaigns as the”Milk Mustacheseries and”Pork: The Other White Meat”promotion. Hessemer will discuss the national promotional campaign”American Lamb.”

The conference begins at 1 p.m. Thursday at the National Research Center for Coal and Energy on WVU s Evansdale Campus. The conference will wrap up Friday afternoon.

For more information, contact Becky Casteel at WVU Extension, 304-293-6131 ext. 4231. For information on the West Virginia Sheep Management Project, visit http://www.caf.wvu.edu/avs/sheep/index.html .