Will R. Getz ()                                                                 

Dr. Will R. Getz is an animal scientist and Extension educator by training and experience.  Undergraduate studies in animal science and agricultural education at Oklahoma State University, combined with graduate work in animal breeding and genetics at Ohio State University prepared him for a career in research, training and outreach in the USA and more than 30 countries overseas.  His species of focus have been cattle, swine, sheep and goats.  His primary focus over the past 20 years has been the small ruminants and their role in support of mankind.

Currently Dr. Getz is a professor and extension specialist in the animal sciences at Fort Valley State University were he also serves as a member of the staff of the Georgia Small Ruminant Research and Extension Center.  As Extension specialist he has a mandate to work with county extension agents, producers and commodity organizations, young farmer advisors, market personnel, as well as State and Federal agency personnel in support of their need for support in small ruminant programs.  The majority of this work is directed toward meat and dairy goats, while the work in support of new sheep enterprises is increasing.   He has been responsible for a small ruminant newsletter, production of technical bulletins, creation of a technical reference for county agents, conducting in-service training for agents and agriculture teachers, coordinating youth market goat and breeding sheep programs, and responding to client needs for information and advise via phone, e-mail, and letter.  Dr. Getz is credited with establishing the first meat goat buck performance evaluation program and center in the Southeast, which is now in its 6th year and has drawn consignors from across the region.  Special workshops and conferences have been organized in response to the needs of commodity groups in Georgia and the Southeast.

Immediately prior to his association with Fort Valley State, Dr. Getz was a livestock and Extension specialist, and program officer with Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development which was formed from a merger including the Winrock International Livestock Research and Training Center on Petit Jean Mountain in Arkansas.  At Winrock International he was engaged in providing information and training to non-government agencies serving smaller farmer with goats and(or) sheep in mixed farming systems.  He was part of the animal agricultural systems team that looked at ways to use small ruminants in mixed farming systems scattered around the globe.  Most of his efforts were directed toward the Caribbean, eastern and southern Africa, the former Soviet Union, and southeastern Asia.  He served as principal investigator for the production systems component of the Small Ruminant Collaborative Research Support Program.  While at Winrock Dr. Getz provided the technical inputs for print publications, video tapes, newsletters, and conducted small ruminant workships for Extension personnel and NGO staff in several regions of the world.  He served as Winrock liaison to the newly formed Mid-states Dairy Goat Cooperative.

During the four-year period 1978 – 1982, Dr. Getz served as an associate professor at North Carolina A&T State University where he was engaged less with small ruminants but with other livestock species that were found at the time on may small farms.  His work resulted in a state-of-the art swine research and demonstration center that included components and options for many production environments.  He collaborated in research with beef cattle and sheep in examining grazing systems.

During the eight years beginning in 1971 he served with the Near East Foundation and West Virginia University as an animal production specialist and animal husbandry teacher of aspiring Extension workers in Tanzania, a country where cattle, goats and sheep abound.  Dr. Getz was asked to advise on research initiatives involving small ruminants, and established an evaluation program for newly developed composite breeds of cattle using indigenous and introduced germplasm.  For Extension training activities he made the case for listening to stakeholders when developing program plans, and to be responsive to local needs in the framework of national development priorities.

Dr. Getz has been an advocate of strong Extension – Research linkages, and the essential place of on-farm research in allowing clients to play a role in the new information that is developed.  In Georgia and the Southeast he is recognized as one of the few small ruminant Extension specialists who understands the industry and seeks to provide practical solutions to the challenges that goat and sheep owners have in production, marketing, and in training needs.    His experience and contacts will be an asset in any effort to create local expertise and a cadre of certified persons who can transfer accurate information to their colleagues.