American Consortium for Small Ruminant Parasite Control

Sam Coleman has served as a Research Animal Scientist with USDA, ARS for 36  yrs at the El Reno, Oklahoma  and Brooksville, Florida L locations.  He received a B.S. in General Agriculture from  the University of Tennessee (UT) at Martin, and his M.S. and Ph.D. from  UT-Knoxville, the final in 1972.  He was  an Assistant Professor at the University of Florida Belle Glade station for 3 years before joining USDA.  He currently is conducting research to  quantify contributions of cattle to greenhouse gas production in extensive  systems.  He has authored research on the  plant-animal interface trying to determine factors that influence intake of  grazing animals, methods to measure intake on pasture, genetics and the effect  of finishing regime on growth and carcass traits in cattle, and components of  intake and energy expenditure in small ruminants. His work with near-infrared reflectance  spectroscopy (NIRS) to estimate forage quality, forage species, and animal  intake and digestibility has led to his interest in the consortium work.  He is the leader on analysis using NIRS of  tannin and other compounds that might be beneficial as natural compounds for  parasite control.