Vol. 19 No. 37
A five-year-old cow shown by John
Welk, left walked off with grand
champion honors at Thursday’s
Lancaster District Holstein Show
Active 4-Her and Livestock Judge
By Melissa Piper
Steve Donough, 17, has
been active in4-H for the
past seven years completing
steer and market lamb
projects.
Steve is being kept busy
these days working for his
parents, Mr. and Mrs. Paul
Donough, on their 127 acre
farm in RD4, Manheim.
Livestock judging has
Penn State extension veterinarian Dr. Samuel
Guss, left, draws a blood sample from an anemic
cow in the John Behrer herd at Spruce Creek.
Helping Guss is Mike Behrer, John’s son and a
Penn State student. The work is part of Project
1870, a dairy herd health improvement study
financed largely by donations from the dairy in
dustry.
held in the Guernsey Sales Barn.
Russell Kline, right, took the reserve
ribbon with his four-year-old.
Steve Donough
been one of Steve’s most
outstanding ac
compMiments. Recentty at
;he York County
Restock Judging Contest,
Steve placed third in sheep
| ud g in g and helped the
Lancaster County team
ca P**?. e * se SS?* Pf 30 ®* .
At s *f te
June . he was third high m
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 27, 1974
Zianeaater Parmlnf Photo
dividual and .will be com
peting at the National FFA
Contest in Kansas City in the
Fall.
Last year at 4-H State
Days, Steve was a high in
dividual judge on the Lan
caster County Junior Team
and the County team placed
first.
Steve, who will be a junior
at Manheim Central School
is also an FFA member and
[Continued on Page 22]
Dairy Herd Health Project Progress Report . . .
Working For Healthier Cows
Dairy herd health is a complex problem. Good
management, of course, is the most important ingredient in
any recipe for herd health, and Pennsylvania dairymen excel
in management expertise.
“This state has some of the healthiest animals in the
country,” Dr. Samuel B. Guss told Lancaster Farming at
Penn State. “Our problems aren’t much worse than those in
other states. But Pennsylvania is such an intensively farmed
state, that we seem to get our problems before anybody else
sees them. Of course, we get a chance to lick them sooner,
too.”
Guss, an extension veterinarian at Penn State, is an in
tegral part of a unique herd health research project which
has been underway at the University for the past three years.
Project 1870, as it’s known is unique both in its approach and
its financing.
The project was started about three years ago with $17,000
in College of Agriculture funds. That money has been used
up, and current operating funds are being donated largely by
agribusiness firms and individual dairymen. Plans are to
keep donors informed on the progress of the project as it
moves along.
First step in the research work was to find 15 model herds
and study them intensively for three years. The object here
was to find out what the owners of these herds were doing
right, then compare the findings in the model herds with
those in problem herds. Much of the model herd work has
4-H Dairy, District
Holstein Shows Held
This was the busiest week
of the year for 4-H’ers
enrolled in the three dairy
clubs in the county. It was
round-up time at the
Guernsey Barn, east of
Lancaster, and youngsters -
and cows - worked hard to be
ready for their turn in the
ring.
Round-up got underway
Tuesday with the colored
breeds competing. The
endless parade of animals
caught the eye of many
tourists who sauntered by to
see what was happening.
It was a family affair in
the Brown Swiss show, with
Robert Witmer, Willow
Street, capturing the senior
and grand champion title
with his two-year-old. His
sister Linda took reserve
champion honors with her
senior yearling, which was
also junior champion. Linda
was also reserve senior
In This Issue
FARM CALENDAR 10
Markets 2-4
Sale Register 48
Farmers Almanac 6
Classified Ads 25
Editorials ■ 10
Homestead Notes 34
Home on the Range 48
Organic Living 40
Farm Youth Calendar 14
Farm Women Calendar 39
Lancaster County DHIA 18
Berks Co. Dairy
Pageant 1
Mt. Joy 4-H 42
Growing Degree Days 41
Brown Swiss showman, and
a younger sister, Judy, was
junior champion showman.
A junior yearling owned by
Jacqueline Kreider, Kinzer,
was reserve junior champion
while reserve senior
champion was a two-year
old owned by Lois Wanner,
Narvon.
Champion senior showman
for the breed was Warren A.
Schmuck, Peach Bottom,
and reserve junior champion
was Jacqueline Kreider.
The Balmer family of
lititz practically made a
clean sweep of showmanship
awards in the Guernsey
breed, with Cheryl taking the
champion senior showman
prize, Carol champion junior
showman and Connie
reserve junior showman.
Reserve champion senior
showman went to Linda
Kauffman, Elizabethtown,
who normally shows
Holsteins but who was
showing her first Guernsey,
an animal she won last
summer.
Senior and grand
Guuemsey was owned by
Mark Z. Witmer, Willow
Street, and shown by his
sister Susan. Junior
champion and reserve breed
champion belonged to Diane
Crider, Nottingham. Her
brother, Ricky Lee, showed
reserve junior breed
champion. Cheryl Balmer
owned the reserve senior
breed champion.
There is at least one young
man who will remember his
been done, and project members are now working with five
problem herds. The herds are located on each of the state’s
three major soil types - limestone, gray shale and red shale
Project 1870’s approach is an unusual dairy study because
it involves a broad cross-section of academic disciplines
Participating departments at Penn State include veterinarj
science, animal science, poultry science, dairy science,
agronomy, horticulture and agricultural Economics. The
U.S. Regional Research Laboratory at the University is alsc
participating. A committee of these researchers melt'
monthly to coordinate the project work and to talk about
progress and problems.
Another unusual aspect of the project is the collection oi
data from commencal dairy herds, an approach whici
generally poses serious obstacles, chief of which is the loss oi
complete control over the research subjects.
Researchers must often work in a king of vacuum, where
they set up and maintain carefully controlled environments
so the effect of one # variable can be observed with £
reasonable degree of accuracy.
Laboratory findings under these controlled conditions have
helped boost milk production tremendously over the past
decade and they’ve helped to keep cows healthier longer. And
yet, there are more and more instances occurring where
dairy farmers are experiencing serious herd health problems
even though they’re sticking very closely to the advice they
| Continued on Page 16)
$2.00 Per Year
first year at round-up as
something special. Matthew
Arrowsmith, Peach Bottom,
took over Jersey breed
competition by winning
junior breed champion and
reserve grand champion
with his senior calf. He also
was champion junior Jersey
showman, and received
special recognition by
winning first place in
competition for first year
showmen only.
Barbara Aaron,
Quarryville, showed the
senior and grand champion
Jersey, and Ellen Schmuck,
(Continued On Page 23]
Berks
Pageant
Contestants
Eight girls will be vying
for the title of Berks County
Dairy Princess on Saturday'
August 3, at 8:00 p.m. at the
Kutztown Fairgrounds.
The contest will be held in
conjunction with the Kutz
town Jaycees Old Fashioned
Picnic.
Contestants who will be
participating in the pageant
are:
Christine Adam is the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
James Adam, Hamburg, Pa.
She is seventeen years of
age. Christine plans to enter
[Continued On Page 15]