Young farmer program teaches beef management
By DIETER KRIEG
NEW HOLLAND - “We’re
not telling you what you
should do; what we are doing
is suggesting that you
consider some of those
newer research findings m
your individual operations.
We want to keep you beef
producers in this area right
on top,” offered Donald
Robinson, coordinator of
Young Farmer adult
education programs at
Garden Spot High School.
Robinson made the
remarks during the first in a
continuing series of adult
education classes made
available free of charge to
farmers m the Eastern
Lancaster County School
District. Similar programs
are available at other
schools where agriculture is
taught. Young Farmers, the
adult educational arm of the
future Farmers of America,
.s an organization which
furthers educational and
business goals of members.
“Anyone who is willing to
learn can be a Young Far
mer,” says a popular in
troduction to the growing
organization.
'J*
Reist Mummau shows head gate features to New
Holland Young Farmers advisor Donald Robinson.
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Daily Market Report Phone 717-354-7288
Abe Diffenbach Manager
At Tuesday evening’s
meeting, here, faimers
gathered to hear the latest
about management prac
tices, beef cattle handling
equipment, feed research,
heat suppressants, and
parasite control. As in any
good educational procedure,
Young Farmer sessions are
a two-way street. Robinson
repeatedly asked for input
from those in attendance,
searching them out for their
opinions and observations.
Offering professional
views on handling equip
ment, feed research, and
heat suppressants were
Reist Mummau, Tim Horn,
and Ken Kurjiaka,
respectively.
Mummau, a Lancaster
Countian with extensive
experience in beef cattle
handling, described various
products which he offers for
sale at his Elizabethtown
area farm. He noted that
such products as headgates,
squeeze chutes, and
crowding corrals are
becoming more and more
popular in this area because
of the professional and ef
ficient touch they lend to the
business.
“Handling facilities are
handy for implanting, blood
testing, veterinary work,
etc., and any situation which
calls fore being able to
handle cattle,” said
Mummau who admits to
having roped several
thousand head during his
years out West. The new
mechanized method of
catching animals is more
efficient, he acknowledged.
“The headgate doesn’t
involve a great deal of ex
pense and yet it’s very ef
fective,” the cattleman
pomted out. He brought one
along to the school to
demonstrate its use. Squeeze
gates cost a bit more but
offer the additional ad
vantages of being able to do
“the complete job” on cattle,
such as foot work,
Caesarean operations, etc.
Although the emphasis of
Mumraau’s presentation
was beef cattle handling, he
pointed out that sales to
dairymen have increased
considerably during the past
year.
Mummau suggests that
crowding facilities be
arranged in a comparatively
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remote section of the feed
lot. The individual farmer
can then proceed to work
from there and continue with
as much of an elaborate
system as he cares to invest
in. The narrow end of the
crowding facilities should be
30 to 32 mches wide, and as
long as is economically
feasible. Mummau prefers
long chutes for the simple
reason that cattle can be
worked in groups that way,
rather than smgly.
Robinson, in introducing
the next topics of the
evenmg, cited studies from
Michigan State Umversity
which compare a two-phase
feeding system with more
conventional programs. The
feeding procedure in
question called for an all
silage ration during the
early weeks, followed by a
silage and grain com
bination m later weeks
Studies at MSU, which have
since been documented at
other institutions, show that
the rate of gam is similar as
with more conventional
feedmg plans, but that 1200
pounds less corn silage was
used in the 2-phase
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 22,1977—29
procedure. Researchers also
determine that the ex
periments resulted in more
efficient use of corn silage
itself, cattle shot ahead in
growth when gram was
introduced, and that rate of
gain was highest when cattle
are the heaviest.
The advantages of this
two-stage feeding program
will change with the costs as
such inputs as com, sup
plements, NPN, etc.,
Robinson pointed out. But
the 2-phase feeding system
“will never be far from the
most profitable” the study
concluded.
Hay may only be
necessary in the feedlot
when trying to attract timid
and young calves to the feed
bunk, another portion of the
study concluded. Although
hay is a popular feed with
many cattlemen in this area,
some studies show that hav
feeding can reduce gams by
11 per cent. Participants in
the ensuing discussion
agreed that hay is the best
way to get calves started,
regardless of the source of
the cattle and method of
feeding. But studies
nevertheless indicate that
there is no advantage to
feeding hay when rates of
gain are compared.
Tim Horn, who along with
Frank Campbell
represented Pennfield Feeds
at Tuesday’s Young Farmer
meeting, cautioned the
cattlemen, however, to
make any switch from hay to
com gradually lest digestive
tract balances be upset.
Another topic of presen
tation was heat sup
pressants. The specific
product mentioned was
melegesterol acetate,
commonly known as MG A. A
progestatational hormone,
the product keeps heifers
from coming into heat and
thereby allows cattlemen
who raise heifers to see
faster and larger profits
Ken Kurjiaka, representing
the Tuco Division of the
Upjohn Company, which
manufactures MGA, ex
plained that the drug stops
the pituitary gland from
releasing its lutemzmg
hormone Heifers which are
on this drug reportedly gain
faster, have better feed
(Continued on Page 30)