Al6—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, January 3,1981 IQQ% Crop actually loses money
State lamb crop percentage continues to drop
COCHRANVILLE - It
will be lambing time soon for
Pennsylvania’s sheep
producers. For most it
means cold nights m the
barn and sometimes ex
traordinary efforts to save
the lives of newborn lambs.
With the birth of the new
crop comes the expectation
of profits for the year to
come.
Unfortunately the income
picture for Pennsylvania's
sheep farmers is bleak
unless a dramatic im
provement occurs in the
lamo crop.
Since 1974 the number of
lambs bom alive and saved
per ewe has steadily
declined m Pennsylvania
according to the Penn
sylvania Crop Reporting
Service. The 1974 lamb crop
Clinton Co. beef
(Continued from Page Al 5)
bunks were kept intact to
final finish cattle before
sending them to market.
Last fall the Master
Farmer built another barn
which has features to cut
down on labor, including
unproved ventilation and
more slope to the floors. A
manure pit, located near the
two bams, holds over a
million gallons.
“It would not be a big task
to pipe animal wastes into a
digester for a methane
generator but I can’t see any
financial advantages to
generating my own elec
tricity at this time,” Dot
terer notes.
The Master Farmer was a
pioneer with his feeding
program as well as barn
design. His farm was the
first in the country to use
cold-flow anhydrous am
monia in feed to increase
protein content.
The ammonia gas passes
through a jet and, when
lowered to minus 28 degrees
Farenheit, is liquid. The
Penn State College of
Agriculture used his farm to
test this feeding program
and he has been using it
since on com silage and high
moisture com
Dotterer feeds alfalfa
silage at 60 percent moisture
was 107 percent. In each
successive year it has
declined by one percent,
dropping to 102 percent m
1979. Figures for 1980 will be
released in January.
Actually the 1974 crop of
107 percent was a ten year
high with lamb crops bet
ween 1970 and 1973
vacillating between 98
percent and 103 percent.
For the sheep flock to be
profitable, lamb crops of 150
percent to 175 percent are
necessary.
In a recent study done at
Purdue Umversity, David C.
Petntz reported that a sheep
farmer with a 100 ewe flock
and a lamb crop of 100
percent would show a loss of
$1648 per year if he
marketed his lambs at $65
per cwt.
in addition to high moisture
ear com. All feed is stored in
trenches. He uses an in
dustrial loader to remove the
silage from the trench and
place it in feed bunks.
Always conscious of
energy, the beef cattleman
planted 800 acres of corn by
the no-till method this past
year. He also plants 300
acres of com for silage and
another 300 acres for high
moisture com. Still another
200 acres of com are sold as
a cash crop.
“I grow 150 acres of alfalfa
and have 130 acres of
pasture. Most of the alfalfa
goes into haylage but I do
bale some hay to feed the
new cattle,” he emphasizes.
Dotterer was credited with
over seven tons of alfalfa per
acre in 1978 and 1979 while
winning awards in the
Pennsylvania Alfalfa
Growers Program.
Recognizing the ad
vantages of hybrid vigor, the
Clinton County farmer
prefers to buy crossbred
cattle. He likes crosses with
Angus, Charolais, Sim
mental, or Limousin beef
breeds. The demand now is
for larger crosses, he notes.
The Dotterer farm dates
back to 1825 and the Master
Farmer is the sixth
generation to operate it.
With a 150 percent lamb
crop he would make a profit
of $9.50.
At 175 percent his profit
would increase to $838.25 and
reach $1667 with a 200 per
cent lamb crop.
Ewes have the potential to
produce lamb crops ap
proaching 200 ' percent,
however neo-natal losses
and infertility of the ewe
cause devastating losses to
the producer. Occasionally
infertility affects as many as
20 percent of the ewes m the
flock.
There is no accurate
report on infertility in
Pennsylvania’s flocks, but
W. Duane Mickelsen found
sheep producers in
Washington State were
accustomed to an annual
loss from infertility of five
“My sons will stay here,
too,” he says.
Charles graduated from
Gettysburg College and is a
partner in the operation.
Ralph, Jr., has built a new
house on the farm and
shares in the management.
Ralph, Sr., a Penn State
graduate, and Mrs. Dot
terer, a home economics
teacher, have hosted foreign
exchange students and have
visited exchange student
families abroad.
In addition to spending full
time operation the beef
cattle farm, the Master
Farmer is active m his
church and community.
Currently he is president
of the Pennsylvania Beef
Council and lias held offices
in the Pennsylvania Cat
tlemen’s Association and
Clinton County Farmers’
Association. The 1979
Pennsylvania Cattlemen’s
Field Day was held on the
Dotterer farm.
He also is a two-time
winner of the Outstanding
Grassland Farmer Award
presented by the Penn
sylvania Forage and
Grassland Council.
Dotterer is a member of
the United Church of Christ
and belongs to various
Masonic groups and
Kiwams.
percent to 20 percent,
Observations of some
flocks in Pennsylvania in
tricate that infertility vanes
greatly from year to year,
with an individual flock
occasionally havmg as few
as 3 percent barren ewes and
as high as 20 percent m
another year.
Many Pennsylvania sheep
producers would like to have
the School of Veterinary
Medicine of the University of
Pennsylvania study this
problem. They hope the
school will someday soon
have an ovme speciahst to
concentrate on sheep health
problems, but Dr. Robert
Marshak, Dean of the
Veterinary School, says
there are no funds available
to aid the sheep industry.
While reproductive
science in other livestock
species has grown
technologically to include
artificial insemination and
embryo transplants, the
sheep industry is left groping
m the dark ages of
reproductive science.
Neither AI nor embryo
transplants have been
perfected for sheep in this
country. Nor has any degree
of sophistication in
diagnosing reproductive
track illnesses m the ovme
species been developed.
Essential to successful
clmical diagnosis of animal
reproductive problems is the
ability of the practitioner to
diagnose pregnancy. Two
methods are commonly used
for early pregnancy
detection in sheep, the rod
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method and the ultra-some
device.
The rod costs less than two
dollars but takes con
siderable skill and practice
to use accurately plus ex
tensive labor.
The sonic detectors range
m price from $250 to $lOOO.
With the ultra-some in
strument, the sheep does not
have to be upended or
cradled as with the rod.
When the some probe is
place in the correct position
a red light flashes if the ewe
is open, a green light if she is
pregnant.
Pennsylvania’s only
veterinary school has a large
department of reproductive
medicine Only a few of its
faculty have made an effort
to learn pregnancy diagnosis
with the rod. Requests to
purchase a some device have
been demed. Yet it seems
logical to sheep producers
that every veterinarian who
will be gomg out into the
field to practice large
animal medicine should be
skilled in ovme pregnancy
detection
Good management in the
lambing barn can help in
crease the lamb crop, and
Clair Engle of Penn State’s
Extension Service has been
doing yeoman service in
teaching management skills
to Pennsylvania's sheep
producers.
However, even in the best
managed flocks
reproductive problems and
infertility abound
For more information on
the efforts of sheep
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