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Pa. beef cattle bring honors home from NAILE
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By Donna McConaughey
LOUISVILLE, Ky. Penn
sylvania beef cattle left their marie
at the North American In
ternational Livestock Exposition
in Louisville, Kentucky.
Genetics Unlimited Inc. of West
Grove brought home Grand and.
Junior Champion Female ,honors
in the Angus show. In the Polled
Hereford division, Falkland Farm
of Schellsburg exhibited Champion
and Reserve Champion Heifer-
Calves.
Two Western Pennsylvania
Charolais firms made almost a
clean sweep of the bull cham
pionships at the National Charolais
Show held in conjunction with
NAILE.
Royal Charolais Co. of Green
sburg showed the National Grand
Champion Bull, Hickory Lane
Professor. "Professor” ‘is co
_ owned by Royal Charolais Co., Dr.
w Roger Hunsley of Purdue
University, Wat-Cha Charolais,
Romanelli Charolais, and Shada
Charolais all of Canada.
Royal is particularly proud that
Professor was the National
Reserve Champion last year and
came back to take top honors this
year. And, Royal Charolais’
winnings did not stop there. The
firm also exhibited the Calf
Champion Bull, Reserve Senior
Champion Bull, first place Junior
Bull CaS, first place Pair of Bulls,
and won second in most of the
remaining group classes.
One factor in the consistency of
Royal’s winnings was HRC Ex
pectation 2(59, the sire of every one
of their entries. Expectation was
the 1978 National Champion bull,-
most definitely a bull that is
"breeding-on.”
J.C. Enterprises of Ringgold,
Jefferson County brought home the
National Reserve Junior Cham
f pion Award with JC Kruger 035, a
' May yearling bull. This was not the
first championship for Kruger. The
1,705-pound, 18-month-old bull also
was Reserve Junior Champion at
Timomum, Md. this year. Kruger
was sired by Riverwood Gallant
2856, J.C. Enterprises’ herd sire
and the 1977 Reserve National
Champion.-The National Reserve
Junior Champion has been sold
privately to Hamilton Farms of
Morehead, Kentucky.
Other winnings gomg to the
Ringgold farm mcluded: second
place cow and calf with half in
terest in the cow selling for 820,000
in the National. Sale, and third
place to a spring heifer calf - the
youngest in her class.
Although J.C. Enterprises is a
name that may not be as well
known as Royal Charolais Co.,
high quality cattle can also be
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Back home agaitrfrom Louisville, J.C.’s second-place cow
and calf have the National Charolais Show behind them now.
But, the show left it's mark on this fine female one-half
interest in her sold for $20,000 at the National Sale quite a
price tag.
found at the Ringgold farm with its
row of silos that have/become a
trademark in - “this neck of the
woods.”
Although farm manager, Les
Haller, has only been at J.C. En
terprises for a few months, he
certainly knows this 3,000-acre
farm and its rolling hills. Les tells
how he felt when first approached
about taking care of this expensive
cow-calf operation.
, When told that the majority of
the acreage was reclaimed strip
mines, he admits he was less than
enthusiastic. However, the sight is
not huge waste piles and only
Christmas tree%as many imagine,
instead it is pastureland ideal for
beef cattle and complete with
ready-made ponds.
Along with the herd of nearly 75
registered Charolais cows, J.C.
Enterprises also maintains a
commercial herd of 78 Charolais
crossbred cows and a self
contained feedlot. The commercial
herd allows them to try herd sires
before using the bulls on the
purebred herd, and then to feed the
calves out to market weight in the
feedlot.
They sell many top club calves in
addition to marketing finished
steers to a local packer who pays
premium prices because he is
assured of high quality beef. Les
also mentions that any cattle not of
high enough quality to stay in the
purebred herd are put into the
feedlot.
J.C. Enterprises’ cattle are fed a
high moisture com and silage
mixture along with free choice hay
in round bales, all of which is
raised on the farm. The silos are
set up to make it possible to load
silage and com on the feed truck at
the same* time. - This is fed in
concrete bunk feeders in the fields,
and a circuit with the feed truck to
the five different farms can be
completed in about two hours. The
only, part of the feeding program
coming from off the farm is
vitamin and minerals added to the
feed and specially ground feed for
the show Cattle.
The beef cattle are only a small
part of J.C. Enterprises which is
owned by Jim and Carl Dover
spike. Cattle were started as a
sideline to utilize the land they
owned after it had been "stripped”
for coal. Presently J.C. En
terprises is involved in drilling for
natural gas, owns a small house
building crew, and Carl Dover
spike is the president of Keystone
National Bank. Although begin
ning as a sideline, it is evident that
J.C. ■ Enterprises considers the
Charolais business to be important
by the investment made in cattle
and hiring top management.
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In visiting with the men who
work on the farm, there is a feeling
that this is a unique situation. As
Les says, "There is no boss here.
We all work back and forth. ’ ’
"We” he explains is himself and
Randy Blose, who ..work mainly
With the cattle, and Paul Dover
spike and Bob Sailor, "the crops
men.” Paul is an uncle of the
“Doverspike boys” who own J.C.
Enterprises.
"I’ll put Paul’s more than 200-
bushel-to-the-acre com grown on
some of this reclaimed land up
against that grown in Lancaster
County any day,” boasts Les.
“Paul is just a top crops man.” Les
estimates that their 300 acres ot
corn averaged 150 bushels per acre
this year. Not bad for old strip
mines!
Royal Charolais' Hickory Lane Professor was International Livestock Exposition held in
awarded the National Grand Champion Bull Louisville, Ky.
title during competition at the North American
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This row of silos marks the spot for one of the National Reserve Junior Champion bull,
western Pa.’s fast-growing, award-winning Kruger.
Charolais farms J.C. Enterprises, owners of
The nucleus of the J.C. Charolais brood cow what was once scarred, strip-mined land and is
herd weather the first snow of the year on now rolling pasture fields.
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mcaster Farming, Saturday, November 28,1981—A41
Bob Sailor has a.special job in
addition to the regular crops. He is
responsible for the apple orchard
which-is another sideline.
Les is quick to point out that no
one is afraid of doing more than his
share of the work. If Randy and
Les need a hand with the cattle,
Paul and Bob come to help. Les
says that is one of the advantages,
"I also have a chance to get in a
tractor seat a couple of tunes a
week, and 1 like that.” '
But how do they coordinate all of
this! Over coffee, of course. After
chores are done they try to get
together and line up the tasks for
the day or week.
In talking with Les about future
plans for J.C. Enterprises it is easy
to see he has his thoughts m line
and doesn’t hesitate to start in on a
list. Les says he-plans to be doing a
lot of artificial insemination
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breeding on the present purebred
herd which includes several "495”
daughters, offspring of the
Reserve National Champion Bull
m 1974. He plans to use Gallant
semen in the program. Plans also
include beginning embryo tran
splants on four or five of the best
cows, and traveling this winter to
look for a few foundation cows and
possibly a new herd sire.
And competing in the showring
will continue, but only at a few of
the more important national
shows. “It just isn’t feasible to
travel to a lot of shows anymore,”
says Les.
The future of the J.C. En
terprises Charolais herd looks
bright, for both their show cattle,
winners in Louisville, Kentucky
and the home herd in Ringgold.
J.C. Enterprises Charolais will be
a name to watch for in the future.
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