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PB—Lancaster Faming, Saturday, April 9,1983
McVEYTOWN - Raymond
Bratton is not just another
Charolais breeder. He is into it in a
big way with 140 purebred
Charolais cows on his 400 acre
farm and ambitious plans to ex
pand herd size to 160.
Bratton first became interested
in this breed when on a big game
hunt in Wyoming. Bratton saw a
herd of Black Angus cows with
their grey colored calves rounded
up by cowboys. Later he was told
that the cows were bred to a
Charolais bull.
“I couldn’t believe the size of
those calves,” he said. “They were
almost as big as the cows.”
The memory of those calves left
its impression on Bratton and
before long he had Charolais
calves of his own.
The Bratton herd is now split into
Limousin breeders to meet
COLUMBUS, Oh. The Eastern
Limousin Breeders Association
will hold its annual show and sale
Saturday, May 7, at the Ohio State
Fairgrounds, Columbus, Oh.
This event will be held in Cooper
Arena with the show to start at 2
p.m. and the sale to start at 6 p.m.
Approximately SO to 60 head will be
selected to sell. There will be
purebreds, full bloods, and per
centage bulls, cows, bred heifers
and open heifers.
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Just one of the important
benefits you get with
Safeguard equipment!
At Eastertime, a lot of parents buy bunnies
or chicks for their children. But as the fun
of the holiday fades comes the inevitable
question: What are we going to do with
them now 7
Tins year you can keep the smiles on
your children's bees by giving your new
bunnies or chicks the proper protection of
Safeguard science-engineered cages and
accessories. Safeguard has everything
from sanitary, all
metal enclosures to
watering systems,
feeders and nest
boxes. Even 100 ft.
Charolais breeder sold on big round bales
three groups of 40 cows each and
one group with 20 head. One bull
can efficiently service a group.
The grouping system is working
well according to Bratton, who is
experiencing a better than 90
percent conception rate by pasture
breeding. He estimates that
another eight percent, the problem
breeders of the herd, are being
serviced by AI.
Weaning weights for bulls last
year averaged 750 pounds with one
bull tipping the scales at 840.
Heifers average 650 pounds and the
average weaning age is 185 to 188
days.
His feeding program consists of
green-chopped rye fed in April.
Cows are sent to pasture during
May and remain there until late
November.
Bratton feeds a mixed hay of 15
The annual meeting of the
Association will be held Friday
evening May 6 at the Ramada Inn
North (sale headquarters). The
dinner will begin at 6:30 pm with
the meeting to follow. The meeting
will be for the purpose of electing
three directors and open business
to the members. Other items on the
agenda are the discussion of
Association sponsored shows,
summer field day and Fall sale.
The new directory will be
described.
rolls of welded wire-mesh Just about ev
erything you need for the proper care and
protection of your small qnimals and
gamebirds
And it all sells at low, direct-to-you
prices. For a firsthand look stop in at the
Safeguard Factory Showroom. 114 Earland
Industrial Park, Building #l..Just east of
New Holland. PA off Route 23. Phone (717)
354-4586.
Safeguard
percent high quality alfalfa and 85
percent grass during late spring
and summer. In late fall and
winter the cows get first-cutting
hay fed free choice plus 25 to 40
pounds of corn silage daily.
Good quality hay is used to
supplement the pasture in later
months and vitamins and minerals
are fed during the winter.
Calves are creep fed from 300
pounds until weaning. At this time
a grain ration of between 12 and 13
percent protein is fed free choice.
As yearlings, the heifers are fed
the same roughage diet as the
cows.
Of the 150 acres of com grown
last year, 100 acres were used for
silage and the remaining acres
were in ear com. Next year he
hopes to decrease his com
operation to 100 acres of silage
com while increasing his hay crop
to 300 acres.
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“I got pretty good com yields,"
he said, “100 to HO bushels per
acre, but the heart of this operation
is hay, not com.”
With 3 00 head to feed a basic diet
of hay, Bratton is a firm believer in
large, round bales. He found that
cattle waste less hay if they have to
pull a mouthful at a time from the
large bale as opposed to picking
the loose hay of a small bale from
the ground.
Bratton said he can’t afford to
pay the labor costs of baling small
since he only employs one hired
man.
The mechanized work enables
him to move bales to the pasture
daily with little labor.
“The key to getting good quality
hay from large bales year round,”
he said, “is to get good hard shell
bales for water runoff.”
Bratton claims the large bale is
the best way to feed a cow-calf
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herd. They eliminate costs in
storage facilities and assure good
quality, unmoldy hay at a low cost
per ton.
Last year Bratton baled five
hundred 1800 pound bales for
himself and another two-hundred
bales for his neighbor, as well as
baling 100 acres of com stover.
He uses a New Idea round baler.
A diversified market for his
cattle has made his beef operation
highly successful. Most heifers are
sold to kids for FFA or 4H projects
and bulls are sold to purebred or
commercial breeders. Last
summer he was able to sell 80 head
of steers at 84 cents per pound
when local prices were at 63 cents.
Bratton said there is plenty of
managing connected with running
a profitable cattle operation but
that he is looking forward to a
successful future with his
Charolaisherd.
Enjoy the AFFORDABLE prices are
security of STRONG, LONG- hard t 0 bcat!
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Call these toll free numbers:
. Outside PA, 800-245-6902
In PA, 800-442-6823 RD 01 Blairsville
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Laidig 98 and 198 for Forage
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