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BY JACK RUBLEY
LANCASTER At the end of its
third week, the veal calf cer
tification program is receiving
nearly unanimous veal industry
support,from the farmer to the
packer, says USDA assistant
deputy director Dr. M.A.
Waguespack.
Instituted by the USDA’s Food
Safety Inspection Service on June
4, the calf certification program is
an effort to eliminate the use of
sulfa drugs in bob veal calves.
Commonly used to treat
pneumonia and scours,
sulfonamide withdrawal times are
generally too lengthy for use in bob
veal calves which are slaughtered
during the first few weeks of life.
Known throughout the packing
industry as “green gut” animals,
veal calves with sulfa residues are
easily recognized when butchered
by the green discoloration of the
stomach.
According to Penn State ex
tension veterinarian Dr. Larry
Hutchinson, the undesirable side
effects of consuming sulfa-treated
veal can include allergic reactions
in hypersensitive individuals, and
a build-up of resistance to an
tibiotics which may decrease their
effectiveness when used in the
treatment of disease.
A survey this week of a number
of Pennsylvania livestock auctions
and packers tends to support
Waguespack’s assessment of the
program’s success. In fact, the
most common complaint
registered by processors and
auctions concerns the program’s
voluntary status.
“I think the program is a good
thing,’’says Chester Reed of C.M.
Reed Sons, a meatpacking firm
based in Intercourse, “but it ought
to be a law or be eliminated
altogether. Packers have to
cooperate and buy only certified
calves because the testing (of
uncertified animals) takes the best
part of 24 hours. That ties up our
coolers too long.”
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- VENTILATION FANS -
SUSPENSION
MOUNT
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Guarding
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OSHA
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ie 23,1984
Calf certification to begin 4th week
Reed maintains that those
markets refusing to participate in
certification penalize packers by
effectively eliminating themselves
as a source of calves.
Saul Kaplan, president of I.
Kaplan Inc. of Olyphant, agrees.
One of the country’s largest
processors of veal, Kaplan
believes that the answer to drug
residue control lies in complete
cooperation between farmers,
auctions and packers.
“We’re not buying any un
certified calves,” Kaplan stresses,
“and we’d like to see full
cooperation from the auctions.”
Mike Petruzzi, a Kaplan buyer
also feels that the program’s
voluntary basis is a mistake, and
that auctions refusing to par
ticipate are not being fair to the
farmers.
“I’ve seen whole pens of 25
(uncertified) graded calves go for
25 cents (per pound). Nobody
buying uncertified calves is going
to be willing to pay market value,”
Petruzzi says. 1
Scott Yokum, manager of Penns
Valley Livestock in Centre Hall, is
also well aware of the price dif
ference spawned by the cer
tification program.
“I tell farmers they’ll get twice
as much for their calves by cer
tifying them,” Yokum says, “and
so far no one’s refused.”
Like many others, Yokum would
like to see the USDA either “on the
boat, or off” with regard to cer
tification. He also expressed his
concern that the “boat” is not leak
proof. Yokum noted that on some
larger farming operations, drug
treated calves may occasionally be
accidentally certified. He also
stated that farmers sometimes
find it difficult to be available to
sign certification papers when
livestock haulers arrive for
pickup.
Since the program began, Penns
Valley has been separating un
certified calves and marking them
with a plain, manilla ear tag.
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Progress report:
Though the auction’s commission
rate has not been raised because of
the extra paperwork and handling,
Yokum says that it may be
necessary to do so in the future.
After deciding to identify all
certified calves with a permanent
plastic ear tag, New Holland Sales
Stables began passing the cost onto
the sellers through a 50-cent fee.
Abe Diffenbach, co-owner of the
auction stresses that the fee barely
covers the cost of the tag itself.
Diffenbach acknowledges that
the program is working better than
he thought that it would, and he
voices his support.
“We don’t want anybody eating
meat from ‘green-gut’ calves,”
Diffenbach asserts. “It’s for the
protection of the consumer,and it
helps to keep the buyers in
business. I haven’t heard any
complaints from my packers,” he
adds.
Walt Keister reports that about
90 percent of the calves coining to
his auction in Middleburg are
certified. Despite the added ex
pense associated with separating
animals and processing the
paperwork, he feels that the
program is going smoothly at
Keisters.
“A farmer with calves to sell
would be foolish not to certify
them, ” Keister says.
At Lancaster Stockyards, Ken
Smoker reports that buyers and
sellers have been responsive to the
program.
“During the first week, we sold
some uncertified calves,’’Smoker
says, “but since then all of our bob
veal calves have been certified.”
Smoker finds farmers to be very
cooperative, and states that
auctions refusing to certify have
been inadvertently driving some of
their buyers to Lancaster
Stockyards.
Smoker foresees certification to
be a trend that will gradually spill
over to all forms of livestock going
for slaughter in future years.
But Dr. Waguespack emphasizes
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that his agency’s certification
program was only designed as an
“emergency interim rule”, to be
phased out when the problem is
determined to be under control.
Waguespack stressed that
auctions not participating in the
program are penalizing them
selves and farmers by limiting the
buying clientele to non-packers.
“A large percentage of non
certified calves going to slaughter
are being condemned,” he said,“so
the only buyers who can profit by
purchasing uncertified calves are
those raising fancy veal,
WASHINGTON - Federal
researchers and the national
florist industry will share costs and
cooperate in a special effort to
improve and develop new floral
crops and help boost U.S. exports.
Announcement of the new
government-private sector
research effort came today from
Terry B. Kinney, Jr., ad
ministrator of the U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture’s Agricultural
Research Service, and Vincent P.
Adamo, president of the SAF
(Society of American Florists)
Center for Commercial Hor
ticulture.
They said the floral industry will
provide' $250,000 and USDA will
match that amount in grants to
support the research over the next
five years.
Kinney said scientists will do the
initial research at the USDA
agency’s Florist and Nursery
Crops Laboratory at Beltsville,
Md. The scientists will work on
fresh flowers and flowering and
foliage plants, including species
not now found in this country.
“Florists comprise an industry
of mostly small firms without
researchers and research
agricultural
$500,000 made available
for floral crop research
high performonce
ceiling fans.
(slaughtering at 14 to 16 weeks
allows ample time for drug
withdrawal) or looking for
replacement heifers, or raising
their calves as feeder steers.
“Our objective is to reduce the
incidence of violative drug levels
in the calf population,”
Waguespack summed up. “We’re
currently monitoring samples on a
monthly basis, and when the
desired level is reached we would
like to phase out the program. I
foresee the certification continuing
for one or two more calving
seasons,” he predicted.
facilities,” said Kinney. “They
face increasing foreign com
petition.”
About 30,000 of the country’s
growers, wholesalers and retailers
and affiliate organizations are
represented by the floral in
dustry’s national trade
association. In 1982, the industry
grossed $6 billion.
Kinney said the partnership
could lead to further cooperation
for the systematic introduction of
new floral crops in the United
States.
Howard J. Brooks, the agency’s
national program leader for
horticultural crops, said the
Beltsville laboratory will first
conduct research on evaluating the
growth and flowering of a diverse
range of plants.
Beltsville researchers also will
assess domestic and foreign
varieties for their insect and pest
resistance and their adaptation to
tissue culture and
micropropagation for quicker and
greater production of plants.
Next, USDA researchers and
florists will evaluate potential new
crops in their regions and report
results to Beltsville, Brooks said.
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