D2—Unostw Farming, Saturday, Hovtmber 17,1984 LIVESTOCK LATEST ter- 'uVi \K-A Walter Club Calf Sale set Friday BY JOYCE BUPP Staff Correspondent AIRVILLE - Remember Annette Walter’s 1983 Farm Show champion steer, which topped previous farm show steer auction records at $l2 per pound? Some of “J.D.’s” half brothers are among the sales listing for the Walter Family Club Calf Sale, set for Friday, November 23, at the Shady Lane Dairy Sales bam in Quarryville, beginning at 7 p.m. This is the sixth year that the Donald Walter family of Airville R 2, has assembled a collection of top-quality spring calves, especially geared toward use as project animals by 4-H and FFA members. Assisting with the sale will be Walter’s wife Marianne, and daughters Brenda and An nette. In addition to a sizeable following of local supporters, this sale draws buyers from as far away as Tennessee. “It started as a hobby,” claims Walter. “You have to love to do this, to take this gamble.” The show success rate of animals from this sale is im pressive. Three of ihe top four entries in the recent October county beef roundup were pur chased at last year’s auction. They included Yorker Jenni Druck’s champion, the reserve of Red Lion member Mary Godfrey, and John Eaton, Jr’s., top placing heavyweight and contender for the championship. Eaton’s animal additionally had won both the 4-H fair and York Fair top award, over another sale-mate purchased by Donald Godfrey, Red Lion, the reserve winner. Earlier, at the May premier show, another Walter sale selec tion earned championship honors for Dover 4-H’er Ed Livingston, placing over the second-high Eaton entry. Walter, a veteran beef KILE's 'Golden Fleece' PIIREBEP FflßAißs.Ch’ & FFCFS * Truman Calvert of Calvert Farm, Spraggs, Pa. had the first place exhibit of five fleeces at the Keystone International Livestock Exposition. The Merino Fleeces were judged on individual merit and uniformity of type, stable length and character of the combined exhibit. Calvert also raises Cheviots, Shropshires and Dor sets. <o\ r: Club calf sale preparation means plenty of hours spent in clipping and fitting. Donald and Marianne Walter admire the lines of one of the Angus calves taking its turn in the grooming chute. producer with a practiced “eye” for cattle selection, favors animals of crossed purebred lines, primarily Angus and Chianina. “The Angus puts on thickness, and the Chianina cleans up the front ends and gives a little more size and growth,” is his evaluation of the success of that combination. The majority of this year’s sale individuals originated on the same West Virginia cattle ranch which produced the now famous York insurance executive Art Glatf elter put the steer shown by Annette Walter, in her final years as a 4-H’er, on the record books with bis $l2 bid. Selection for the annual sale begins about the second week of September. In picking his sale choices, Walters insists on calves with good width in the back end, and cleanness of the front aid, for growthiness and show potential. After several years of selecting and observing the raising of his own youngsters’ project animals, Walters has definite ideas about a rookie member’s first calf. Prime consideration, he advises, is the animal’s temperament. “Buy a quiet calf,’’ he ad monishes. “It’s better for an inexperienced, small youngster to have a good, quiet calf, even if it doesn’t show at the top of its class. After all, what good’s a champion if you can’t handle it?” Observe the calf before the sale, if at all possible. Notice if the animal seems relaxed, and if people can work around it. And, most important, watch the eyes, he suggests. If a calf just watches, follows a person’s every single move, beware. It may have a skittishness that might never be completely tamed. In three days, Walter figures he can generally tell a calf s basic KILE's top feeder calf Champion feeder calf at the Keystone International Livestock Expo was exhibited by Pat Barker of Barker Brothers, Kendallville, Ind. The Angus-Chianina crossbred calf was out of the Chi bull Ironio. KILE FEEDER CALF SHOW CROSSBREDS AND PUREBRED STEERS OF OTHER BEEF BREEDS Pens of Five Feeder Steers I Robert Sherwood WV 2 Michael McClintic WV 3 Oldfield Cattle Co MO Champion Pen Robert Sherwood WV Reserve Champion Pen Michael McCiintic WV CROSSBREDS AND PUREBRED HEIFERS OF OTHER BEEF BREEDS Pens of Five Feeder Heifers I Messick Farms PA 2 Brown s Ranch Inc PA Champion Pen Messick Farms PA Hog performance really boils down to two items - environment and genetics. Because of the animal welfare issue, researchers have been taking a closer look at the environmental end of hog production. And they’re not just asking questions like, “How fast did the pigs grow?” and, “How much feed did they eat?” They’re also studying stress factors in the blood, or the immune system to see how these things are affected by confinement. Here’s a sample of some recent experiments. Tethers, Stalls Or Hogs Does it stress a sow when you put her in a gestation stall? And how long does the stress last? Scientists at the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Nebraska used cortisol, blood component, to measure stress. On the first day of {he penning arrangements, they found levels of stress to be highest in tethered sows. Sows in open pens had the lowest cortisol levels, while those in gestation stalls were somewhere in between. By day three cortisol levels had dropped in all groups. And by day eight, there were no differences in cortisol levels among sows regardless of how they were penned. So tethers and stalls do seem to upset sows-but they apparently adjust in about a week. Forced Exercise Researchers at the University of temperament, depending on how it has settled down after being haltered and acclimated to being around people. Calves going through the family’s club calf sale will weigh inthe 375-550 pounds range, and will be basically halter broken. “Feed to grow them,” is this expert’s advice on raising a top calf. That includes a ration of (Turn to Page D 4) Reserve Champion Pen Brown $ Ranch Inc Gettysburg PA Grand Champion Pen of The Show Robert Sherwood WV Reserve Grand Champion Pen Michael McClintic WV SINGLE FEEDER CALVES 350 to 495 tbs Lightweight 1 Robert Sherwood WV 2 Workland & Cattle Co PA 3 Stanßoadcap VA 500 to 650 lbs - Heavyweight 1 Barker Bros IN 2 Highview Farm OH 3 LynnKyger VA Champion Feeder Calf Barker Bros IN Reserve Champion Feeder Calf Highview Farm OH Guelph decided to take a second look at how forced exercise might affect farrowing performance. You’ll recall a similar study in Georgia where forced exercise provided only limited benefits to sows. The folks in Canada, however, showed there is some merit to exercising sows. By forcing a sow to walk a mile and a quarter a day from breeding until day 108, they found that sows farrowed faster. And fewer pigs died before suckling. A significant number of non-exercised sows took more than 12 hours to farrow, whereas all the exercised sows farrowed within 12 hours. Artificially Raised Pigs Scientists at Kansas State compared two methods of raising newborn pigs- on the sow, or artificially reared after the second day of age. After three weeks, sow reared pigs weighed 12.6 pounds compared to only 6.1 pounds for the artificially reared group. And just as bad, the pigs weaned at two days had only a half-normal capacity for generating white blood cells. So their ability to fight disease was severely impaired. The argument against artificial rearing gets even stronger wheig you consider that many sow* weaned at two days won’t cycle; and most won’t settle. ' Tnnriag Back The Thermostat At Night The University of Nebraska decided to see what would happen when the nursery temperature was turned back at night for four-week oid weaned pigs. During the day, researchers maintained two nurseries at 77 degrees. But at night one nursery was kept at 68 degrees, and the temperature was reduced two more degrees each subsequent week. By doing this they saved 31 percent in propane costs and 20 percent in electricity costs. Pigs in die reduced temperature scheme grew an average of 10 percent faster than those in the con ventional group. Feed efficiency was similar for both groups. No pigs died in the control group compared to 1.6 percent in the low temperature group. Using Fat To Reduce Dust Scientists at the University of Nebraska, in two studies, used a high-fat diet to reduce dust leveb in a finishing house. Compared to a normal com-soy diet, the ration, containing 5 percent tallow, reduced aerial dust by 49 percent and settled dust by 29 percent. In the first study lung lesions in the control group were more severe than those in the high-fat group (63 percent vs. 39 percent). The in cidence of abnormal turbinates (an indication of rhinitis) was about the same in both groups. Pigs receiving tallow grew seven percent faster on 10 percent less feed. So despite its higher costs, fat seems to provide a lot of benefits. These experiments and others like them give us a lot of in formation. Some of these answers aren’t the kind we like to hear since they could add fuel to the animal welfare fire. But the animal welfare question is like many others. You can’t make the right decisions witnout good hard, data.
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