NEWARK, Del. - Ten Delaware pork producers took part in a market hog performance test at the University of Delaware Georgetown test station this fall. Purpose of the test was to estimate feedlot performance, carcass merit and health status in par ticipating herds. The test, which was cosponsored by the Delaware Pork Producers Association and the Delaware Cooperative Ex tension Service, also gave in dividual growers an idea of how their herd performance compared to that of other producers in the area. According to extension livestock specialist Dr. Ken Kephart, who supervised the trial, a total of 60 pigs were consigned. Pigs were entered at an average weight of 75 pounds. Average daily gains were recorded for each animal throughout the test. Feed intakes and conversion rates were calculated for each pen. Pigs were fed longer than normal, Kephart FARMER BOY AG. INC. 410 E LINCOLN AVE Del. market hog test pinpoints problems says, so producers could see how their hogs performed at heavier weights. The average finishing weight was 252 pounds. Results show that these pigs continued to make economical gains even at weights in excess of 220 pounds. Overall, the pigs grew an average of 1.92 pounds per day with a feed conversion ratio of 3.07 pounds of feed per pound of gain. Hogs were followed to slaughter at Kling’s Meat Market near Dover. Carcass weights, backfat and muscling scores were recorded at die packing facility and these figures, along with the feedlot data, were used to calculate a lean pork gain index. The top-indexing pig in the trial was a York-cross barrow con signed by the University of Delaware. He gained 2.04 pounds per day with a feed efficiency of 2.98. His final weight was 276 pounds and he had 1.1 inches of backfat. The pen with the highest average index was consigned by SWINE & POULTRY SYSTEMS SPECIALISTS MYERSTOWN, PA 17067 PH 717-866 7565 Bruce Esham of Gumboro, Del. Dr. H. Wesley Towers, state veterinarian for the Delaware Department of Agriculture, conducted a slaughter health check. He found that 49 percent of the pigs had some degree of mycoplasma lesions in the lungs. Twenty-five percent had liver lesions, which indicates parasite migration. And 36 percent had at least some turbinate atrophy in the NY meat packer agrees to $7,500 penalty WASHINGTON, D.C. - Barry Alan Sablosky, a meat packer at Long Branch, N. J., has agreed to a $7,500 civil penalty and a cease and desist order from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A USDA official said Sablosky agreed to the order to settle ad- snout-a sign of atrophic rhinitis. Kephart says producers who took part in the program can use the test data as a guide in buying replacement stock. For example, if a pen of pigs averaged 1.92 pounds per day in growth rate, and 3.07 pounds feed per pound of gain in feed efficiency, the herdsman should attempt to find boars with records superior to these. With only 3 percent im- ministrative charges that he wrote bad checks and failed to pay for more than $163,000 worth of cattle purchased at public markets in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. B.H. (Bill) Jones, head of USDA’s Packers and Stockyards Administration, said Sablosky was also charged with beinv insolvent and failing to hdldtrust assets to ensure payment to cash sellers of livestock. Jones said a portion of the funds SMUCKER’S SALES & SERVICE, INC. RD #2, BOX 21 NEW HOLLAND, PA 17557 Jiskr) DIESELS 12-36 bhp FOR PROMPT SERVICE CALL ! 717-354-4158 OR IF NO ANSWER CALL 717-354-4374 : ■ SCHLESSMAN'S HYBRID CORN * Plan To Attend Our ANNUAL DINNER MEETING WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 3,1985 At The Schaefferstown Fire Hall Reservations By December 27th ALFALFA #1 in plot of 18 varieties including Pioneer - Saranac AR - DeKalb BOYD’S WETFOOT LOOKS BEST NEW AND EVEN BETTER - BOYD'S 84 VWAP yercilium wilt Anthranose fhylophthora ALFALFA SEED OATS rimimimimimimmam'mimimumim'mfmjmimimmnmimmfi ■TM HAPPY HOLIDAYS | | Best Wishes For A Joyous I I JK Holiday Season And A § X Happy New Year J WHOLESALE & RETAIL BOYDELL FARMS 302 lona Rd. Lebanon, PA 17042 Phone (717) 272-8943 k 4 Lancaster Farming Saturday December 22, 1M4-D5 TS2/TS3 AIR COOLED SEPQP DIESELS provement in these figures, the grower could save over $1.50 per hog marketed in feed and overhead costs. If pigs were sold grade and yield, and improvements were made in carcass merit, (he savings would be even greater. Detailed results of this test are available by writing: Extension Livestock Specialist Dr. Ken Kephart, University of Delaware Substation, R.D. 2, Box 48, Georgetown, DE19947. owed for livestock was paid from Sablosky’s statutory trust fund and bond. In agreeing to the order, Sablosky neither admitted nor denied the administrative charges filed by USDA in November 1983 under authority of the Packers and Stockyards Act. The cease and desist order, similar to a permanent injunction, was issued to insure future com pliance with the Packers and Stockyards Act. TWINES
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers