A24-Lancast«r Farming, Saturday, April 6,1985
Ag Arena hosts 12th Pa. Bull Test Sale
BY JACK HUBLEY
STATE COLLEGE - Any way
you look at it, this year’s Penn
sylvania Performance Tested Bull
Sale was a cut above its 1984
counterpart. Last year’s event
failed to get off the ground
(literally) when a late March
blizzard dropped a foot of snow on
State College and collapsed the
sale tent, delaying the sale for a
week.
But with last Friday’s sale
staged for the first time in Penn
State’s shiny new Ag Arena,
Mother Nature knew better than to
try to crash the party, and sunny
skies prevailed.
Attendance, spirits and prices all
ran high, and it took a thousand
dollars more to go home with this
year’s number-one bull.
Of the 55 performance tested
bulls offered, a Polled Hereford
owned by Egleston’s Polled
Herefords of Elkland, Tioga
County, turned out to be the most
popular. Posting the test’s highest
index of 120, and an average daily
gain on test of 4.18 pounds, EPH
Klondike Banner 401 convinced
Jay Wysocki of American breeders
Service, DeForest, Wise., to offer
the winning bid of $3,600.
“This bull combined a variety of
outstanding traits that propelled
him into the top selling category,”
commented Meat Animal
Evaluation Center director Glenn
Eberly. “He was a very sound bull,
An army of Penn State Block and Bridle Club members
made sure that each bull looked his best at sale time.
Egleston Polled Here
and very consistent from birth
through the end of the test period.”
Eberly also noted that this was the
first time in its 12 years of per
formance testing that the center
has sent a bull to a major breeding
concern outside of Pennsylvania.
And with plenty of royalty in his
pedigree, it was easy to see why
the Egleston entry was able to
compile the winning statistics.
Sired by the famous Klondike
Banner 469 L, the young bull was
out of the Egleston dam that
manufactured this year’s Farm
Show grand champion female.
“It’s fun to come here and
compete with some of the top
breeders-ifs a good measuring
stick,” commented a smiling Mike
Egleston, after his bull left the sale
ring.
“A humble operation at best,” is
Egleston’s assessment of the
northern Pennsylvania dairy and
beef operation owned by himself
and his father. On their two farms
totalling 750 acres, the Eglestons
milk 40 Holsteins in addition to
running 40 Polled Hereford brood
cows. And in spite of the fact that
all the farm work is done by Mike
and his father, the younger
Egleston still finds time to teach
school. %
Egleston notes that both his
dairy and beef herds are bred AI to
take advantage of the top sires
available. The value of this
strategy was apparent elsewhere
ord garners top bid
The sun shone on Pennsylvania's Bull Test Sale last Friday, held for the first time in
Penn State’s Ag Arena. Both attendance and prices were up.
among the ranks of Polled
Herefords, with Klondike Banner
siring three out of the top four
indexing bulls, and four out of the
top five bulls being out of Vin
dicator daughters.
The sale’s second highest selling
bull was an Angus that posted the
top daily gam for the test’s 140-day
duration. Consigned by Richard
Stokes of Flemmgton, NJ, HSF
Skywalker 415 recorded an
average daily gam of 4.66 pounds
and an index of 116. (The index
incorporates average daily gam,
adjusted 365-day weight and ad
justed fat thickness scores, and
reveals a bull’s ranking only within
other members of his breed. In the
above example, an index of 116
means that this bull’s overall
performance was 16 percent better
than the average of all Angus bulls
James Bennett, (left) director of the American Polled Hereford Association,
congratulates Mike Egleston on his high-indexing and high-selling Polled Hereford bull.
Jay Wysocki (center) of American Breeders Service, was the buyer at $3,600.
MEDIA - Interested in starting
a small business, a part-time
business, home industry, part-time
farming operation or a family
business enterprise? The
Cooperative Extension Service of
The Pennsylvania State University
will conduct two four-part
Seminars that will provide you
with the information needed to get
off to a good start, says Greta C.
Vario, Extension Home Economist
with the Penn State Extension
on test.)
The top indexing bull among all
Angus entries, this Pine Drive Big
Sky son went to Edwin Yeo of
Lowellville, Ohio, for $2,900.
Another Angus bull, HF Her
cules 415, consigned by Huntingdon
Farm of Alexandria, earned the
third highest price, when Holder
Brothers of Gamaliel, Ky., offered
a final bid of $2,550. The only 7-
frame bull among all of the British
breeds offered, this big Angus
posted an average daily gam of
3.63 pounds on test and a final
index of 109.
In addition to the Polled
Hereford and Angus breeds,
Simmentals were well represented
at the sale. This year’s top selling
Simmental was MF Salvation 4,
consigned by Messick Farms of
Middletown. Post*"" average
Small business seminars set
The Seminars will include;
analyzing your market, optimizing
your location and facilities;
financial records necessary for
successful and legal business
management; taxes and tax
records; sources of financial
assistance-how to qualify and who
qualifies; planning advertising;
management techniques and legal
aspects of starting a business.
The Seminars will be held at
daily gain on test of 4.21 pounds,
and a final index of 113, this son of
Canadian Salvatore went to Byerly
Farms of Milton for $1,300.
The race for high sale average
could hardly have been closer,
with the sale’s 16 Angus finally
coming out on top by only 46 cents.
Angus bulls averaged $1,232.82,
with the<-17 Polled Hereford bulls
going for $1,232.36. Other sale
averages included 18 Simmentals
at $940.28, two Charolais at $1,025,
and a pair of Chianinas for $737.50.
By sale’s end, 98 registered
bidders had offered a total of
$61,125 for the 55 bulls.
"This was our best attendance
ever,” concluded Eberly, “ and in
light of beef prices during the past
three weeks, I think we had a very
successful sale ”
i
•O
Penn State’s Delaware County
Campus in Media, on April 25, May
2,9, 16 and at the Willow Grove
Mall on April 24, May 1,8, IS. Both
seminars will be from 7:30 to 10
p.m.
The Penn State Campus is
located on Middletown Rd., Route
352 north of the Granite Run Mall.
Register by April 15 by calling
565-9070 for the Media location or
489-4315 for the Willow Grove
location.
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