WEST FRIENDSHIP, MD - people. But, according to Mary E. .“Actually,” she says, “the
lention of the 12th annual sheep F. Streaker, general chairman festival is an extension of the
id wool festival immediately this is only the beginning of the philosophy of the Maryland Sheep
injures up sheep shows and craft image. Breeders Assoc.-to' provide an
Maryland sheep and wool festival set for May 4-5
Lancaster Firming, Saturday, April 27,1985-A29
opportunity for the sheep producer
to market his wares and for the
consumer to purchase such
commodities m a convenient
manner.”
Dates for the festival are May 4
and 5. Location is the Howard
County Fairgrounds, West
Friendship, Md., just 1-70. This
unique festival is believed to be the
largest such event m the country,
hosting more than 10,000 last year.
Maryland Sheep Breeders
Assoc, was formed many years
ago as a non-profit organization.
Aside from the fellowship of those
engaged in a similar agricultural
pursuit, perhaps the foremost
purposes were to operate a wool
pool and hold a spring market
lamb sale.
The wool pool, held each June in
Timonium, collects, grades and
sells the annual clip to one mill,
thus affording the producer a
market for his wool. Traditionally,
the organization held a market
lamb sale each spring, again to
provide a market, this tune for
meat animals. This since has
evolved into a feeder lamb sale and
a carcass contest.
Under sponsorship of the
Maryland Sheep Breeders Assoc.,
the festival began 12 years ago at
Carroll County Fairgrounds. Many
of the participants have been, and
are, both producers and crafts
people.
Hand spinners had for some
years haunted the wool pool for
fleeces, especially naturally
colored ones, which, incidentally,
are treated as ‘reject’ at the pool
since colored wool is unacceptable
to the manufacturer. The practice
resulted m so much confusion that
the wool pool authorities ‘invited’
the spinners to go ‘elsewhere’. The
‘elsewhere’ became the festival,
where both white and colored
fleeces were offered. This still is
Breeder benefits from Jersey
genetic recovery program
COLUMBUS, Ohio - When Tom
Coopernder was about to graduate
from Ohio State University, he was
pretty sure he wanted to return to
his father’s Jersey dairy farm.
“But I didn't want to do it unless
they were registered,” he said.
At the same tune, Dick Kellogg,
a Genetic Recovery agent for The
American Jersey Cattle Club, was
visiting unregistered Jersey herds
in Ohio’s Licking County and
stopped in at the Cooperrider dairy
near Croton.
Tom’s father, Theron, had
always milked Jerseys, but
registration papers were never
important to him. When Tom met
Dick Kellogg, he enrolled m the
Genetic Recovery program
without a second thought.
Genetic Recovery identifies and
records unregistered purebred
Jerseys. Since its adoption in 1975,
over 75,000 Registered Jerseys
have resulted.
“We had records going back I
don’t know how many years,”
explained Tom. “Dick came by m
1978, sorted it all out and got us
organized.”
The result was Tom’s dream; his
Buttercrest Registered Jersey
herd. Milk production has in
creased dramatically, the herd has
gone from Owner-Sampler to of
ficial DHIR testing, all cows are
scored under the AJCC’s Type
Traits Appraisal Program and
Buttercrest Jerseys are promoted
in each month’s issue of the Jersey
York wool sales
YORK York County’s sheep Conservation Service. In 1983, wool
growers received about $19,559.50 incentive payments totaled $14,254,
for their 1984 sales of shorn wool ASCS began issuing wool
and unshorn lambs, according to payment checks to 118 local far-
Harry Wolf, chairman of the mers on April 9,1985.
Agricultural Stabilization and
the custom, but a fleece com
petition has now been added. Hand
spinners now buy their fleeces at
the festival, or make
arrangements with producers to
visit their farms to obtain wool.
As the festival grew, a larger
location was sought and the
Howard County Fairgrounds, West
Friendship, bacame home. A huge
building houses more than 100
crafts, but competitions such as
fine arts, garment and skeun and
fleeces. The availability of so
many buildings guarantees both
participant and spectator an
‘under-roof’ situation.
Activities include shows for
white wool sheep, natural colored
sheep, purebred Romneys and
feeder lambs. An auction of
breeding sheep was included last
year and will be a featured at
traction in 1985. More than 500
sheep and lambs were penned at
the fairgrounds last year.
In addition to the sheep brought
to the festival to compete in the
shows, representatives of more
than 30 different breeds of sheep
will be displayed in one barn. An
effort is made to exhibit so-called
“exotic” breeds not normally
shown at county and state fairs.
A welcome addition last year,
according to Mrs. Streaker, was
the lamb cook-off contest, to be
repeated this year.
Other activities include a
shearing contest, working sheep
dog demonstrations, lamb cutting
demonstrations, fashion show,
king and queen contest, spinning
contest, sheep to shawl contest, 4-H
and FFA sheep judging contest.
“If it has to do with sheep or
wool, we will cover the subject,”
promises Mrs. Streaker. “There
truly is something for everyone.”
Admission and parking are free.
Grounds will be open from 9 a.m.
until 6 p.m. both days.
journal.
Where surplus heifers used to be
sold at common market prices,
promotion and top genetics have
encouraged buyers to look for
Buttercrest consignments at top
state, regional and national Jersey
sales.
In addition, having well bred and
well managed Registered Jereseys
has captured the attention of
several national artificial in
semination organizations.
Coopernder has contracted for the
sale of young bulls with Select
Sires in Ohio, American Breeders
Service in Wisconsin and Car
nation Genetics in California.
Top genetics and top
management have combined to
produce the top Jersey herd in
Ohio for milk production. The most
recent rolling herd average on the
123 cows was 14,445 lbs. milk, 5.1%
fat, 729 lbs. fat, 3.8% protein and
553 lbs. protein.
All animals, including heifers,
are bred AI, using only the top high
PD bulls and selected young sires.
An agressive feeding program is
followed which includes alfalfa
hay, corn silage, wet brewers
gram and a pelleted gram. The
milking cows are fed 8 tunes a day.
“Everything is going quicker
and better than I thought it
would,” mused Tom. “It’s hard to
understand why everyone with
unregistered Jerseys doesn’t jump
on the Genetic Recovery band
wagon.”