A3O-Lancast«r Farming, Saturday, August 10,1985 Record-setting Ram Lamb Sale held at Penn State BY SALLY DUNMIRE Staff Correspondent UNIVERSITY PARK - Penn sylvania’s 7th Performance Tested Ram Lamb Sale was held Aug. 3, at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Meat Animal Evaluation Center, adjacent to the Penn State campus. Of the 40 ram lambs on test, 29 qualified for the sale, including 14 Suffolks, two senior Dorsets, nine junior Dorsets, two Hampshires, one Cheviot and one Shropshire. To round out the event, 43 ewes were offered for sale, representing the Suffolk, Dorset, Hampshire, Cheviot, Shropshire, Columbia, Merino and Southdown breeds. A few crossbred females were also offered. “All the rams were handled Thomas Hopkins and daughter Penny pose with their newly acquired Suffolk ram, purchased from Lynn Laudenslager. Crafts, canines, crops highlight Sheep Field Day BY SALLY DUNMIRE Staff Correspondent UNIVERSITY PARK - The Ag Arena was the festive scene of the first annual Sheep Field Day and Craft Show, on Aug. 2 and 3, sponsored by the Pennsylvania Sheep and Wool Growers Association, the Pennsylvania State University, and the Penn sylvania Department of Agriculture. Breeders, wool crafters and “Perky," a Border collie owned by Walt Jagger, is put through his paces for an interested crowd during the working sheepdog demonstation. identically, then were evaluated and tested on a number of criteria,” said Glenn Eberly, the center’s director. During the initial seven-day adjustment period, the animals were allowed to settle into their new surroundings, were wormed and introduced to their feed before the test began. The 84-day test period ended July 16. During the test, the sheep were self-fed a ration of cracked corn, rolled oats, linseed oil meal pellets, soybean oil meal, Selenium premix, Bovatec 68 premix, wheat middlings, high zinc salts, potassium chloride, limestone, vitamins and antibiotics, plus a small amount of hay. Each ram was then performance rated over the test period for i , X fencers were on hand for the many educational and fun demon strations that included lamb cooking, dying wool with kool-aid, a sheep shearing contest, lamb cutting and the Thompson Highlanders. A sheep-to-shawl demonstration began Saturday morning and the resulting wool shawl was raffled off at the end of the day. The lucky raffle winner was Nancy Guilford of Emporium. Both days, 29 exhibitors of sheep average daily gam, dan, gain ratio, weight per day of age, weight per day of age ratio, fat and fat ratio, loin and loin ratio (done ultrasonically), height and scrotal circumference. All rams were then evaluated against each other using an index ratio derived from the above traits. Top selling ram honors went to a Penn State Suffolk ram, Penn State 8526, a twin bom Jan. 24, 1985, to a Penn State sire and dam. Beginning the test on April 23, at 112 pounds, the top ram finished at 205 pounds, for an average daily gain of 1.11 pounds and a gain ratio of 106 percent. Patrick Flynn of Silver Springs, Md., was high bidder at $525. Two more Suffolks also tied for second highest selling honors at $5OO. The first of these was another Penn State ram, Penn State 8533, bom Jan. 25, that registered an average daily gain of 1.15 pounds and a final index of 108. This ram went home with John Scott Jr., of Princeton, W.Va. Thomas Hopkins of Georgetown, Pa., also paid $5OO for his ram, consigned by Lynn Laudenslager of Dalmatia. Bom Jan. 2, to a Narrow Lanes sire and an Arlo Farms dam, he registered an average daily gain of 1.01 pounds and a final index of 97 percent. Hopkins also purchased four ewes at the sale. r v^ In the senior Dorset division, the top selling ram, consigned by Peter J. Levan of Bellefonte, logged an ADG of .73 pounds and a final index of 104 percent. The ram went to Dean C. Morey of Huntingdon Valley for $4OO. A commercial producer who runs 180 ewes plus 80 replacements, Morey also bought two other rams at the sale. “We grow for the meat market and prefer Suffolks and Dorsets,” Morey said. “We crossbreed them to improve their vigor. ’ ’ The top selling junior Dorset was a Nix Besser Farms, Narvon, consignment that produced a final index of 114 percent. This ram went to Delaware Valley College in Doylestown for $4OO. In the Hampshire division, Mr. and Mrs. Clyde Brubaker of Lancaster sold their Blu-Acre 85-13 ram to Welty Keenan of Hunker for $460. The top selling Hamp posted an index ratio of 112 percent. products, as well as those selling sheep necessities such as fencing, pens and shears, were on hand to display their wares. Of special interest to flock owners, were Saturday’s workshops that featured fencing, sheep forage pasture of brassicas, working herd and guard dogs, and an Apple HE computer. Nigel Wall, originally hailing from New Zealand and now based in the State College area, does custom fencing through his company, Fenceline. He demonstrated how to properly install a double-braced, eight-high tensile smooth wire fence suitable for sheep. According to Wall, “If you do a good job on the bracing system, the rest will probably survive - so pay close attention to the bracing." To compute the materials needed and the cost for a high tensile fence, an Apple HE com puter software program was on display, developed by the PSU’s Department of Agricultural Engineering. Using input data for a 10-acre pasture with two gates and an electrified fence, the computer program quickly determined the cost ($1,557) and printed out the list of materials needed to construct the fence. This software is available free from (Turn to Page A3l) ■$ The - top-selling the senior division was consigned by Peter Levan (pictured). Buyer, at $4OO, was Dean Morey, Huntingdon Valley. The sale’s only Shropshire ram, sold by Shober-Calvert Farm of Mercer, brought a bid of $350 from Audrey Garmire, Huntingdon. This ram posted the sale’s top index ratio of 116 percent. Robert S. Burry, Jr., Elwood City, had the sale’s only Cheviot. Indexing 100 percent, Burry’s Rojo 234 ram was purchased by Tom Delanev. Centre Hall, for $9O. Breed Suffolk Dorset (Jr.) Dorset (Sr.) Hampshire Shropshire Cheviot Suffolk (12) Dorset (8) Hampshire (5) Cheviots (2) Shropshire (2) Columbia (2) Merino (1) Horned Dorset (1) Southdown (2) Crossbred (12) Dr. Sid Bosworth (center) discussed the merits of Brassicas as a sheep pasture forage. The sale’s 29 rams grossed $8,830 for a record-setting sale average of $304.48. “It was just an excellent sale, and very consistent throughout,” commented Eberly, noting that this year’s sale average bested the previous record, set in 1979, by nearly $lOO. Sale gross receipts and averages by breed are listed below. Total Receipts RAMS $5,230 $2,490 $ 650 $ 670 $ 350 $ 90 EWES $1,895 $1,920 $ 820 $ 175 $ 245 $ 270 $ 85 $ 110 $ 150 $l,OOO Average $375.57 $226.36 $325.00 $335.00 $350.00 $ 90.00 $157.92 $240.00 $164.00 $ 97.00 $122.50 $135.00 $ 85.00 $llO.OO $ 75.00 $ 83.33
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