D2-Lancaster Farming Saturday, October 19,1985
LIVESTOCK
LATEST
MANHEIM The Manheim
Farm Show capped a week of
livestock competition with the sale
of 77 head of beef, swine and sheep
on Friday, Oct. 11.
It was standing-room-only, as
buyers and spectators packed the
showring bleachers for the Fair’s
first sale to be held in the recently
completed hog and sheep barn.
Heading the list of show
champions to hit the auction block
was Karen Becker's grand
champion market hog, a 230-pound
Duroc-Spot cross that brought the
hog sale’s top bid of $3 a pound
from Hatfield Packing.
Overall, the sale’s 47 hogs
brought $7,882, for a sale average
of 74 cents, counting champions.
Top buyers included Hatfield
Packing with 15 hogs, Willie the
Butcher with nine head, White Oak
Mills, McCracken’s Feed Mill and
Penway Construction
The highest average price was
recorded in the lamb sale, with the
sale’s 20 head averaging $1.59 a
pound. The high selling lamb was
Manheim’s grand champion
exhibited by Ellen Lewis. At $3 a
pound, Willie the Butcher was the
top bidder. Mark Tracy’s reserve
champion went to White Oak Mills
for $l.BO a pound.
The sale’s most active r lamb
Look mom,
no hands I
Most sheep exhibitors
pride themselves in being
able to control their show
animals without a halter.
Some, like Carey Donches CARLISLE -An open Limousin
pictured watching Manheim ® ho t w> indudin g seven classes o f
Farm Qhnui cala heifers and seven classes of bulls,
. a ® aCt '.? n ,r ° m will become part of the Penn
tne sidelines, .don t even sylvania Farm Show for the first
need their hands. Livestock time in January, according to the
exhibitors are cautioned not state’s Limousin Association,
to try this with their steers. aosin B date for entri « s « Nov - 5.
Manheim caps Farm Show
week with livestock sale
buyers included Willie the But
cher, White Oak Mills, Engle
Business Equipment and Kreider’s
Dairy Farm and Restaurant.
The evening came to a climax
with the baby beef sale. Chad
Rohrer sold his 1,090-pound
champion FFA steer to Harold
Musser of Country Table
Restaurant, Mount Joy, who of
fered the top bid of $2.50 a pound
The steer sale’s second highest bid
of $1 15 was off'''-''' 1 *” 1 H
Chad Rohrer's FFA champion steer was the sale's top
selling animal. From left are buyer J. Harold Musser of
Country Table Restaurant, Mount Joy, Rohrer and Farm
Show Queen Rosie Wenger.
* ■ m
Jerry Clemens of Hatfield went home with Karen Becker s
grand champion market hog.
Brubaker of Manheim for Ahda
Farrington's 1,030-pound reserve
champion
The sale's 10 steers averaged 97
cents a pound, counting cham
pions.
Farm Show to include
Limousin cattle show
Premium lists are currently
available from Pa. Farm Sljow,
2301 N. Cameron St., Harrisburg,
17110. Phone: 717-787-5373.
For additional information
concerning the Limousin show,
contact Pa. Limousin Association,
2070 Ritner Highway, Carlisle,
17013. Phone; 717-243-1281.
The most active beef buyer was
Willie the Butcher, with three
head. Other steer buyers included
Fenway Construction, Mojer
Packing Co., Bomberger s Store
and Barry Hershey. Manheim
breeding
Early or late spring
lambing program
Early lambs, those ready to sell
by May or early June, are easier to
raise than later lambs. Hot
summer weather brings parasites,
mature and less nutritious grass,
and milk production drops, all
factors which bring lamb gains to a
stand-still.
Grazing trials show lambs gam
0.55 to 1 pound per day in May. In
June, however, daily gains slow to
0.50 pound, and July gams may
stop completely. This means
lambs should be born in time to go
to market in May and June or in
late August and September.
Producers wanting heavier lamb
weights during late summer
months need to consider con
finement feeding.
Early lambing requires more
feed for the mothers as well as
creep feeding for the lambs. Late
lambs can be raised with less labor
and concentrate feeds because
both ewes and lambs are depen
dent on pasture.
Fall lambing program
Generally, fall or early winter
lambing will be the most suitable
in areas with good winter feed,
limited pasture, suitable barns,
and high summer temperatures.
Ewes should be bred between May
20 and August 5 for mid-October to
late December lambing. Rams
should be turned back with ewes
during the month of September to
catch the ewes that were missed
during the earlier breeding season.
Lambs may be born on pasture or
in shelters, depending upon the
weather. Ewes and lambs may
graze aftermath permanent
pasture, crop residue, or winter
pastures, eg. winter rye,
brassicas, or small grains.
During late gestation <45 days
pre-lambing) ewes should be fed
grain and offered hay, depending
of course upon the pasture quality.
Lambs should be creep fed and
weaned at 70 to 90 days of age.
I>ambs not reaching the desired
market weights on pasture should
be confined and finished on gram
and hay. Ewes not nursing lambs
can be maintained on crop
residues, stock-piled pasture, hay
or a limited silage ration.
The breeding season
Early lambs to be kept for flock
replacements may be bred if they
weigh 90 to 100 pounds by July 1.
Shear them when they are first
weaned. Breed these ewe lambs
during October or November. As a
general rule, ewe lambs born at
other periods reach these same
desired breeding weights at 6
months of age.
Ewes will lamb 144 to 152 days
(five months) after they are bred.
They settle easier when they are in
good health and are making
moderate gains. Extremely rapid
gains may delay settling.
Body condition scoring has
become a useful management tool
for keeping high producing ewes in
production. More information on
the condition scoring and its use in
ewe management is discussed in
an Extension Fact sheet No. DAS-
Planning your
program
SH-83-4. "When too fat, ewes
should be reduced in flesh
beginning 40 days prior to
breeding. They must be brought
back into moderate rate of gain by
the time the ram n turned in. In
many instances the excessively fat
ewes are not the money-makers.
Remember, 150-pound open ewes
should gam approximately 30
pounds from the time they are bred
until they lamb. The amount of
flesh they carry at the start of the
breeding season can make the job
easy or difficult. Do not start them
too fat!
“Flushing" is a word used to
describe bringing about this
weight-gaining condition. Heavy
sheep that are free from parasites
and are on green, growing pasture
will be sufficiently flushed. Some
gram or brassica pasture 14 days
pre-breeding should produce a
flushing effect on the thin ewes.
The results are a shorter and
earlier lambing season with a
minor positive influence on in
creased multiple births.
Exposing ewes to a "teaser
ram” 17 to 19 days before the
scheduled breeding period will also
produce results similar to flushing.
Make sure ewes are parasite
free. Use a larvacide type wormer
(Tramisol) before the breeding
season.
Your ram should be a per
formance tested purebred. Do not
get caught using a scrub ram after
spending years developing a sound
breeding program.
Do not breed a ram lamb to more
than 20 ewes. A well-grown mature
ram, 18 months old, may be ex
posed to 40 ewes.
Before breeding time, treat your
ram for internal parasites, and
feed and exercise him so he carries
a moderate amount of flesh Gram
feed him if he is too thin Exercise
him if he is too fat If he needs feed,
give him a mixture of three parts
corn, three parts oats, and one part
wheat bran, by weight, and free
choice a quality grass-legume hay.
To help prevent hot-weather
sterility, shear the ram. Clip wool
from the ram’s testicles and belly
Also trim his feet, and get him
ready for a lot of walking. Keep the
ram out of hot weather by keeping
him up during the day and letting
him run with the ewes at night.
Avoid losing a lamb crop by
checking often to see if the ewes
are setting. A good way is to paint
the ram’s brisket with colored
material so that he marks the ewes
showing estrus. Make your paint
by mixing mineral or corn oil with
such powder as yellow ochre,
Venetian red, carpenter’s chaulk,
or lamp black. Change color every
two weeks. Apply to the ram’s
brisket every four or five davs.
If you do not care to check all
ewes during the breeding season,
use this compromise plan. Three
weeks before you plan to take the
ramaway, paint him. He will mark
the late lambers so you can pick
them out. It they should all get
marked, you will know a new ram
is certainly needed.
Ram management