04-LanMßttf' Farming Saturday, August t, .1987.
UNIVERSITY PARK Beef
feeders, cow-calf operators and
beef producers are invited to attend
the Cattlemen’s Summer Field
Day at the Greystone Manor Farm
near Lancaster on Sat., Aug. 22.
Co-sponsored by Penn State’s
College of Agriculture, the Penn
sylvania Cattlemen’s Association
and the Pennsylvania Beef Coun
Meat Plant Operators
“Rule The Roost”
In Soviet Union
•
Although many meat plant oper
ators in the United States have fre
quent complaints about govern
ment interference in their opera
tions, they cannot appreciate what
a good situation they have com
pared to counterparts from the
Soviet Union. That’s the assess
ment from Lev Blitschtein, for
mer Deputy Administrator for the
Ministry of Meat and Dairy in the
USSR, and a recent visitor to
AAMP headquarters.
AAMP had worked since the
late ‘7o’s toward Blitschtein’s
release from the Soviet Union,
where he was labeled a “refusnik”
because of his desire to leave that
country to come to the United
States to be reunited with his wife,
daughter and son, who emigrated
here in 1975. He was granted
approval to come to the U.S. by
Soviet officials four months ago.
Blitschtein said the USSR has
more than 56,000 meat inspection
and control officials. There are
about 900 meat plants in that coun
try and virtually all production is
destined for Moscow and
Leningrad.
“It is considered a privilege to
live in a city like Moscow,” he
said, “because of the better availa
bility of products like meat You
cannot live there without receiving
an official government stamp
authorizing you to do so.”
“But it is the meat plant mana
gers who are among the most
popular and influential people in
the whole country,” he continued.
“They are more important than the
mayors. Because all meat produc
tion is destined for the cities of
Moscow and Leningrad, everyone
wants to know and meet these
important plant managers. They
can get anything... airline tickets,
tickets for an event, or hotel
reservations.”
The former official said bureau
cracy and the system works against
production, noting that a small
plant would have to have a mana
ger, assistant manager, chief engi
neer, assistant engineers, and an
entire entourage of bureaucrats
involved. Everyone watches
» 7one at the government level.
J then, of course, you would
need four or six guards for a small
plant, or everything would disap
pear,” he added.
Bhtschlein is currently working
for Fancy Foods, a poultry distri
butor in New York City, and drove
to Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, to
thank the Association for its efforts
in assisting with his release,
'fter touring the Association
Jquarters and a few small meat
cessing operations, Lev
icmarked about the computeriza
tion. “It’s true that we had compu
ters in the Soviet Union, "but only
the boss had one anc[he watched it
all day to see what the meat prices
were so he could buy. The othei;
Field Day For Cattlemen Aug. 22
cil, the field day features commer
cial exhibits, demonstrations and
discussions. Topics include feeder
cattle type, feeder cattle health
updates and operations manage
ment for finishing and grading.
Penn State animal scientists
Lowell L. Wilson, Clair Engle,
Bill Henning and Jim Gallagher
have been working with industry
computers work, but they don’t
work well without any information
in them, and nobody wants to give
any information about anything'.
It’s like having a computer and not
being able to plug it in,” he said.
When asked about his impress
ions of the United States, he gets a
moist glaze over his clear blue
eyes, and calls it “a paradise... it is
a paradise that I only dreamed
about, and that dream came true!”
representatives and representa
tives of the Pennsylvania Beef
Council on the program. Beef spe
cialists will be on hand to discuss
day-to-day issues of cattle
operations.
Other topics covered at the field
day include the cost of gain in rela
tion to fatness: cutability, lean
yield and profit; new beef pro
ducts; beef promotion and educa
tion efforts; and boxed beef
merchandising.
“This year’s field day is targeted
to cattle feeders,” says Gallagher.
In the past we’ve targeted prog
rams to cow-calf producers, but
since most of the feeding opera
tions are in the Southeast part of
the state, we thought this field day
should focus on their needs.”
Participants are invited to take
part in a beef eating quality evalua
tion, which will be held over the
noon hour.
At 1:00 p.m. Dr. Terry Docker
ty, a Northeast beef and veal mer
chandiser for the Beef Industry
Council and a former extension
meats specialist at Cornell Univer
sity, will give a presentation on
“Beef and Veal Promotion,
Research and Education Prog
rams: What are They and Why are
They Needed?”
Glenn Paris, of West Beme,
New York, who finishes 3400
cattle annually, will then give a
talk on “How We Manage Risk in
Our Feeding Operation.” A panel
of packers, producers and buyers
will comment on the guest
presentations.
The Greystone Manor Farm is
located on route 272, five miles
Breezeview Rams Score High
Marks in Colorado, Louisiana
ATGLEN Chester County’s
Breezeview Farm has a reputation
for turning out blue ribbon Suffolk
breeding sheep and market lambs
for sheep exhibitors in southeast
ern Pennsylvania, and that reputa
tion evidently spread as far west as
Colorado.
Breezeview owners Joan and
Bill MacCauley journeyed to the
Top of the Rockies Sale in Long
mont Colorado in July, where one
of their yearling rams placed fifth
in a competitive field of 146 year-
east of U.S. route 30 toward Ephra
ta. There is no pre-registration or
fee for the field day. All are
welcome.
For more information contact
Penn State’s department of Dairy
and Animal Science at (814)
863-3668 during the day or the
Pennsylvania Cattlemen’s Associ
ation at (814) 238-5888 or (814)
355-7884. You can also contact
your county Penn Slate Coopera
tive Extension Service.
lings. The Suffolk then went on to
outdo the show’s champion at sale
time, gamering a bid of $4,250
from Illinois shepherd Rollie
Rosenboom.
The Colorado sale came on the
heals of another MacCauley vic
tory in June, when one of their
homebred yearling rams took
champion honors at the Eastern
Stud Ram Sale in Staunton, Virgi
nia. After winning the 100-head
yearling show, the ram sold to a
Louisiana breeder for $2,000.