F2-UMMW Satutdafc ilardrais,-* *■
Repeal For Heifer Tax?
WASHINGTON, D.C. It
appears likely that Congress will
act this year to repeal the so-called
“new heifer rule” that has turned
out to be a tax and bookkeeping
burden to cattlemen.
On Feb. 3, Rep. Byron Dorgan,
D-N.D., and 33 cosponsors intro
duced legislation that would repeal
the measure in the Tax Reform Act
of 1986 that requires cattlemen to
maintain records on the costs attri
butable to each animal, and disal
Lebanon County Livestock
PRESCOTT—The night’s fes
tivities began with feasting on the
fatted calf and swine and finished
with a fanfare of congratulations
far everyone at the Lebanon Coun
ty Livestock 4-H Awards banquet
The big winners were the club’s
outstanding members, being rec
ognized for their involvement with
and commitment to the club. Wen
dy Atkins and her brother, Danny,
of Lebanon took home two of these
honors with Wendy being recog
nized as the Outstanding Rookie
Member and Danny being the Out
standing Junior Member. Joining
them was 14-year-old John Risser
who was named the Outstanding
Senior Member.
Awards were distributed to win
ners of the Pen Decorating Contest
and Swine Record Keeping Com
petition. They were Pen Decorat
ing; Tony Elbing, first place,
swine; Wendy Atkins, second
{dace, swine, first place, sheep;
Amy Hamish, third place, swine;
Jason States, second place, sheep;
Alice and Amy Smith, third place,
sheep; Danny Atkins, first place,
beef; Leigh Hitz, second place,
beef; and Yvonne Folk, third
place, beef.
Winners of the Swine Record
Keeping contest were: Daryl Bom
gardner, first place, senior; Tony
Ebling, second place, senior;
Kathy Blatt, third place, senior;
Danny Atkins, first place, junior;
Kathy Bomgardner, second place,
junior; Amy Hamish, third place,
junior; Wendy Atkins, first place,
rookie; Jon Hamish, second place,
rookie; and Justin Lehman, third
place, rookie.
Special recognition was given to
Jack Reed of Manheim and G.
Harold Bucher of Annville, who
have supported the club for a great
many of years. Both Reed, who
works for Agway Inc., and Bucher,
of Peoples National Bank, are
retiring from their ag-related jobs
this year.
EC
CO
lows deduction of those costs until
the animal goes into production.
Rep. Hal Daub, R-Neb., said the
provision was put in to keep inves
tors from “farming the tax code.”
Although a repeal this year
would be too late to cover 1987
taxes, the Dorgan legislation calls
for the repeal to be made retroac
tive to Jan. 1, 1987.
Reprinted from the February 18,
1988 issue of “Drovers Journal.”
4-H > ers Honored
he Lebanon County Pork Bowl team
received special honors for their hard work, which paid off
In a championship for them. They are, left to right, Jay Kleln
felder of Myerstown, Darren Grumblne of Myerstown, Dan
ny Atkins (front) of Lebanon, and Daryl Grumblne of
Myerstown.
Jty ig livestock members
are, left to right, John Rlsser, 14; Wendy Atkins, 9; and Dan
ny Atkins, 11.
Annvllle, received special recognition from livestock club
members for their years of support.
Beef Decoupling
WASHINGTON, D.C.
USDA’s proposed rule to permit
the decoupling of yield and quality
grading will give packers more fat
trimming options. Whether the
companies will take advantage of
the opportunities remains to be
seen.
USDA Feb. 3 published a prop
osed rule to separate yield and
quality grading. The action was in
response to a petition from the
National Cattlemen’s Association
and American Meat Institute.
Under decoupling, packers will
be able to hot-fat trim carcasses on
the slaughter floor. With yield and
quality coupled, graders are unable
to determine the yield grade if the
fat has been removed prim* to grad
ing. Under current rules, if a car
cass is graded, both the yield and
quality grade must be determined.
Under the proposed change, a
buyer, such as a retailer, would
have the option of buying beef that
is graded only for quality, or for
yield; or both. It wouli rnakc it . Rqprinted fromtheFebruarylS,
easier to sell graded, dimmed beef. 1988 issue of “Drovers Journal.”
Fat And Egg Weight
About 30 years ago, it was
reported that com oil in the laying
radon resulted in increased egg
weight Since then it was found
that the linoleic acid of com oil
was responsible for the increased
egg weight. In this study, the above
observadons were confirmed.
Hens were fed diets differing in
oil content oil source, and linoleic
acid concentradon from 22 to 69
weeks of age. Egg size increased
as linoleic acid content increased
up to 2.75 g/hen/day. Further
increases had no significant effect.
Increasing the intake of readily
absorbable oil without increasing
linoleic acid concentradon did not
Two articles in the November
1987 issue of the Journal of Poul
try Science could have future
implications on the method of pro
viding supplemental heat to broil
ers. The first article presented the
results of a series of experiments in
which broilers were started on lit
ter and provided with two different
supplemental heating programs.
All the broilers were placed on lit
ter and the environmental tempera
ture of the room was maintained at
80 F for the first 6 days. Supple
mental heat was provided by two
250 W infrared lamps per pen. On
day 7, the environmental tempera
ture was reduced to 61 F and half
the pens were maintained on con
stant supplemental infrared heat
The other half of the pens were
equipped with microswitches con
nected to a microcomputer that
was capable of independently turn
ing on the infrared lamps of each
pen upon activation of the micro
switch. Initially the birds’ curiosi
ty caused them to strike the switch.
During the learning phase (day 7)
each activation of the microswitch
resulted in a reward of 1 minute of
supplemental heat. During the data
collection phase (day 8 and after)
the reward period provided 4
minutes of supplemental heat.
Analyses of the data revealed no
significant treatment differences in
weight gain or feed efficiency. The
chicks that were able to obtain heat
by activating the microswitch only
selected about 20 minutes of sup
plemental heat, were exposed to
approximately three times as much'
supplemental heat without an
improvement in feed efficiency.
The results indicate that when
given a choice, chicks do not vol
untarily choose a consistently
warm environment. However,
weight gain and feed efGciency are
not different from chicks provided
with constant supplemental heat
The second article describes a
series of experiments in which
result in an increase in egg size.
There were no differences in egg
production or food consumption.
Comment: When pullets start
laying and small egg size is a prob
lem, increasing tinoleic acidlevels
in the ration might speed the prog
ression of egg size to attain large
eggs at an earlier age.
Study - Response of egg weight
to the inclusion of various fats in
layer diets. R.H. Scragg, N.B.
Logan and N. Geddcs, Colbum-
Dawes Nutrition Ltd., British
Poultry Science 28:15-21 (1987).
Reprinted from the February
issue of “Egg Industry.”
Broiler and
Turkey Talk
by
Forest Muir
Associate Professor of Poultry Science
Penn State University
7-day-old broilers were randomly
allocated to three treatments. The
environmental temperature of the
room was keptat6lFandthe three
treatments consisted of continuous
supplemental infrared heat, inter
mittent supplemental infrared heat
(4 min on, 2 min off, 10 cycles per
hour) and intermittent supplmental
heat from microwaves (2 min on, 4
min off, 10 cycles per hour)
The results revealed no treat
ment differences in body weight
gain during the 14 day experiment.
The feed efficiency for the chicks
receiving continuous or intermit
tent infrared heat did not differ sig
nificantly. However, feed efficien
cy of the chicks receiving infrared
heat was superior to the chicks
receiving intermittent microwaves
as the heat source. This research is
some of the first reported using
microwaves for brooding chicks.
As this research continues and dif
ferent microwave heat cycles are
investigated, the feed efficiency of
chicks brooded on some micro
wave heat cycles may be equal to
the performance of chicks brooded
on infrared sources.
The results of the research pre
sented in these two articles indi
cate that future broiler and turkey
flocks may be brooded in a man
agement system which allows the
birds to select their own level of
supplemental heat. The supple
mental heat for these flocks could
possibly be from microwave
sources.
References: W.D. Morrison and
coworkers, 1987. Performance of
large groups of chicks using oper
ant conditioning to control the
thermal environment. Poultry Sci.
66:1758-1761.
W.D. Morrison and coworkers,
1987. Performance of male broiler
chicks exposed to heat from
infrared or microwave sources.
Poultry Sci. 66:1762-1765.