02-Lancaster Farming Saturday, July 1,1989
Wanger Shows Champ At Penna Fair Sheep Show
BENSALEM (Bucks Co.)
Competition was tough at the Pen
nsylvania Fair’s first annual open
sheep show. A total of 68 head
were shown in classes for Suffolk,
Columbia, Hampshire, Shrop
shire, and Dorset. Judge Tim
Flcener of Robesonia also selected
champion market lambs.
Lee and Louise Wanger of Eas
ton exhibited the champion pair of
Dorsets, of which the ewe was
judged to be supreme champion of
the show.
William MacCauley of Phoe
nixville showed a ram and ewe that
Beef
Briefs JfL
TTA M
NO ADVANTAGE FOR
ROTATIONAL GRAZING?
I was fortunate enough to attend
the recent annual meeting of the
American Forage and Grassland
Council. One of the research pre
sentations ended with the follow
ing statement: “There is no advan
tage to using an intensive grazing
system as compared to a continu
ously grazed pasture.” This seems
to contradict many of the results
found when comparing these sys
tems, so it does require a little clos
er look.
The work was done in Virginia
in the last year by Dr. Vivian
Allen. The study compared cows
with calves and yearlings on either
a 16-paddock, intensively grazed
system or a continuously grazed
pasture system. For (he cows and
yearlings, the pastures were fescue
and red and white clover. Six cows
and their calves and six yearlings
were grazed on eight acres in the
intensive system, with the year
lings grazing ahead of the cows to
remove SO percent of the standing
forage. All calves were allowed to
creep graze the next paddock.
£bout 55 percent of the pasture
was grazed by the cows during the
early part of the season, while the
remaining 45 percent was
harvested for hay, with regrowth
then being grazed. On August 1,
the yearlings were removed and
the smaller portion was fertilized
with 80 pounds of nitrogen per
acre and stockpiled for fall
grazing.
The continuous system again
used S 3 percent of the pasture for
grazing by the cows. The remain
der was used for yearlings and
creep grazed by the calves with the
excess being cut for hay. On
August 1, the yearlings were
removed, the pasture was fertil
ized, and the growth was stock
piled for fall grazing.
The results showed cow weights
and total gains per acre of calves
and yearlings were greater for the
continuous system compared to
the rotational one. While differ
ences between the systems was not
great for the calves, yearlings
gained .2 pounds per day more and
HAY REQUIRED FOR METABOLIZABLE E
AT DIFFERING MATURITY
(LBS; HAY PER DAY)
Requirement Early Midbloom Late
(ME kg) Harvest Harvest Harvest
Cattle Class
Pregnant Heifers
Dry Cows
*
Lactating Cows
beat out the competition for
champion Suffolk honors. Top
Columbia honors went to produc
ers from Flemington, N.J. LMZ
Columbias showed the champion
ram, while theZachman family led
out the champion ewe.
The champion Shropshire ram
was owned by Wey Farm of Kutz
town, and the champion ewe was
out of the Gold Star Shrops herd,
which is in Fleetwood. Wey Farm
also did well in with their Hamp
shires, coming home with both
champion ram and ewe honors.
In the market lamb division,
by
John Comerford
Penn State
Beef Specialist
cows weighed 69 pounds more in
the fall on the continuous system.
However, hay harvest was almost
twice as high in the rotational
pastures.
Have we been making a mis
take, then, in promoting the use of
rotational grazing systems? I don’t
think so.
First, the use of the stockpiled
fescue is a key to the success in this
type of program. Fescue, for all its
apparent disadvantages, can be
stockpiled and provide some
excellent fall grazing. Dr. Harold
Harpster here at Penn State is cur
rently running a trial with sheep to
find some fescue varieties that will
suit Pennsylvania. Our fall is
somewhat shorter in most areas of
the state compared to Virginia, so
we cannot usually expect to get the
advantage of fall grazing com
pared to more southern areas.
Secondly, this was a pretty good
' continuously grazed system. It was
designed to take full advantage of
matching forage growth with
livestock needs by employing dif
ferent classes of cattle, creep graz
ing, and stockpiling. Finally, these
results may .change over time
because of years with more “nor
mal” rainfall and a change in com
position of the forages in the
pastures.
As these things usually do, it
was interesting hear this concept of
grazing systems had come full
cycle and some negatives were
being “discovered.” However,
don’t sell any of the electric fence
just yet.
FEED VALUE AND
HAY MATURITY
The constant rain through May
and now extending into June has
caused a serious delay in hay
harvest over most of the state. It
has now reached the point where
feed quality is being effected. Pro
ducers should remember two
things in this regard: feed quality is
is reduced as the hay becomes
more mature/and it will therefore
take more pounds of hay next wint
er to meet the nutritional needs of
the cow. The following table using
alfalfa will illustrate the effect of
increasing maturity on feed value.
17.1
16.4
19.2
Kennianne Rarrick of Fleetwood
won the purple rosette, while a
lamb exhibited by the'Saul FFA
chapter captured the reserve Spot
Proposed Watershed
Project Announced
MORGANTOWN, WV. A
watershed protection project is
proposed for the Reedy Creek
Watershed to reduce excessive
erosion and improve grass and
legume cover oh pastureland.
Reedy Creek drains 84,100 acres
in Roane and Wirt counties.
If the project is approved, local
farmers will receive accelerated
technical .assistance and cost
sharing to plan and install erosion
control measures.
The local sjionsor is the Little
Kanawha Soil Conservation Dis
trict. The U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Soil Conservation
Service (SCS) would provide
technical and financial assistance.
A pre-authorization planning
report is scheduled to be com
pleted in October.
The 440 farms in the watershed
average 150 acres in size. The
major enterprise is beef cattle,
with a small number of sheep
farms. Of the 13,340 acres of pas
ture, 8,010 acres have been identi
fied as needing treatment
For the dry cows and steers there
-should be no problem in meeting
needs even with more mature hay.
The crunch comes on the pregnant
heifers and the lactating cows. It
becomes questionable with these
two'groups if they can consume
enough of the mature hay to meet
their needs on a daily basis. We
frequently recommend the use of a
forage analysis on hay to deter
mine the actual vale. If there ever is
a time to take advantage of this
information, it .is years like this
when there will be some pretty
wide variation in the quality of the
hay being made.
CATTLEMAN’S FIELD DAY
The Pennsylvania Cattleman’s
Field Day will be held at South
Mountain Farm near Gettysburg
on July 15 starting at 9:30 a.m.
This should be a great day for fam
ilies, 4-H and FFA members, and
anyone interested in the beef busi
ness to attend. The program will
include a judging contest, hoof
trimming demonstration, fencing
demonstration, a discussion of
feeding Holstein steers for beef,
and updates from the Pennsylvania
Cattleman’s Association and the
Beef Council.
A special feature of the program
will be a panel discussion about the
problems and opportunities in the
beef business. Several large and
small operators will discuss the
things they think are important in
their operation and what they
believe the opportunities are for
the future. Also included are tours
of the nearby battlefield, the inno
vative and progressive Mason-
Dixon Dairy Farm, and Mary and
Ray Grimes’ South Mountain
Farm Charolais herd. Lunch will
include the “Keystone Ribeye
Steak on a Roll” at a reasonable
cost of $2.
Make plans to attend, and if you
need any other information contact
me or Dr. Lowell Wilson.
;nergy needs
20.1 22.2 24.4
19.4 20.7 22.3
22.4 24.2 26.6
Lee Wanger has a firm grip on his Dorset fewe, which was
named the supreme champion of the first annual Pennsyl
vania Fair open sheep show.
Lawsuits Settled On
Hereford Perfection Butt
KANSAS CITY, MO. The
American Polled Hereford Asso
ciation (APHA) has settled seven
lawsuits, which sought $4OO mil
lion in damages, regarding the
1986 expungement of the bull
KLC RB3 Perfection from the
APHA record.
A special litigation committee
of the APHA board, working with
attorneys for both sides, nego
tiated an out-of-court settlement
approved by the APHA Board by
an 11 to 1 vote on June 13. This
agreement involves no financial
payment to plaintiffs, and will
save the association an estimated
$200,000 to $500,000 in further
costs. Committee members are
Bill Yowcll, Killeen, Texas, Dex
ter Douglass, Tallahassee, Fla.,
and Orville K. Sweet, Panora,
lowa.
Both sides agreed to a court
order of dismissal that provides*
1. Perfection is placed on per
manent ineligible status for
registration in the association, and
no animals sired by him conceived
after Aug. 1,1989, will be eligible
for registration in any APHA
record.
2. Perfection progeny will,
upon proper individual applica
tion, be recorded T>y APHA and
issued a certificate with a perma
nent “L” prefix to the registration
number rather than the “X” prefix
normally assigned to Polled Here
fords. “L” animals will be issued a
pedigree certificate to be designed
by the APHA, but may be of a dif
ferent color than “X” certificates,
and will contain different certifi
cation language and a footnote
explaining that Perfection’s dam
is included on the certificate based
on the affidavit of his breeder.
Any future animal with an “L”
prefix animal in its pedigree will
only be eligible as an “L”. No pro
vision was made for “L” animals
to become “X” animals.
3. “L” animals may be shown in
Polled Hereford National and
APHA-sponsored SOP shows
beginning in November 1990,
under the conditions as may be
approved by the APHA Board in
its sole discretion. “L” animals
can show in other shows under
rules set by each individual show.
4. “L” animals may participate
in sanctioned bull tests and perfor
mance programs. They may be
advertised in the breed’s official
publication, Polled Hereford
World, and may be issued artifi
cial insemination and donor dam
permits, all in accordance with
APHA By-Laws and rules.
S. In all activities and advertis
ing, these animals are required to
be identified by their “L” prefix
numbers.
6. Perfection’s breeder, Willard
Keith, Owensboro, Ky., perma
nently resigned his membership
from the APHA and has agreed to
never own, show or be actively
involved with Polled Hereford
cattle.
7. All parties executed mutual
releases.
Ken Harwell, spokesman for
the Kansas City-based APHA,
said, “We welcome the resolution
of this matter and look forward to
working again with those breeders
who were inactive during the liti
gation period.”