D4-Lancaster Farming Saturday, August 18, 1990 David Kradel Hcibert Jordan Milton Madison Penn State Poultry Pointers I Herbert Sie ;el Donald Singleta; LOST PIGEONS AND OTHER BANDED BIRDS Robert J. Rugaber Senior Extension Agent Dept, of Poultry Science Escaped ornamental, utility, or performing pigeons and lost young racing homers are often reported during the summer and early fall months. The finder sincerely wants to return the bird to its rightful owner but may not appreciate how diffi cult it can be to do so. If the bird does not have a seamless alumi num or plastic covered seamless aluminum band attached to its leg, the task will probably prove to be impossible. Tame, unbanded birds probably belong to a nearby child. Seamless bands will be stamped with the initials of the issuing body, the year, a serial number, and in the case of racing homers, the local club abbreviation. Exam ples might be AU for The Ameri can Racing Pigeon Union, Inc.; IF for International Federation of Homing Pigeon Fanciers, Inc.; NPA for the National Pigeon Association; and so on. There are dozens of other clubs sponsoring specific breeds of pigeons. Because most fancy and utility breeds are relatively poor fliers, their owners can usually be located in the immediate neighborhood. The fancy varieties are often much larger or smaller than the common street or bam pigeon. They come in colorful patterns, unusual shapes, and a wide variety of feath er arrangements. Utility or so called squab producers arc large and heavy muscled like a small broiler chicken. Racing homers and to some extent the flying performers such as tumblers, rollers, and tipplers make up more than 95 percent of all stray domestic pigeons. Most will be young homers lost in train ing or on a race. The usual young bird race sea son in Pennsylvania runs from Angus Breeders (Continued from Page D 3) Reserve Grand Champion Female North cole American Maid, Exhibitor Northcote Farm & Creswell Farm Inc , both of Forest, VA Cow-Calf Pairs 14 Shown Bred-and-Owned Grand Champion Cow with Natural Call Lone Bear Miss Burgess 386, Exhibitor Aaron Blessing. Middlebrook, VA “Owned" Grand Champion Cow with Natural Call & Overall Champion Cow-Calf T C Peggy Sophia 5140, Exhibitor Northcote Farm, Forest, VA & Oklahoma State Univer sity Stillwater, OK. "Owned" Reserve Grand Champion Cow with Natural Calf & Overall Champion Cow- Calf Renatas Miss Liberty R6Ol, Exhibitor Darrell Bowman, Waynesboro, VA “Owned" Grand Champion Cow with Embryo Calf BHL Miss Canada 28W, Exhibi tor Mistwood, Rapidan, VA & Bethany Hill, Waynesboro, VA “Owned" Reserve Grand Champion Cow with Embiyo Calf Bymley Vanessa, Exhibitor John Hausner, The Plains, VA Supreme Champion 4 S Pioneer, Exhibitor Pioneer Associates, Aldie, VA Group Claates Get-of-Sire Northcote Excitement, Exhibi tor Northcote Farm, Forest. VA & Bear Creek Ranch, Cameron, MT Junior Get-of-Sire Northcote Excitement, Exhibitor Northcote Farm, Forest, VA. & Bear Creek Ranch Cameron, MT Produce of Dam Shadybrook Valerie 127, Exhibitor Northcote Farm, Forest, VA Morris Mast August through October. A dead giveaway that you are dealing with a racer is the presence of a latex or rubber leg band. These are called countermarks and are the means of establishing a bird’s arrival time at home. Countermarks are numbered and/or lettered on both sides. An AU or IF will usually be found on the permanent seamless band as well. For example, a bird banded AU9OBUT6O9 would have been issued m 1990 by the American Racing Pigeon Union to their affil iate club in Butler, Pennsylvania. The club secretary would know to what member that band had been issued. Band lists are distributed each year for reference. Most of these lost race birds are only tired or confused and if unhurt may be successfully returned home by providing water, a grain such as wheat, whole or cracked com, and a place to rest quietly for a day or two. More time will be needed for very thin, exhausted travelers. Once the pigeon has recovered sufficiently, pick a morning when the weather report is favorable and release it five or more miles from where it was first found. This usu ally triggers the homing instinct and the pigeon heads for home. An open area free of high ten sion wires, trees, and tall buildings makes an ideal release site. If this fails, contact a pigeon feed dealer and ask for the names of local pigeon fanciers who may be will ing to take the bird off your hands. GASOLINE POWERED, 21 HP MOWN MACHINE DELIVERS RUGGED, RELIABLE PERFORMANCE. If your job is grounds maintenance, not equip ment maintenance, then Woods state-of-the art model 3150 with "out-front” mower deck, zero degree turning, finger tip maneuverability and more is your kind of equipment Woods model 3150 is designed to meet all the de mands of commercial mowing ATTACHMENTS; Mowar decks are available in 52”, 61” and 72” cutting swaths with side discharge for even distribution of cut material Grass-Vac is avail able with both 52" and 61" mower decks The 13 cu ft capacity metal hopper features an operator activated gravity dump Snow Thrower clears 47" path Heavy duty 12" dia steel auger throws snow up to 20' through uni directional chute conveniently contro'led by the operator Versatile 48” dozer .blade can be set straight ahead or 25 degrees to either side Blade is raised and lowered by either hand or foot control Sweepaler'* brush clears 48" path PTO powered, tough nylon brush is preset 30 degrees to the right Division ol Hstslon Corporation LAMBS FARM WM. HOBENSACK’S MACHINERY SONS Thorndale, PA ivyland, PA 21S-269-2676 215-675-1610 R.?. HOLLINGER & THOMAS POWER SON, INC. EQUIPMENT Mountvllle, PA Avondale, PA 717-285-4538 215-268-2181 Another solution is to have the pigeon released by someone going 50 to 100 miles or more so that the homing instinct might be shocked into action. Costs of express mail, air express, or other means of return ing a bird to the rightful owner are usually several times more expen sive than the bird’s value. Some owners will, however, travel a long V ,r if) 0> c b distance to recover a particularly F A R MANAGEMENT PASTURE RENTAL RATES Alan W. Strock Farm Management Agent Pasture quality varies widely across the state and rental values are figured numerous ways, often based on tradition rather than logic. For example, Lancaster County pastureland often rents, regardless of quality, for $25 per year. Pasture rental rates may also vary widely even in a small community. Ultimately the rental rate should reflect the value of the forage or the value of nutrients to the lives tock being pastured. Rental rates should also be acceptable to the landlord and the tenant. The local supply and demand conditions for both forage and pas tureland play an important role in determining pasture rental rates. This article provides several methods to calculate pasture rental rates to be used as a standard against which to set your rates. Using historical relationships Fair pasture rental rates can be woods m 1 mow'n machine valuable specimen or offer to pay shipping. Wild song birds, ducks and geese, etc. banded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or licensed private bird banders should be reported to the U.S. Fish and Wild life Service Bird Banding Laborat ory, Office of Migratory Bird Mgt., Laurel, MD 20811. If other directions are on the band, follow thdm. < • 3 *1 < ■?' ' v >." " established using the historical relationship between pasture rental rates and selected farm commodi ties, according to Dave Petritz, Purdue University ag economist. Petritz said that pasture rent per beef cow per month has tradition ally been equal to these two formulas: (1) 2.2 times the per-bushel price of com. (For example, 2.2 x $3.15/Bu = $6.93/head/month or $0.23 head/day.) (2) The price per hundred weight of fed cattle divided by 11. (For example, $77.00/cwt./l 1 = $7.00/head/month or $0.23 head/ day.) To calculate the annual per-acre rental rate, multiply the number of months the animals will be on pas ture by the per-head estimates, then divide this value by the num ber of acres of pasture needed to carry a cow during the grazing sea son. (For example, 6 months x $6.95/head/month A).BSA/cow = $49.06/year/acre = $0.27/day/cow.) ...come in for a demonstration MANOR NESLEY EQUIPMENT INC. EQUIPMENT CO. Sinking Spring, PA PotUtown, PA 215-678-0828 215-469-6391 N.H. FLICKER & SONS, INC. Maxatawney, PA 215-683-7252 RW KELLER SALES Perkasie, PA 215-2t’*7'olol The following references may Xl*'* 1 ' Annual rent calculation be helpful: • American Racing Pigeon Union, Inc. AU Bands, Russ Bums, Secy-Treas., P.O. Box 2713, South Hamilton, MA 01982, (508) 927-3631. • International Federation of Homing Pigeon Fanciers, Inc., IF Bands, Marie Rotondo, Secy- Treas., 107 Jefferson Street, Bel mont Hills, PA 19004, (215) 664-0266. This is assuming a grass alfalfa mix that would provide forage for 1.18 cows per acre (annual yield of 3 ton of hay/year), a 1,200-pound cow consuming 29.41 pounds of dry matter per day, and 70 percent pasture utilization. Animal units and pasture quality calculations Another way to calculate pas ture rent is basing the rent on animal unit equivalents and pas ture quality, according to William E. Mcßeynods, extension animal scientist from Washington State University. Pasture consumption is highly related to animal weight. An ani mal unit (AU) is defined as a 1,000-pound mature cow. Thus, a 1,200-pound cow would constitute 1.2 animal units. To calculate ani mal units for growing dairy or beef animals, calculate the average weight of the animals while on pasture and divide that by 1,000 to get the portion of an animal unit. Pasture quality values EXCELLENT (0.30 factor). Seeded grass or grass legume pas tures, abundant growth, tender with no blooms or seed heads showing. GOOD (0.25 factor). Abundant growth of seeded or native grasses or legumes, but less palatable gras ses than the “excellent” class or with a high proportion of plants in the early to late bloom or seed stage {Turn to Page D 5) PIPERSVILLE GARDEN CENTER Pipersville, PA 215*766*0414
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers