A36*Lancaster Firming, Saturday, February 22, 1992
Pork Producers
(Continued from Pago A 3O)
contest, the senior division (ages
16-19), first place winner was
Jason Woodling, who spoke about
“Pork: The Evolution.”
Jason, 17, of Troxelville, is from
the West Snyder FFA. Other plac
ings include second. Michael
Cornman, 18, Carlisle and
Timothy S. Lehman, 18, Mecha
nicsburg, third.
Junior division (ages 12-15)
winners included Lisa Zack, 12,
first; Ann Yoachim, 15, second;
and Adrienne Elkin, 14, third.
Annual Awards Banquet Held
The announcement of the 1992
Pork All American and the auction
to raise funds for promotional
activities were highlights of the
14th annual banquet held Wednes
day evening.
Steve Wilson, New Freedom, in
York County was named Pork All
American. Wilson has 130 sows
and a finishing operation that
includes the Yorkshire. Hamp
shire, and Duroc breeds. In the
Penn State boar test program com
pleted this month, Wilson had the
second high pen with a 144 index.
In accepting die honor, Wilson
credited his family and his work
with FFA and 4-H “as the place
where it all started.” He will repre
sent Pennsylvania at the 1992
World Pork Expo.
In the auction, hog equipment
and supplies donated by agribu
sinesses sold for a total of $6,483.
Billed as the 1992 legislative fun
New Terms,
Greater Meaning
GEORGE F. W. HAENLEIN
Extension Dairy Specialist
University of Delaware
NEWARK, Del. New buz
zwords can turn people off,
especially when these terms have
little meaning to us compared to
words like mastitis, ketosis, milk
fever, degradable protein, acid
detergent fiber, monocalciumpho
sphate, etc.
These, too, were buzzwords at
one time, but because we now
understand their significance, we
know they can mean big differ
ences in profit or loss in the dairy
business.
Two new terms are CATION
and ANION (pronounced like
"cat" and "iron" without the "r" and
like "Anne" and "iron"). We adopt
these terms from the disciplines of
chemistry and physics as they
relate to nutrition and the more
correct feeding of our dairy
animals.
In simpler, better-known terms,
cation and anion mean the acid
base balance in feeding rations, in
digestion and in the internal meta
bolism of the absorbed nutrients
afterwards.
Why not stick with the old
names?
Well, this is the age of molecu
lar chemistry, and understanding
nutrition at the molecular level
makes it easier to track down
causes of problems.
lons are the atoms or molecules
that make up nutrients. When
nutrients are absorbed into the
body, they break down into ions.
Either they are the electronically
positive-reacting ions like cal
cium, magnesium, zinc, sodium,
potassium, iron, selenium and
iodine, etc. Or they are the ions that
arc electronically negative
reacting like chloride, sulfate, pho-
Age group 8-11 winners were
Mark Parrish, 11, first and Charlie
Glass, 11. second.
Judges for the senior public
speaking contest included Mary Jo
Cancelmo, executive director,
FFA Foundation, DickPoorbaugh,
Clearfield County agent, and Andy
Andrews. Judges for the junior
division were David Bailey,
Northumberland agent; David
Hartman, Cumberland agent; and
Shirley Speece. Judges for 8-11
year olds were Nancy Poorbaugh,
Susan Wertz, and Floyd Huber.
draising auction, the funds will be
used where check-off monies may
not be used.
Other award winners included
Dr. John Cable, retired from the
Bureau of Animal Industry, appre
ciation award; Michelle Vonada,
4-H Youth award and Ginger
Kcgg, FFA Youth Award.
Kurds Good was named the
Pork Leadership Institute rep
resentative. Good graduated from
Lancaster Mennonite High School
in 1991 and represents the Lan-
Chester pork producers as a
spokesman. He plans to study Hat
field’s buying system with special
emphasis on weights and grades.
the new state officers were
introduced. Abe Fisher is the new
president; Floyd Huber is vice
president and Herb Schick is
secretary/treasurer.
More than 275 persons attended
the banquet.
sphate, nitrate and carbonate, etc,
Acid-base balance, or cation
anion balance, happens from the
relative contents of feeds in those
compounds. When reacting posi
tively or negatively on balance in
the guts and in the body, they cre
ate acids or the opposite an alk
aline or base balance.
This is a much more serious bus
iness than previously realized,
because the reactions mean a
change in pH (a pH of 7.0 is neut
ral; less than 6.9 is more and more
acidic; more than 7.1 is more and
more alkaline).
This can only be balanced if the
body has buffers in its bloodstream
or takes buffers from its bones, or
the dairy farmer feeds buffer sup
plements like sodium bicarbonate
or magnesium oxide with the
ration.
For example, calcium and mag
nesium in the feed ration mean an
alkaline or cation reaction.
Produccrs who grow potatoes or
alfalfa are more conscious of these
facts than those of us engaged in
feeding animals or in human nutri
tion. Crop growers and agronom
ists agree that you can't grow alfal
fa without liberal fertilization of
the field with limestone, a good
source of calcium, while the oppo
site is true for growing potatoes.
And fertilizer on fields is to plant
nutrition as dairy animal feeding
ration is to animal nutrition.
When do dairy animals need
feeding rations that are going to be
alkaline or acidic; that is, cation or
anion? And when docs ignorance
of this (or ignoring it) cause prob
lems and financial losses on (he
dairy farm?
High-milking dairy animals
excrete in their milk lots of cal
cium in addition to other cations,
which have to be replaced daily.
wunty cairn.. second place at the
Lisa Zack, Adrienne Elkin, and Tonya Anthony
Chester County placed third in the Keystone Pork Bowl. Team members are, front
row, from leff. Matt McAllister, Chiistln Eyrlch, Chris Gay, and Norman Gay. Back,
from left, Titus Beam and Nelson Beam, coaches.
President Kent Strode presents the Pork All American award to Steve Wilson. In the
photo, left to right, are Janet, Cindy, and Steve Wilson; and Strode.
If not replaced, then two things
will happen: (1) milk production
will drop, and/or (2) the milking
cow, goat or sheep will draw cal
cium from her own bone sub
stance, leading to serious consequ
ences, such as brittle bones or
worse.
In the beginning of lactation
especially, paralysis and the
dreaded milk fever are typical of a
calcium deficiency in the bloods
tream, which will kill cows quick
ly if they are not administered an
emergency intravenous calcium
treatment.
During the dry period when
dairy animals do not secrete milk
and do not lose those large
amounts of calcium daily, the
nutrition requirements are quite
different and the animals do not
require as much cation. In fact, just
the opposite is true.
The same is valid for male ani
mals, which do not secrete large
amounts of cations because they
do not give milk. Serious damage
can occur to them, including kid
ney stones, when a change of
jystont Pork >
. Back, from left, Beth Elkin and Sue
ration content is not implemented,
because the animals arc trying to
get rid mctabolically of the
unwanted, unneeded and surplus
cations, while they have a shortage
of anions or acid-producing feeds
such as grass, grass hay, grass sil
age, grass haylage, starchy feeds,
sulfate, chlorides, etc.