A2B-L*ncaster Farming, Saturday, March 7,1992
Beef Breeders Carefully Consider EPDs, Calving Ease In Dams
First in a series
Editor’s note: Several com*
mercial beef cow/calf operations ANDY ANDREWS
are recognizing the benefits of Lancaster fanning Staff
using bulls in tbeir breeding DAYTON (Armstrong Co.)
programs. In the first of a three- There are rules of thumb for nearly
part series, several commercial any farm. But the two rules of
beef farms share their views of thumb for selecting herd sires for
what it takes to run a successful your commercial cow/calf beef
sire herd and how to manage the operation are simple:
Jim and Marcia Larson on their Singing Meadow Farms In
Dayton, Armstrong County.
Jere Wingert, peeking over bull, and Eugene Wlngert
check the condition of one of their four proven herd sires.
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operation for increased
profitability.
Engines:
• Rule One: carefully consider
expected progeny differences
(EPDs) in bull selection along with
visual assessment
• Rule Two: The mother’s milk
ing ability is crucial at calving
time.
And while few commercial
operations use artificial inscmna
tion (AI) in the brood cows, the
benefits of using bulk outweigh
many of the difficulties in trying to
manage an AI program.
Those are the conclusions
reached in the experiences of three
Pennsylvania herds, one here in
Armstrong County and the others
in Franklin and Westmoreland
counties. And those who purchase
bulls may want to take those fac
tors into consideration in light of
the upcoming Performance-Tested
Bull Sale at the Penn State Ag Are
na, University Park, at noon on Fri
day, March 27 during the Beef
Expo.
Angus herd
Jim and Marcia Larson of Sing
ing Meadow Farms in Dayton,
Armstrong County (with full-time
help from manager Joe Saxfleld)
maintain a 300-head cow purebred
Angus herd on about 1,400 acres
and raise about 300 calves a year.
In addition, they manage 100 head
of sheep and six head of quarter
horses to work the cattle.
For the Larsons, it is simply
much easier and less expensive for
the bulls to do all the work (bulls
provide better than 70 percent
coverage over AI breeding). In the
spring, the cows are divided up
into lots and are serviced by about
10 bulls. Altogether, the farm
raises about 50 replacement calves
per year.
For the Wmgert Farm in St.
Thomas, Franklin County, using
bulls was also a matter of how
much of a work force was avail
able to ensure insemnation. The
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farm opted for using bulk simply uses a pasture rotation system. The
because during breed season there system uses about 40 cows in one
was ‘ ‘no time to devote to cows, ’ ’ area, rotated on a regular schedule,
said Eugene Wingert. Many of the acres on the farm (800
The Wingert farm (which also acres, mostly tillable) are used to
raises about 2,000 hogs out of a raise com and other feed for the
200-sow farrow-to-finish system) beef and hog operation.
raises a total of about 160 cows and (Turn to Page A 32)
Dr. John Comerford, Penn State beef specialist, right,
speaks to Naomi and Mike Costello about the Costello herd.
A dam and her calf at the Larson Farm
NO Mud.
&S?
sSfaLlr SEED
I^JNC.
Buffalo, NY • (716) 891-8955