A3B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 15, 1992
JOYCE BUPP
York County Correspondent
NEW FREEDOM (York CD.)
A devasting Ere,helped finalize
a career decision for York County
pork producer Steve Wilson.
When arson leveled his grand
parent’s bam in January, 1985, the
flames destroyed more than a
building for housing feed and
machinery. Lost in the blaze were
Steve Wilson’s prized 25 sows
and all his equipment to run the
swine operation.
Having tended hogs since the
purchase of his first 4-H swine
project at age 10, Wilson saw
years of effort wiped out The
bloodlines he had bred and tended
through 4-H and FFA, the ongoing
projects that had won him the FFA
state production Award and the
American Farmer degree lay in
smouldering ash.
“At this point, I had to make a
big decision, whether to rebuild
new or discontinue,” Wilson said.
“I decided to rebuild a larger oper
ation with help from my brothers
Ron and Jeff.”
Steve Wilson, left, accepted his 1992 Pork All American
Award from National Pork Producers President Tim Rose.
A sizeable collection of trophlee and plaques In Steve
Wilson's bam office pay tribute to many years of showring
and carcass class accomplishments.
Steve Wilson Pork All American
That decision, and his manage
ment skills and pork industry
involvement in the ensuing years,
combined to earn Steve Wilson
national recognition. In February,
during the Keystone Poik Con
gress, Wilson was named a Pork
All American winner.
In early June, Steve and his
wife Cindy attended the World
Pork Expo at the lowa State Fair
grounds and he accepted his
national award L at the annual ban
quet. The Pork All American hon
or, sponsored by the National Pork
Producers Association and Fer
menta, Inc., recognizes individu
als with outstanding qualities of
leadership, production efficiency,
and total contribution to the
industry.
Wilson Brothers presently
maintain a herd of 130 sows, pri
marily Yorkshires, Hampshires
and Durocs, haridled in a confine
ment system. Last October, Steve
gave up off-farm employment to
concentrate fulltime on the man
agement and marketing for part
nership’s swine breeding
business.
J '
Wilson Brothsrt swlns production operation at New Freedom Is striving to pro
duce pork and swine genetics to meet the changing, fat-conscious, consumer
market.
Development of breeding stock
plays a major role at the Wilson
operation, with special focus on
trait selections for an efficient,
lean hog geared toward the end
result: the fat-conscious consumer
market. Toward that end, Wilson
tries to utilize both testing and
technology.
Wilson-bred boars are frequent
ly enrolled in the Penn State test
ing program. Their three pens in
the March-April test, boars which
will sell during the Ag Progress
test boar sale, finished second,
eleventh, and twelfth out of 20
entries. The second-place pen was
only one index point out of first
spot in this test for efficiency indi
cators like backfat and weight
gain.
A shelffull of trophies and
numerous plaques on the wall of
the office attest to the farm’s
showring and carcass-class
accomplishments. But the quest
for leanness and gain efficiency
has not always put the farm’s
entries at the top of show classes.
In fact, at the 1990 KILE York
shire show, one of their entries
stood 12 out of 12 in the showring.
But when the same carcass-class
hogs were on the rail, the results
took a dramatic turn for the Wil
sons, who had 4 of the top 5. Their
entries woe also the leanest at the
state Yoikshire show in March.
In quest for leaner, meatier
hogs, Wilson utilizes the technol
ogy of ultrasound.
“It’s one of the most accurate
methods of evaluation,” he said. A
technician travels to the confine
ment system a couple of times
yearly to do ultrasound evalua
tions on the loin eye of both boars
and gilts.
“Why have a good boar and a
fat gilt?” Wilson said, as he detail
ed the need to evaluate both pater
nal and maternal lines of seed
stock and matings.
As with all livestock breeding
operations, the search for better
genetics is a continuing effort,
sometimes utilizing videos to exa
mine stock offered by distant
breeders.
“I’ve bought stock out of
Canada—they’re ahead of us with
a total hog index program for
boars and gilts and can make mote
progress because they have more
information,” he said. “Canadian
hogs have .5 to .7-inch of fet,
while domestic ones have an inch
of fat.”
One Canadian-bred Yorkshire
boar Wilson owns with two other
breeders tests at a level of .4-inch
of fat. Coupled with the goal of
less fat is the search of hogs with
largo’ loineyes.
“With the emphasis on lean
meats, we think we’re headed in
the right direction,” Wilson said.
“We must continue to strive to
make our market animal leaner
without sacrificing a lot of other
traits like muscling, soundness,
growth, and efficiency.”
To concentrate the genetics of
lean, efficient boars, Wilson is
increasingly using artificial inse
mination on the breeding herd. He
built his own mounting device for
collecting semen, which can be
stored fresh for up to a week.
Extended and stored at 62 degrees,
the semen is also shipped over
night to distant customers.
“A.I. offers a potential for extra
income to breeders and a way for
other breeders to get better gene
tics without buying more boars.
The genetics are here—we just
need to make use of them,” Wil
son said.
An added bonus he sees in A.I.
is eliminating the disease risk
potential of moving new seed
stock in with an established herd.
The issue has become especially
prevalent as pseudorabies con
tinues to spread through swine
herds in Pennsylvania.
A long-time tester of show and
breeding stock animals, Wilson
has become an outspoken advo
cate for stricter cleanup measures
on pseudorabies-stricken herds.
He was recently elected to repre
sent the state’s seedstock produc
ers on the Pennsylvania Pseudora
bies Advisory Committee to the
Steve Wilson scans the computer monitor for agriculture
commodity and market prices from the Data Transmission
Network (OTN), a North Dakota-based system.
state Department of Agriculture.
While Wilson is concerned
about loss of seeds lock sales for
the breeders be represents, he is
equally worried over adverse con
sumo 1 reaction to ongoing reports
about pseudorabies. The disease
carries no human health threat, yet
one consumer approached him at a
recent pork promotion to express
concern about the safety of eating
pork.
“Someone has to do it I enjoy it.
but it does take a kH of time. But
there aren’t a lot of full-time pro-v.
ducers in this area to give their,'
time,” Wilson said of his increas-'
ing involvement in industry lead
ership activities, including the ;
advisory board and numerous,
pork productions he helps to
organize and cany out L
At a recent local promotion dur- "•
ing Fawn Grove’s Old Tyme
Days, Wilson and other area pork
producers sold 600 ham sandwi
ches. Sometimes they slice up
fresh-roosted ham, cooked in its
own juices, for their promotions.
“We have a good following,”
Steve said, recalling some loyal
customers who hire a taxi to drive
them from the city of York to ag
events around the county where
the pork specialties are being
served. “And we want to get into
more of these events. More and
more non-farm people seem to be
turning out for events like Old
Tyme Days. Maybe more people
are becoming aware of farm con
cons and agriculture issues.”
Funds raised through pork
promotions go toward support for
causes such as the 4-H judging
teams, purchase of recipe hand
outs, and farmland preservation
efforts.
(Turn lo Page A 39)