02-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 26,1993
KANSAS CITY, Mo. Polled
Hereford breeders were urged to
aim their carcass genetics at the
“retail target” during sessions at
the Kansas National Polled Here
ford Feedlot field day and open
house recently in Great Bend,
Kan.
Dr. Michael Dikeman, meats
specialist from Kansas State Uni
versity, told the breeders that the
Polled Hereford breed will “fit”
this target. He described slaughter
cattle in this major carcass categ
ory as having live weights of
1,150 to 1,250 pounds, with aver
age frame scores of 6. He recom
mended that breeders continue to
emphasize increasing muscling
with adequate marbling, while
decreasing external fat.
“Ideally, they should be on feed
for 100 to 120 days, with 60 to 65
percent grading Choice,” Dike
man said, “with no Yield Grade
45.”
Geneticist Dr. Bob Schalles,
also of Kansas State, pointed out
to the breeders that changes in car
cass quality can be made because
of the fairly high heritability of
those traits.
“To make carcass changes, you
must have carcass EPDs, particu
larly for marbling and rib eye
area,” he said. “You need suffi
cient number of sires to sample
and sufficient number of progeny
at least 20 to get accurate
estimates”.
His carcass goal is one that has
slight-#- to small- marbling with
.25 inch fat and a rib eye area of
12 to 13 square inches from a 750
pound carcass. “We need the mar-
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Meadville, PA
Steer Test Field Day Sets Carcass Goals
bling,” he said, “but don’t let rib
eye area get out of control
either too big or 100 small.”
Bill Dulaney, owner of the
feedyard where the national test is
conducted, brought the group up
to date on the 206 steers currently
on feed. For the 112-day period
ended in May, the steers have
posted an average daily gain of
3.29 pounds, with a sizable per
centage gaining well over four
pounds per day.
Problems Complicate Dairy Promotion
COLLEGE PARK, Md.
Dairy food marketing strategists
may have been too successful with
their “Milk is a Natural” advertis
ing slogan, said Kristen McNutt,
editor of Consumer Magazine
Digest.
This success, McNutt declared,
may have forced the dairy indus
try into a comer when it comes to
getting consumers to accept milk
produced by cows treated with
bovine somatotropin (BST), a
synthetic growth hormone that
induces cows to give more milk.
McNutt spoke recently during
the opening session at the 88th
annual meeting of the American
Dairy Science Association. Her
keynote talk was sponsored by the
ADSA Foundation. It was titled,
“What Dairy Scientists Can Learn
From Consumers.”
The BST controversy is one
facet of the entanglement problem
facing the dairy industry today,
McNutt said. “Entanglement
involves issues that are broader
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Dr. John Hough, American
Polled Hereford Association’s
director of education and research,
then led the attendees through a
live animal evaluation, with win
ners to be declared following the
steers’ slaughter.
Larry Heidebrecht, American
Polled Hereford Association pres
ident, outlined the new Baldy
program, which features com
prehensive marketing and certifi-
than just dairy products," she said.
“Irradiation and the whole area of
biotechnology also impact your
product.”
In addition, the dairy industry
faces an erosion problem, McNutt
said. This involves such issues as
nutrition authorities and medical
doctors arguing over the merits of
milk in the human diet, or getting
consumers to think more about
dairy products.
“So what can you as dairy sci
entists do to improve the image of
milk?” asked McNutt.
‘The public will trust you. Be
empathetic with consumers. Lis
ten, and tell them what they want
to know. Society always has
looked up to the academic world
for solving problems not to
government administrators.”
McNutt noted that there are two
aspects concerning BST and the
whole realm of genetic engineer
ing in the minds of consumers.
One deals with religion and the
other with dollars and cents.
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cation plans. He explained that the
innovative program should be
especially popular with feedlot
operators because of its emphasis
on feeder cattle, a$ well as
replacement stock.
“We’ll be able to document and
track the high-performing cattle,
thus adding value all across the
production chain,” he said.
In his concluding remarks,
Schalles told the attendees that
Scientific answers do not help
resolve the religious issue, she
declared. But sound theology can.
“When it comes to dollars and
cents,” McNutt said, “consumers
want to know how much they will
be paying for milk after BST is
adopted. A guaranteed lower price
certainly could help overcome
most perceived risk factors.
“How about a new marketing
slogan, ‘science saves you
money?’ Labeling BST milk
would then become a moot issue.”
Ag Tour,
COUDERSPORT (Potter Co.)
The seventh annual “Progress
Through Communications for
Agriculture” tours and picnic are
scheduled on Thursday, July 15.
This year, the event will be held
at one location, the Smokers’
Allegen Farms, Genesee. The
afternoon tour program is by invi
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410-592-7422
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Galena, Md.
Progress
breeders attending these kinds of
field days are “the ones who will
be ahead In carcass improve
ment.” He congratulated the steer
consignors and strongly encour
aged further development of feed
lot and carcass evaluations.
For more information about the
steer test or the Baldy Program,
contact the American Polled Here
ford Association, 11020 NW
Ambassador Dr., Kansas City,
MO 64153, (816) 891-8400.
This year’s annual American
Dairy Science Association meet
ing was held June 13-16 in the
Center of Adult Education on the
University of Maryland campus at
College Park. The Northeast sec
tions of the ADSA and the Ameri
can Society of Animal Science
met jointly at the same location.
More than 2,000 dairy science
professionals attended from the
United States and 10 foreign
countries.
Through
Picnic Set
tation only. Hay wagons will be
used to take visitors to the follow
ing tour sites on the farm: dairy,
1:45 p.m. - 3 p.m.; conservation, 3
p.m. - 4 p.m.; forest management,
4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
There will also be various dis
plays set up, including a pesticide
handling and disposal safety
demonstration by Gary Brown of
Helena Chemical.
The picnic dinner, featuring
four meats (beef, veal, pork, and
lamb) is open to the public and
begins at 7 p.m. Featured speaker
will be Earl Ainsworth, editor,
Farm Journal, Inc.
Tickets arc $5 each from any
member of the committee, or by
calling the Potter County
Cooperative Extension Office,
(814) 274-8540..
The purpostf Of “Progress
Through Communications for
Agriculture” is to improve com
munications between Potter
County farmers and those
involved in formulating agricul
tural policy.