A2O-Unc««t*r Firming, Saturday, July 17, 1993 Crop Expo Features Round Bale Silage Demonstration, Tours CAROL PEARCE Bradford Co. Correspondent LACEYVILLE (Bradford Co.) The first of two Penn State Crop Expo’s 93 was held July 7th 1993 at Champdale Farm, owned by Tom Champ luvier, located in Laceyviile, Bradford County. The goal of the Crop Expo is to help add to the knowledge of the attending farmers in growing field crops. The Expo is an accumulation of educational demonstrations and exhibits that were prepared by the agronomy specialists from Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences and the County Extension Agents. The Expo started at 9:00 a.m., with activities continuing throughout the day. Three tours were conducted, starting at dif ferent times throughout the day, along with a round bale silage demonstration held in the afternoon. Tour A was the first tour of the morning, starting with a discussion by Marvin Hall, Penn State Extension Agent, on the various forage species and varieties, and annual for age crops. Several varieties of alfalfa were planted in plots for comparison with other peren nial forage that may be more productive and last longer, under environmental condi tions that are not ideal for alfal fa. The plots were planted with red clover, birdsfoot trefoil, orchardgrass, smooth brome grass, prariegrass. tall fescue, perennial ryegrass, reed canarygrass, and timothy. In Northeastern Pennsylvania, alfalfa may not find the best conditions to grow, deep, well drained, and high pH and fertil ity soil. If proper conditions are not available, another type of forage should be considered. There were 12 plots of annual Marvin Hall checks interior of hale with guage. Soil pit dug on Champdsls Farm shows the soil layers. forage to be compared, 6 bras sica species, and 6 summer annual grasses. These grasses have become important because of increased grazing, and they grow under adverse conditions. Scott Harkin from Penn State discussed managing cool season grasses, how you man age the grasses may depend on what your feeding, and if your goal is to provide high quality forage, harvest according to maturity and cut frequently. Penn States’ Ray Shipp explained the soil pit that was dug on the farm to show the different layers of soil. Each natural layer of soil was dis cussed, showing the depth and drainage ability of each layer, and how it relates to the soils’ productivity and which crops it would be suitable for. Mr. Shipp explained that you must match the crops to the soil type. Lynn Hoffman, another of Penn States Alumni, talked about Legumes in Pasture, showing an example of a pas ture that had been planted with alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil. Proper pasture management is required for this type of pas ture, if the legumes are eaten down, the grasses will again take over the pasture. If cattle are turned out on this type of pasture hungry, there is a pos sibility of bloat, from ingesting to much legume at one time. In conjunction with pastur ing of animals, a demonstration on the different types of fenc ing was presented by Tom Calvert, from the Soil Conser vation Service. He demon strated the various types of fencing available for total pas ture management. Dwayne Pyser also added to the discus sion, and the need for. rotation grazing. A demonstration of different types of watering systems was shown by Wayne Ray, of End less Mountains Resource Con servation and Development. Shown was hydraulic ram pumps, solar panels, watering troughs, quick connect cou plings, submersible pumps, and self serving pasture pumps. The last speaker on Tour A was Bill Curran, also from Penn State, with a look at Multiflora Rose control. The pasture that was used as a mod el, had a fall treatment of diffe rent herbicides, including Ally, Crossbow, Roundup, and Spike. The area that was treated 'in the fall was com pared to an area that had a spring application. Tour B started with Marvin Hall discussing alfalfa seeding and Ridomil for alfalfa 102 Animals Exhibited At Beef GAY BROWNLEE Somerset Co. Correspondent MEYERSDALE (Somerset Co.) Some 90 exhibitors show ed 102 animals during the annual Beef Jackpot Show held on July 11 at the county fairgrounds. Be sides Pa. they came from Ohio, New Jersey, Maryland, West Vir ginia and Virginia. The grand champion steer be longed to Justin Fuls, 10, from Berlin, who was also named the grand champion exhibitor. His parents are Kevin and Kar en Fuls who relocated to Somerset Co. from Cumberland Co. earlier in 1992. Fuls has two siblings, be longs to the High Ridge 4-H club, and goes to school at Berlin- Brothersvalley. Reserve grand champion was shown by Troy Rieboldt from College Station, Ohio. Angie Livengood, 14, was the county reserve champion exhibi tor. The oldest child of Dave and Rose Livengood, Angie has a bro ther and a sister. Her 4-H club is Steaks and Chops. Next fall she enters the 9th grade at Somerset Area High School. Sixteen-year-old Tim Bishop. Homer City (Indiana Co.), had the Club Calf Sale champion which was purchased from Wayne Mill er, Fairhope RD. Jason Knotts, Hyndman had the reserve cham pion. Kent Carrouthers. Coggan, Ray Shipp, Penn State, shows ground composition. establishment. The alfalfa seeding rate can vary up to 18 lbs per acre. Penn State currently recommends IS to 18 lbs. per acre for band seeding alfalfa, this study may lead to reducing the seeding rate in the Atture. The study was made in 5 different coun ties, Lancaster, York, Lycom ing, Centre, and Bradford, with alfalfa seed that was pretreated with Apron, with seeding times in June, and October, the first year, and May the second year. The density of the alfalfa stand increased considerable as the amount of pounds per acre increased, in June of the first year. In October, the increase was not as dramatic, and in May of the following year, the increase was only slight as the pounds per acre increased. Ridomil fungicide is used to lowa, left behind him the horrid flooding of the Mississippi River to come here and judge the event, one of more than IS he does an nually. He was full of praise. Tm truly impressed with the quality of cat tle,” he said. “They are even better than last year. They are long-loin ed,” he said, adding, “These cattle could go anywhere in the United States, they are that good.” He remarked that, if it were possible, he would like to take a Justin Fult, right, showed ths grand champion stssr at theSomersetCo.Beef Jackpot Show held on July 11 at the county fairgrounds in Msysiadala. With him is tha show Judge Kent Carrouthers ham coggan, lowa. control Pythium and Phytoph thora fungi, which attacks see dling alfalfa. Both Pythium and Phytophthora fungi are found in the soil in Pennsylvania. They cap be controlled with a seed treatment of Apron. There may be a yield increase using Ridomil where Phytophthora is present, but it is not recom mended to apply Ridomil at seeding in-alfalfa fields m Pen nsylvania. Studies were deoe on the effect of Ridomil at' seeding. The Ridomil was. applied at 1 pint per acre, with the results being made in four weeks and measured by the* amount of seedlings per square foot. The treated crop was from .1 to 7.1 higher than untreated. crops. It was also found that there was no interactions between seeding rate and Ridomil. Jackpot Show few along back to lowa to his own farm. Carrouthers also gave high marks to all kids who take the re sponsibility of having a 4-H ani mal project. ‘The greatest kids I’ve ever known have shown ani mals,” he said. The Somerset Co. Beef Jackpot Show is sponsored by the Somer set Co. Beef Producers and the Pa. Cattlemen’s Asso. (Turn to Page A 24)
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