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)