A32-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 4, 1993
(Continued from Pago A 1)
graduate of the derby and a reci
pient of a scholarship also offered
through the hog derby program.
Risser also bred the medium
weight champion raised and
shown by Kevin Pfautz, with a
14th placing overall.
Risser got his experience raising
and breeding swine through family
support, the county 4-H program,
and through self motivation.
Winebark said the Risser is an
example of the success of the
youth education livestock
programs.
In fact, it was Winebark and
several other county extension
agents, such as Lancaster County’s
Chet Hughes, who founded the
hog derby.
The initial concept continues
today. It is to provide the youth
with a competitive, but mostly
educational, program that builds
an understanding of what it takes
to raise hogs for the real market,
not just for a club sale.
Using the same evaluation for
mulas and indexes that were deve
loped by the National Pork Pro
ducers, the youth have several
months to raise a market hog and
record the process.
The hogs are first weighed dur
ing the second week of May to get
the starting dimensions.
In mid-August, the youth who
continue to participate bring a hog
back for weighing off. Then their
animals undergo a live judging.
Animals which have not reached a
220-pound minimum weight are
not ranked.
The reason for the weight cutoff
is linked to the educational pur
pose of the program to learn
how to produce for the market.
Current market demand is for a
lean, long, large-loin eye carcass
coming from a hog with a live
weight of around 240 pounds.
After the live judging, the ani
mals are taken to Stoltzfrises Meat
Market, slaughtered and the car
casses evaluated by Dr. Ed Mills,
Janine Wlnebark holds her plaque recognizing her grand
champion market hog carcase, while brother Brandbn
holds the rosette. Dr. f d Mills, Penn Slate University meat
scientist, stands behind:
Kralls Continue To Dominate S.E. Hog Derby
Penn State University meat scien
tist, for backfat thickness, size of
the loin eye, length of carcass, etc.
Similar to the weight restrictions,
carcasses which had too much fat
were disqualified.
During the live evaluation, as an
educational tool, the animals are
also given an ultrasound evalua
tion to determine back fat and lean
muscle conditions. This informa
tion is then used for comparison to
the carcass evaluations.
Overall, the animals are
checked for pre-weight, show
weight, days on test, pounds gain
per-day, conformation score, car
cass weight, carcass length, loin
eye area, back fat, percent lean,
and pounds lean-gain-per-day. A
final index is computed and the
entries ranked.
There were S 4 entries with 42
hogs being finished out to compet
ition. Of those, 16 failed to make
show weight of 220 pounds, 17
were disqualified for having too
much fat, and one was disqualified
because the quality of the meat was
poor.
This year there were two reci
pients of the derby’s $250 scholar
ship that is awarded to an outstand
ing participant and points awarded
for the answers given on an
application.
Dan Atkins, of Lebanon, and
Roxanne Kirst, of Fredericksburg,
were both named recipients of the
scholarship. The terms of the scho
larship are such that the money is
to be used for education, but not
necessarily collegiate.
Atkins intends to attend PSU
Berks Campus for his freshman
year, and then pursue a degree in
animal science at Main Campus.
He is in partnership with his sis
ters and cousins in raising pigs out
of four sows. Py breeding die sows
and raising the young, the youth
have cooperated in producing their
own show animals for the state
Farm Show, the county fair, the
Keystone International Livestock
Exposition, and the hog derby.
From the left, John Risser, who bred the grand champion overall and the reserve
grand champion overall market hogs, stands with Stacey Krall, who raised the reserve
champion, Dr. Ed Mills, Penn State University meat scientist who oversaw the carcass
evaluation and education portion of the S.E. Pa. 4-H Market Hog Derby, and Jason
Krall, who raised the grand champion overall market hog.
In his application, Atkins said
he is interested in being involved
in a farrow-to-finish operation
because it allows the operator to be
involved in “all aspects of the
industry, from genetics to
marketing.”
He started as a 9-year-old rais
ing two market hogs in the county
4-H livestock club and over the
years has shown at the county fair
eight times, at the club winter
roundup eight times, at the state
Farm Show seven years, at KILE
six years, the Eastern National
Livestock Exposition four years
and every year of the derby.
He has also served as president
and president of his 4-H swine
club, vice president of his beef
club, served as co-chairman for
three years out .of four serving on
the county bam crew subcommit
tee of die 4-H county fair commit
tee, and served as co-coach of the
county Pork Bowl team.
He also was a member of the
county pork bowl team for six
years winning the championship
five times.
He is also a member of the coun
ty 4-H sheep club, in addition to
wrestling for his high school,
being involved with church, FFA,
the school volleyball team and
other volleyball leagues.
The other recipient, Roxanne
Kirst said in her application that
she in teds to attend Berks Campus
for two years and then transfer to
Main Campus to pursue a degree in
food science.
A nine-year member of 4-H,
Kim is a member of the county
swine and beef clubs, and served
as secretary of both, was on the
championship 1991 Pork Bowl
team, and organized beef and pork
promotions at the Dutchway
Markets in Schaefferstown and
Myerstown, -
Kirst was raised on a hog
finishing operation and grew up
helping and learning how to raise
swine.
The senior class president, stu
dent council representative, mem
ber of the National Honor Society,
member of the school field hockey
and gymnastic teams and varsity
club and yearbook staff, Kirst is
also involved as a Sunday school
teacher, and works at the Lebanon
Dairy Queen-West.
The derby itself has several win
ners, in addition to the overall
champions.
Sarah Boyd showed the third
place overall champion with a
33-inch, SO.S2-percent lean.
186-pound carcass, with a
6.24-inch loin eye, and 1 inch of
backfat
Janine Winebark, daughter of
Ken and Janet, showed the grand
champion carcass hog of the der
by. It weighed in a SI pounds,
weighed off at23o pounds and was
S4.BS percent lean.
Wincbark’s hog’s 32-inch long,
165-pound carcass had a 5.78 loin
eye with .60-inch backfat. It was
also the reserve champion
mediumweight hog of the live
show.
Kyle Ward entered the program
for the first time raising his own
Dr. Ed Mills, Penn State University meat scientist, demon
strates how to read and interpret a grid used to measure the
surface area of a pork loin eye. Dots on the grid correlate to
a specific number of square inches. The transparent grid is
place over the surface of the loin eye and the number of dots
included are counted and the corresponding square inch
measurement is found.
derby hog from his own 4-H hog
breeding project based on two bred
Yorkshire gilts he purchased at the
Farm Show in January from Leon
Arnold, of Rexmont, well known
Yorkshire breeder.
Ward’s entry was the reserve
champion for rate of gain, but was
disqualified because it was too fat,
coming in with 1.41-inches of
backfat and a 43.96 percent lean
rating.
Mark Simmon showed the
champion for rate of gain, but his
too was disqualified because of
excessive fat, with 1.90 inches of
back fat
The lightweight champion was
shown by Adam Greider, while
Dan Atkins showed the reserve
champion lightweight hog.