lyNjfc.
Cattlemen’s Queen Nomina
tions: The expanded Cattlemen’s
Queen program this year is receiv
ing interest from several affiliate
cattlemen associations and indivi
duals. The Cattlemen’s Queen
program is one that was very
popular a few years ago, and can
help promote the Pennsylvania
beef industry in several ways. The
Pennsylvania Beef Council co
sponsors some of the beef promo
tional activities of the Queen
program, with the Cattlemen’s
Association and some private
donors funding the other activities
of the Queen. There’s still room
for more dedicated candidates
who want to learn from the prog
ram, but also want to contribute to
the betterment of the industry.
Nomination material can be
obtained from Mrs. Sue Clair, 568
Rock Road, State College, PA
16801 (814/238-1233).
Expo Plans Continue: The
educational program will be held
on Friday, April 8, and will
address some of the more impor
tant problems and questions cat
tlemen have about improving their
operations. Preregistration for the
educational program, which
includes lunch, will be $25; infor
mation can be obtained from the
Cattlemen’s Association office
(814/692-4208) or Dr. John Com
erford (814/863-3661). The prog
ram will emphasize grazing sys
tems, hay and silage conservation
methods, breeding improvement,
feeding systems for the cow herd
and the fcedlot, use of growth
promotants and complying with
nutrient management. There will
also be a discussion about a recent
study to determine the future of
the cattle industry in Pennsylvania
and what steps might be taken to
expand the industry in Pennsylva
nia and the Northeast. The annual
Cattlemen’s Banquet will be held
Friday evening, April 8, with the
cattle breed sales on Saturday,
April 9.
Expo Trade Show Spaces
Available: The Expo Trade Show
is coming along nicely but
there are still spaces for more
commercial trade show exhibitors.
Please give Dan Card
(717/653-8719) or Lowell Wilson
(814/238-5888) a call for more
information.
Youth Activities to be
Emphasized: This year’s Expo
will include the Expo Junior Heif
er and Steer Shows which sud
denly has become the largest such
Junior event in the Northeast.
With extra space available in the
Farm Show Complex, and
increased premiums for the Junior
shows, there should be an ever lar
ger show in the 1994 Expo. The
Pennsylvania Junior Cattlemen’s
Association will hold a pizza
party-meeting on Saturday even
ing, at 7:30 p.m. There will be
several special Junior activities,
including a Skill-a-thon which
will test the knowledge of Juniors
in several different aspects of beef
®SOCIATIO'
News
cattle management. Preregistra
tion for the Skill-a-thon can be
through the Cattlemen’s Associa
tion office (814/692-4208), Ger
ald and Sue Clair, Co-Advisors of
the PJCA (814/238-1233), or from
Tammy Balthaser, PA Beef Coun
cil (800-572-2020). All Junior
Heifer and Steer Shows will be on
April 10. Prizes and cash are being
solicited for both premiums and
awards for the Junior competitive
activities.
Beef Output to Increase 3%
in 1994: National Cattlemen’s
Association and Cattle-Fax pre
dict that beef production will
increase by about 3% in 1994,
which will cause a per-capita
increase in consumption by about
1.5 lbs, up from 66 lbs retail
weight in 1993. Production of
competing meats, especially
chicken, will also increase, and
pressure on meat and livestock
prices will result.
The increased production is
brought about by several years of
profitability in die cow-calf busi-
GEORGE F.W. HAENLEIN
Extension Dairy Specialist
University of Delaware
NEWARK, Del. Feeding
soap to dairy cows? What’s next?
The simple days of letting our
cows graze natural or planted pas
tures have been superseded in
many places with all kinds of
feeding substitutes and bypro
ducts that aren’t usually harmful
to cows or their milk, meat or
longevity.
To the contrary, the high
producing cows of today often
benefit from some of these pro
ducts, because they contain a
higher nutrient content than
what’s available naturally through
grazing.
This doesn’t mean that grazing
is no longer important Grazing is
still the cheapest way to feed
many cows, and it supplies the
daily essentials of fiber and vita
mins for cows and calves, goats
and sheep.
But substitute feeds and bypro
ducts are valuable supplements to
grazing; they reduce the acreage
needed to graze and are some
times obtainable at bargain prices.
A few years ago, I worked with
a dairy herd that had a sweet con
nection. A major candy manufac
turer had an abundance of broken
chocolate and candy bars, which
one farmer was more than happy
to feed to his cows. Nothing went
to waste. I also know of a potato
chip manufacturer who regularly
“recycles” his breakage to a dairy
herd. The cows apparently love
chips.
Back in the Old Country, we
were very much oriented to this
kind of recycling. We fed our
cows leftover string beans, silage
from sweet pea pods and husks
from nearby vegetable canning
ness; the nation’s cow herd is the
largest since 1985. Herd expan
sion is expected to continue for a
few years.
Meat Supplies at High Level:
Cattle Fax also has been one of
several market outlook agencies
that point out the rather large
supply of beef and other meats,
which have decreased profitability
from feeding. Compounding the
problem (as usually happens in the
case of large supplies of meat ani
mals ready for market) is the
heavy slaughter weights of fed
cattle. Feeding margins are
expected to remain narrow or
negative into the spring. Most
experts agree that keeping current
in the marketplace selling
cattle when they are ready from a
weight and grade standpoint
will help bring about a profitable
feeding margin.
Stretch
plants.
Each fall we’d harvest sugar
beets first for leaf-and-tops silage
before gathering the beets
themselves.
I also worked on a research pro
ject in Delaware which involved
using lima bean vines for dairy
cattle feeding. The lima bean vin
es made excellent silage as long as
the harvesters didn’t pick up too
much soil and sand to contaminate
it .
In recent years, byproducts suit l
able for feeding to cows have been
brewer’s grain, distiller’s grain,
molasses, beet pulp, oil meals and
gluten meals. New additions to
this list include bakery bypro
ducts, whey, syrups, soyhulls, tal
low, feather meal, blood meal and
soaps. More food industry pro
ducts are sure to follow, because
recycling makes economic and
sociological sense. It even makes
cow sense.
We’ve known for years that
ruminants such as cows, sheep,
goats, llamas, camels, reindeer,
musk oxen, yaks and buffaloes are
unique in their ruminant feed
requirements.
They are especially suitable for
poor, developing countries.
Because ruminants can thrive
on feed that is unsuitable for
human consumption, they don’t
compete in starving countries for
human food. Nor do they compete
for the money required to import
grain for feeding monogastric
animals.
The ruminant cow today pro
vides a wonderful way to get rid of
tons of byproducts that would
otherwise be wasted. At the same
time, cows produce excellent
quality milk and meat.
Of course, this “recycling” pro
cess takes place under careful
More Beef Promotional Ads
on TV: Perhaps it’s especially
appropriate to have more TV
advertising because of the antici
pated increase in beef production.
The popular “Beef. It’s what’s for
dinner.” will focus on children and
special occasions for celebrating
according to the Beef Industry
Council. Focus group interviews
show that consumers like the cur
rent advertisements, and they get
new ideas for beef meals from the
ads. Recent surveys indicate that
almost 3/4 of all consumers are
now aware of the beef ads and that
most consumers now intend to eat
beef more often than they did pre
viously. The Check-Off-funded
promotion, education, and
research activities have increased
demand for beef. Let’s hope that it
continues to bring about increased
demand since we will have more
beef to merchandise over the next
few years. Another bright spot,
though, is the expected increase in
The Food
Lancaster Fanning, Saturday. February 19, 1994-E5
U.S. exports of beef and other
meats because of renegotiated tar
iffs and more favorable trade prac
tices with other countries.
NCA and PCA Membership:
The National Cattlemen’s Associ
ation, in cooperation with Merck
AgVet Division, is offering spe
cial incentives for cattlemen to
join both NCA and the Pennsylva
nia Cattlemen’s Association. A
new member joining both NCA
and PCA will receive a “bonus” of
two 250-ml bottles of IVOMEC
Pour-On a $6O value at retail.
The NCA membership must be a
$6O full membership. This means
that a new member will receive
both an NCA and PCA member
ship for the cost of a PCA mem
bership $l2. In addition to
receiving the benefits and all the
communications from NCA and
PCA, new members will add their
support in bringing about changes
that continually help the cattle
industry.
Beef Industry Long-Range
Plan; Over the past six months
there’s been discussion and plan
ning meetings of the four major
beef industry organizations
National Cattlemen’s Association,
Cattlemen’s Beef Board, Beef
Industry Council, and the U.S.
Meat Export Federation. The
“bottom line” is to determine how
these four organizations can work
together, still accomplishing the
charge of each organization, and
be more efficient and effective in
serving the beef cattle industry.
Both the PA Cattlemen’s Associa
tion and the PA Beef Council have
indicated support of this concept,
pending further study and detail
ing of organizational methods.
No Hazardous Residues in
Beef: The annual report from
USDA on chemical residue moni-
eb, Feed Byproducts
monitoring and milk and meat
testing, so that no undesirable
industrial residues and pesticides
contaminate the meat and milk
products.
So what about soap? Some
interesting new research at the
University of Nebraska explored
this question.
Since soap is a byproduct of the
vegetable-oil processing industry
(including soybean, cottonseed,
peanut, sunflower and canola), it
should be a potential dietary fat
resource for ruminants.
Recent research has shown that
plain fat supplementation is often
not as well tolerated by cows as
are oils converted to their salts.
And that’s what soaps are salts
of oils.
Thirty-two Holsteins were fed
for 10 weeks four different
rations, high starch, 1 percent
added calcium salt of fat, 6 per
cent of a soyhull-soap mix and 12
percent of a soyhull-soap mix.
The soyhull-soap mix had 88
percent dry matter, 10 percent pro
tein, 61 percent neutral detergent
fiber and 16 percent fat, and the
final rations contained 3.5 percent,
4.6 percent, 4.5 percent and 5.3
percent fat, respectively, fed as
total mixed rations with equal
levels of protein and energy.
ADS|S
$
Wring has confirmed that beef is
virtually free of violative residues.
No violative residues were present
in fed steer and heifer beef
which accounts for most of the
nation’s beef supply and very
limited residue frequencies were
found in meat from cows. Accord
ing to NCA, USDA’s monitoring
report confirms that Americans
need not be concerned about hor
mone, antibiotic, pesticide, or
other possible residue problems
with beef.
But Food Safety will be in
the News: According to NCA, the
beef industry can expect to see
increased media attention about
meat inspection and food safety in
the next few months. Most of
these news stories will emphasize
bacterial contamination potential,
particularly E. Coli 0157-H7
about one year after the outbreak
in the northwest U.S. NCA and
other associations have submitted
video footage and other informa
tion to the news media on how the
beef industry is dealing with food
safety and inspection. With the
increased attention on food safety
issues, the Pennsylvania Beef
Council is planning a major food
safety seminar on April 7 for
retailers, food service operators,
and county health department offi
cials. The purpose of the seminar
is two-fold: 1) to provide accurate
background information on vari
ous food safety issues, and 2) to
offer procedures for maintaining
and upgrading sanitation
procedures.
Further information regarding
the programs of the National or
PA Cattlemen’s Associations can
be obtained from the PA Cattle
men’s Association, RD#l, Box
83. Port Matilda, PA 16870
(814/692-4208).
Voluntary feed intake was high
on all rations, between 4.4 and 4.7
percent of body weight.
Fat in milk produced was high
on all rations, between 3.5 and 3.7
percent; as was milk protein;
between 3.0 and 3.2 percent.
Cows also remained in good body
condition, scoring between 2.5
and 2.7.
Cows fed the 6 percent soyhull
soap mix significantly outpro
duced all other ration cows, with a
78-pound average for the 10
weeks, compared to 68,69 and 71
pounds, respectively.
This is especially interesting
because the cows on the 1 percent
added calcium salt and the cows
on the 6 percent soyhull-soap mix
had the same ration fat contents of
4.6 and 4.6 percent, respectively.
The latter appears to point to the
added benefits of the soyhulls to
the fat supplementation.
The basic forage component of
the total ration, 16 percent alfalfa
silage and 34 percent com silage
on a dry basis, was high in forage.
But apparently the soyhulls
added to the fat supplementation
was beneficial for higher milk
production and a profitable way of
incorporating fat and additional
fiber into the ration of high
producing dairy cows.