812-Uncaster Fanning, Saturday. March 11, 1995 BETH MILLER Cumberland Correspondent NEWBURG (Cumberland Co.) Heather Glennon has raised dairy goats for more than half of her life. Through all those years, her goats have given her and her fam ily milk and have helped Heather to earn a lot of awards as well as a scholarship that is helping with her college education. Heather said her involvement with goats began 12 years ago when her family was living in Florida. The goats went with them when they moved to Maryland, and then accompanied them again when the Glennons moved to their present home near Newburg five years ago. At the moment, Heather said she has 22 goats of the Nubian and the Oberhaslie breeds. She said that 10 of the goats are milking now. That milk fills a number of purposes. For starters, some of the milk used to feed the family's calves. Whatever is left over after that is used for drinking, for making cheese and for general cooking. After literally growing up with goats, Heather has developed quite a talent for raising champion animals. She has proven her abili ties very regularly over the years at many shows in Maryland, Vir ginia, and locally. She is a regular at National Dairy Goat Association shows. Heather has won many awards for her showmanship and judging skills, and she exhibited the grand champion goat during last year’s Shippensburg Fair. She also was the 1992 Pennsyl vania Dairy Goat Association Youth Representative. Cumberland County Holds Sheep And Wool BETH MILLER Cumberland Co. Correspondent HUNTSDALE (Cumberland Co.) —The election of officers and information about a deadly dis ease were the focus of the 62nd annual meeting of the Cumber land Cooperative Sheep and Wool Growers. The keynote speaker for the meeting, which was held at the Penn Township Fire Hall, was Dr. Charles Rossow, a veterinary medical officer with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The subject of Rossow’s talk was “Scrapie in Your Flock.” According to Rossow, scrapie is a fatal, degenerative disease that affects the central nervous system of goats and sheep. He said the disease is believed to be most commonly spread from ewes to lambs through contact with pla cental fluid. Rossow said the signs of the disease usually do not appear until two to five years after an animal is infected. There is no test to detect scrapie in a live animal, said Ros sow, who said that once an animal is infected, there is no cure and the animal will die. Scrapie was first diagnosed in sheep in Europe 250 years ago, he said. Since then, it ha? been reported throughout the world, except in Australia and New Zea- Heather Glennon And Her Goats Heather has been very involved in area 4-H and FFA Programs as well. She was the Pennsylvania State 4-H Ambassador in 1992 and was president of the Cumberland County 4-H Council. Heather has been president of 4-H Dairy Goat clubs in both Pennsylvania and Maryland, and was a camp coun selor with the Cumberland County 4-H Program at Camp Shehaqua and at the county science Camp. In 1992 and 1993, Heather was the vice president of the Shippens burg High School FFA Chapter. She won the Star Greenhand, Star Chapter Farmer, Star Area Farmer, and Keystone Farmer awards. To top all that off, she won the state FFA’s Gold Award for Dairy Goats. Her academic performance has been very impressive also. She was valedictorian of the Shippensburg Area Senior High School’s graduating class of 1993. Right now, she is a dean’s list stu dent at Delaware Valley College, where she is majoring in animal science. Recently, she won the James Morrison/Dean Family Scholar ship given by the American Dairy Goat Association. She was chosen for the scholarship based on her academic achievements and her accomplishments in the dairy goat industry. Her accomplishments in that industry no doubt will continue for a long time to come. Heather said she has had as many as 80 goats in the spring after all her does have freshened. Usually, 10 to 15 of her goats are milking, she said. She added that each animal is milked using Growers’ Meeting land, he said. Rossow said the dis ease was first reported in the U.S. in 1947 when it was found in a flock of sheep in Michigan. Through September of 1992, he said, scrapie had been diagnosed in at least 652 flocks in the U.S. and has caused significant finan cial losses to sheep producers. Rossow said the only states that have had no reported scrapie cases are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Rhode Island, Florida, Hawaii, Montana and North Dakota. In the U.S., scrapie has mostly been diagnosed in the Suffolk breed, although it has hit other breeds also. Symptoms of scrapie develop slowly and can vary widley among different animals, accord ing to Rossow. He said early signs include subtle changes in temper ament and behavior which may be followed by scratching or rub bing. Other signs are loss of coor dination, weight loss despite the retention of appetite, biting of feet and limbs, lip smacking, and gait abnormalities. The cause of scrapie has not yet been determined, Rossow said. He added that attempts to cure or pre vent its spread using heat, ultra violet irradiation and disinfectants have so far failed. Once an animal begins to show the signs of scrapie infection, it may live only from one to six an automatic milker and gives about one gallon of milk a day. Heather, who worked at a local kennel this past year, also has shown sheep and swine at local 4-H competitions. But she really prefers goats because they have more agreeable temperaments. Her work with goats has taught her a lot. “I have learned about the agri cultural practices, marketing prod ucts, a lot of general information, and about money management on the farm,” Heather said. When she graduates from Delaware, she hopes she will be able to continue raising and show ing her goats. Actually, she is sure that will happen “I’ll always have goats,” Heather said. months. In 1992, he said, sheep produc ers, veterinarians, state animal health officials and the USDA began the Voluntary Scrapie Flock Certification Program to try to deal with the disease. The intent of the program is to monitor flocks over a five-year Dr. Charles Rossow, a veterinary medical officer with the USDA, discusses deadly disease scrapie during the 62nd annual meeting of the Cumberland Coopera tive Sheep and Wool Growers. One of Heather’s friendliest goats, Lacy, jumps up to give her a friendly kiss. period or more to identify flocks that are free of scrapie, Rossow said. The aim is to help participat ing producers increase the mark etability of their animals, he said. To apply for the program, flock owners should contact the state’s Scrapie Certification Board, he said. The other action at the wool growers meeting was to elect four officers to new terms. Credon Bixler, Ben Bow, and Tim Hocker all were reelected to new terms as cooperative directors. John Burkholder was elected to another term as an auditor.
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