State’s
KENNETT SQUARE (Chester
Co.) The University of Penn
sylvania School of Veterinary
Medicine has completed plans and
signed contracts to start construc
tion of a 200-head solar dairy bam
for teaching and research at New
Bolton Center in Chester County.
The Allam Dairy Facility solar
dairy bam will be a first in Penn
sylvania. This type of bam, usual
ly built in the Northern states and
Canada, has proved to be a big
boon to the dairy industry.
A solar bam is energy efficient,
naturally bright, and easy to keep
dry, all essential conditions for
productive cows. Also, it is cost
effective in terms of manpower
and building expense.
The Allam Dairy Facility solar
dairy bam is named after emeritus
dean, Dr. Mark W. Allam, Class
of ’32. Dr. Allam was interim
dean of the School of Veterinary
Medicine from 1952-1953. In
1953 he was appointed dean and
remained in that capacity until
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.)—On the lush turf of golf
greens, the presence of a weed is
about as jarring as a sneeze in
church. Then why is a researcher
in Penn State’s College of Agri
cultural Sciences working on
adapting a species of bluegrass
that is classified as a noxious weed
for use on golf greens?
According to David Huff, assis
tant professor of turfgrass breed
ing and genetics, certain strains of
the bluegrass species Poa annua
exhibit such desirable traits as
upright growth, high shoot densi
ty, and high tolerance to the
extremely low mowing heights
most top golf courses use on their
greens.
Creeping bentgrass is grown on
most northern golf courses. Huff
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First Solar Dairy Barn At New Bolton
1973. Dr. Allam was instrumental
in the development of New Bolton
Center and still takes a great inter
est in it
The new Allam Dairy Facility
at New Bolton Center will serve as
a living laboratory for the School
of Veterinary Medicine.
“It is a commercial dairy with
modifications for extensive and
intensive research. We recognized
that in order for us to do relevant
research we needed the environ
mental setting that emulates the
real world,” said Dr. William Cha
lupa, professor of nutrition at the
School’s Center for Animal
Health and Productivity (CAHP).
“It’s lilke khaving an on-site
patient for us to study,” said Dr.
David Galligan, associate profes
sor of animal health economics at
the school. “In this case our pa
tient is the farm. We now can ex
plore ways to keep the dairy farm
healthy and productive while
keeping costs at a minimum
through the use of a living model.”
The new facility will serve as a
Weed Species
explains that, as its name implies,
bentgrass grows flat rather than
straight up. The flattened grass
can unpredictably influence the
rolling path of a putted golf ball—
a condition professional golfers
call “grain.” Creeping bentgrass
can be groomed to grow straight,
usually by raking the greens and
dressing the surface with sand.
Poa annua establishes itself in
patches on greens planted with
creeping bentgrass and has been a
pariah to greenskeepers for
decades. “Typically," soil will
become exposed from balls hitting
the green or from spike marks,
allowing the Poa to take hold,”
Huff explains.
Over a period of years, the blue
grass strain expands, usually out
competing the bentgrass. Huff
said golf courses that are more
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research and teaching site in such
fields as epidemiology and pre
ventative medicine, nutrition, re
production. infectious and chronic
diseases, and dairy cattle health
economics.
In addition, the new Allam
Dairy Facility will provide the re
gion a resource with potential for
commercial applications and en
hance the teaching environment
for veterinary and graduate stu
dents interested in the medical and
managerial aspects of dairying.
“In order to adapt to our climate
we’ve made design modifications
to reduce heat build-up,” Dr. Gal
ligan said.
"The shell of the building is
pre-manufactured as a solar agri
culture building, in essence, a
plastic greenhouse.” In the sum
mer. the sides of the bam can be
rolled to facilitate cross ventila
tion.
The facility consists of an ad
ministration area that includes a
room with view of the double-10
herringbone milking parlor; four
May Improve Golf Greens
than 80 years old often have
greens made up exclusively of Poa
annua. “If the greens are mowed
very short —5/32 to 3/32 of an
inch—creeping bentgrass
becomes very stressed at those
heights and the Poa does very
well.” he says.
“The variety of Poa annua
reminds me of breeds of dogs,”
Huff says. “It’s all one species, yet
there are a lot of different
strains—some good and some
bad.”
Over the past year. Huff has
been collecting samples of Poa
annua from golf courses across the
country, primarily from courses
more than 100 years old. From
these samples, he hopes to pro
duce a breed of Poa annua that can
be developed into a commercial
product.
“I see this product being used
for renovations of older courses
where the greens are already com
prised of poa annua strains,” Huff
said. “Of course, some course
superintendents may prefer to
plant Poa annua on newer greens
and I think it produces a much
superior putting surface.”
Once Huff has selected several s
varieties for breeding, he hopes to
produce a cultivar that is resistant
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sections of 40 free stalls where
cows can lie down; and, a spcae
for 48 comfort stalls or traditional
tie stalls.
A commodity building and
bunker silos will be located on the
north side of the bam.
“The layout of the free stall area
enables us to care for and milk ap
proximately 160 cows with rela
tively little labor,” Galligan said.
Through the use of electronic
gates the cows can be herded to
the milking parlor and milked re
quiring the labor of only one per
son.
The tie stall area accommodates
48 cows which are tied up at feed
bins in a traditional dairy farm
fashion. This set-up will be used
primarily for nutritional studies.
Each cow can be fed a different
mix and monitored by computer.
The tie stall area of the bam can be
converted to a free stall-style bam,
if needed.
Manure from the entire bam is
deposited into an 8-month holding
tank and is periodically and strate-
to heat and disease. He estimates
his work could produce a com
mercial seed in about five years.
“At the very least we’ll be able to
develop a variety that is uniform
in color, growth rate and texture,”
he said.
As part of his research, Huff is
constructing an experimental golf
green to be planted entirely with
Poa annua. The green, located
near Beaver Stadium, will allow
him to observe how the grass per
forms under realistic conditions.
He even plans to go out and putt
Center
gically spread onto fields which
reduces the need for chemical fer
tilizer, cutting the overall farm
cost
The new dairy facility is made
possible by a grant from the Com
monwealth of Pennsylvania and
through the generosity of the fol
lowing: American Cyanamid
Company, Princeton, NJ.; The
Bedford County Farmers Associa
tion. Bedford; Church and Dwight
Company Inc., Princeton, N.J.;
Mr. Emerson C. Frey. Millers
ville; and, Mr. W.B. Dixon
Stroud, Media.
Penn’s Center for Animal
Health and Productivity at New
Bolton Center, the school’s large
animal facility, was established in
1986 to implement teaching, re
search and service programs
directed toward the improvement
of health and productivity in food
animal herds and flocks. The fo
cus of CAHP is improved produc
tion through the maintenance of
physical and economic health in
the whole animal population.
on the green. All in the interest of
science, of course.
“We have to evaluate the turf
quality and its putting surface to
see which varieties will be best
suited for use on greens,” Huff
said. “For years scientists worked
to try to get rid of Poa annua. We
will still have to convince people
that what we are doing is a good
thing, but once they compare
creeping bentgrass and the
selected strains of Poa annua, the
advantages of Poa annua should
be clear.”
KEN CLUGSTON
(717) 665-6775
CRAFT-BELT
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MANHEIM, PA 17545
PH: (717) 665-4372
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