LINDA WILLIAMS Bedford Co. Correspondent BEDFORD (Bedford Co.) Carl and Carol Rowser were look ing for something different. “Something that would get me away from being a truck mechan ic,” said Carl. So they took a trip west and dis covered elk. American elk are members of the deer Family, but unlike other deer, are raised primarily for then velvet antlers. A mature elk can produce 12 or more pounds of velvet annually which sells for $6O a pound. “A really good bull can produce more than 40 pounds,” said Carl. Velvet has been used as an in gredient in Asian medicines for thousands of years and, today, it is sold to firms that produce these medicines for various ethnic mar kets. Elk are also raised for breeding stock, meat, and other by-pro ducts. “They use everything but the intestines,” said Carl. “Almost as good as a pig. Most people don’t realize elk even have two ivory teeth.” Carl and Carol bought their first elk from the king of elk farmers. Rush Johnson, president of the North America Elk Breeders As- sociation, It’s an inexpensive undertaking. The Rowsers spent $4,000 on their calves, $6,500 on cows, and $7,500 on a bull. “But you need Emergency Forages Fill Feeding Void COLUMBUS, Ohio Lives tock producers facing a feed shor tage because of winter-injured alfalfa stands or com that was not planted in the wet spring have some forage options, said Mark Sulc, Ohio State University forage agronomist. Summer annual grasses for age sorghum, sudangrass, sorghum-sudangrass hybrids and pearl millet—grow quickly in the late spring and summer and can be planted up to July 1 in northern Ohio and July IS in the south. The feed value of these grasses is not as good as alfalfa or com silage, but when managed correctly they can provide good quality forage, Sulc said. “Producers should choose which grass they plant based on how they plan to use it,” Sulc said. Forage sorghum is the best of the grasses for silage. Silage from forage sorghum is the closest nutritional feed substitute to com silage, said BUI Weiss, dairy sci entist at Ohio State University’s Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center. High energy, low-protein forage sorg hum silage has about 85 percent of com silage’s feed value. Forage sorghum grows well in light-textured, shallow soUs that tend to be dry and could outper form com in these fields, Sulc said. - Sudangrass generally has thin ner stems than sorghum sudangrass and is the best option for making hay or grazing. How ever, the finer stems usually mean lower yields than the other sum mer annuals, Sulc said. Sudan grass hybrids usually bring a slightly higher yield than sudan grass as comparable stages of Elk Velvet Is Exported To Korea good stock to get started,” Carl said. The Rowsers had the ideal loca tion for their new venture with a small farm bordering on their back door and a pleasant stream mean dering through the lush green meadow. “All it took was fencing,” Carl said. “And it does take that. By state law, fences must be at least 10 feet high.” Elk convert pasture efficently into protein and can be raised on marginal land. Labor require ments are minimal while the profit potential can be much greater than for a comparable beef cow-calf operation. Today there are almost 32,000 elk on U.S. farms. The advantages of raising this breed include a high fertility rate and a long reproduc tive breed line. They calve easily and wean their calves early. Their calm dispositions make them easy to handle and transport. “Nutrition is easy,” said Carl. They eat mostly pasture, trees, and brush. Grasses should be varieties that will stand up under close cropping and constant trampling by hooves. The Rowsers add a food supplement which is espe cially prepared by Farm Bureau. Total food consumption is about 'A as much as a beef cow. “Elk love the cold weather, which was a plus, this year,” said this former beef farmer, “but they also tolerate hot weather. growth. Sorghum-sudangrass hybrids and pearl mUlet can be used as either silage or hay. Pearl miUet tends to have smaller stems and be more leafy than sorghum sudangrass. If used for grazing, these grasses should be planted thicker to encourage finer stems, Sulc said. Sudangrass, sorghum-sudan grass, and pearl mUlet have about 40 percent less energy than com, but are slightly higher in protein, Weiss said. Overall, they have about 70 percent of corn’s feed value. The advantage sudangrass, sorghum-sudangrass and pearl millet have over forage sorghum is that they regrow after cutting, Sulc said. It may be possible to get more than rate harvest off of these grasses before frosts begin this fall. Yields for these three grasses are 3 to 5 tons per acre after dry ing. This is less than alfalfa’s 4 to 8 tons and com silage’s 7 to 9 tons, but not bad, Sulc said. In a normal year, summer annu al grasses can be harvested 45 to 60 days after planting, Sulc said. The time to harvest may be shor tened by hotter weather or length ened by cold temperatures. Producers should remember to cut these grasses before heads appear or at about 4 feet tall, Sulc said. Forage quality declines rapidly once heads appear. Use a hay conditioner to mow and crush the stems to speed drying. Second, forage sorghum, sorghum-sudangrass hybrids, and sudangrass are all in the sorghum family and produce prussic acid. Prussic acid is present in imma ture sorghum grasses and mature sorghum grasses after a frost. “All elk need exercise, and es pecially so when pregnant. Some farmers will put the water at one end of the pasture and food at the other just to make certain they have to move around. “Our main change on this farm has been to add plenty of fencing,” Carl said. Velvet is gotten by extracting the entire antler a tough job, made easier by specially designed “squeeze shoots.” Carl said the en tire antler is removed and stored in an upright position (because the blood is the important part) in the freezer. Korean research at Invermay Agßescarch and Kyung Hee Uni versity hospital in Korea indicates that the medical effects of velvet vary according to which part of the antler it cranes from. The top part contains growth hormones which are very effective for children and anemia. The middle part prevents wom en’s diseases and has a marked re storative and blood augmenting effect. The lower part contains miner als which are very effective against bone disease and are help ful for old people. Velvet is prepared for use by first drenching in alcohol for good color and rapid absorption. The velvet is then sliced and dried before mixing with other herbal medicines. “Our biggest concern is worms,” Carl said. “Brain worm from the white tail deeer is a large threat. Consequently we worm twice a year.” By law, elk brought into Penn sylvania that are more than six months old must test negative for brucellosis and bluctongue within 60 days of importation and must test negative for tuberculosis with in 90 days of importation, accord ing to recommended USDA proto col. Curriculum Changes To Benefit Next Generation UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) Penn State’s Board of Trustees has approved changes in the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering’s un dergraduate program. They also approved changing the name of the undergraduate major and min or in agricultural engineering to agricultural and biological engi neering. “We will begin offering the new agricultural and biological engineering undergraduate curri culum starting in August 1996,” said department head Dr. Dennis Buffington. “The revised curricu lum is designed to give our stu- drought, or other stressful condi tions and is toxic to many animals. All summer annual grasses have the potential for nitrate tox icity in livestock. To avoid prussic acid and nitrate toxicity, growers should wait to harvest summer annuals until after the grasses are 24 inches tall, Sulc said. After a frost, waif at least one week for plants to dry before grazing or cutting. Finally, some herbicides should not be used on grasses fed to lives tock. Livestock producers should check herbicide labels for details before applying them to summer annuals, Weiss said. ■Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, June 29, 1996-C7 Elk on the Rowser farm. The animals attract many local spectators. Carol Rowser, left, and a helper build fences for the elk on the Rowser farm. dents the appropriate educational experiences to better prepare them for exciting careers in the next century.” Many students are surprised by the range of opportunities offered by agricultural and biological en gineering. “It’s a lot more than farm equipment,” Buffington said. “Graduates are involved with en gineering aspects of agricultural, food, and biological systems. “Agricultural and biological en gineers work in all areas that in volve the production of food and biological materials, the process ing systems for these materials, and natural resources conserva tion and management,” he said. “Our graduates tackle problems ranging from finding new ways to package and process food pro ducts, to designing better machin ery and production systems and improving waste management techniques.” The core courses in the new curriculum will be biological sys tems, modeling methods for bio logical systems, transport process- es for biological production, pow er and structural systems in agriculture, engineering proper ties of food and biological mater ials, and agricultural measure ments and control systems. Students in the new curriculum also will choose at least two ot the four senior-level design courses: design of fluid power systems, de sign of wood structures, food and biological process engineering, and design hydrology and sedi mentology. Each student also will complete a capstone design course entitled optimization of biological production and processing sys tems. For more information about op portunities in agricultural and bio logical engineering, contact the Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, 250 Agricultural Engineering Building, University Park, PA 16802, or visit the department’s World Wide. Web site on the Inter net at http://scrver.age.psu.edu/.
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