A4O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 14, 1998
Pennsylvania Simmental
(Continued from Pago A 1)
ment.” So far, the Ostaszewski
family has been very receptive.
“The family wants to be on the
forefront of raising red beef cattle
in Poland,” she said.
However, the challenges of
exporting beef genetics to the
Ostaszewski family proved
formidable.
Bill Flagg first became involved
with the project in the summer of
1997, when a friend of his met Joe
Czudak, who went to the same
church in Philadelphia as Matthew
Ostaszewski. Matthew’s family
had purchased the farm in Poland
and wanted to help restore the farm
to productive use.
Matthew’s plan was simple: use
western genetics to literally “beef
up” the Polish herd, composed
mostly of cows of mixed and indis
tinctive genetics, used primarily
for milk production.
Embryo calves from this herd
would become the foundation herd
for the family.
Karen noted that the family
believes demand for beef from this
herd would be “great” The ship
ment was a full year in the making.
“There were times when we almost
The bulk of the embryos were from Athena, the Flagg’s
19- year-old fullblood cow whose dam was imported from
the Fleckveih region of southern Germany in the mid-19705.
According to Karen Flagg, Athena’s sons have consistently
excelled when placed on test at the Penn State Meat Animal
Evaluation Center.
Composting:
(Continued from Page A3B)
acids work. Li Georgia, a layer
operation was using sodium or
potassium hydroxide as a base to
digest feathers off the birds. He
also reviewed a place in Texas
where birds from a broiler were
rendered using a fermentation
“slurry.” In thg end, the product
included 37 percent crude protein,
28 percent fat, and the products
were recycled back to feed ingre
dients (to the tunc of 5-10 percent
of the total diet).
Penn State conducted its own
research using sodium hydroxide
and enzymes to rid birds of the
feathers and to render the carcas
ses. The product provided little
spoilage, it eliminated the bad bac
teria, and “pickled essentially
pretty good,” Patterson said.
In the study, there was evidence
of destruction of protein. But the
by-product cold be fed to baby
chicks and cockerels, noted
DON'T LOOK
ANY FURTHER!
YOU'LL FIND IT IN
LANCASTER FARMING’S
CLASSIFIEDS
gave up,” Karen said. But they
persisted.
First, all health requirements
had to be met. People who could
thaw the genetics from liquid nit
rogen freezing had to be available
in Poland. Health requirements
established by the Polish Ministry
of Agriculture had to be satisfied.
Shipping arrangements had to be
made to accommodate the tank of
frozen nitrogen. Permits had to be
secured and import duty paid.
Bill noted that the Ostaszcws-
Id’s wanted to hand-transport the
embryos and semen by plane.
Hand-transportation could prove
difGcult with the headaches of cus
toms and the lack of insurance.
However, Bill was able to convin
ce them to allow a commercial
freight company to deliver the
material to Poland. Through the
assistance of Mower and Sam
Hayes, Pennsylvania secretary of
agriculture, who visited Poland,
the Flaggs were successful in
transporting the material.
There were 20 embryos in three
separate lots. They were;
• Lot 1: Sire: Yust-Pol Home
steader. Dam: PMF Athena.
•Lot 2: Sire: Switz Pol Red
M 785. Dam: PMF Cameo.
Least-Cost Method
Patterson,
An ag economist from Alabama
researched tht economics of the
various disposal methods avail
able to producers. He pointed out
that it would cost about 3.68 per
hundredweight to use disposal
pits, $4.88 per hundredweight for
large bin disposal, $8.92 per hun
dredweight for incineration, $4.55
per hundredweight for fermenta
tion, and $11.41 per hundred
weight for refrigeration.
Minicomposting was the least
expensive, at $3.50 per
hundredweight.
Producers must understand
“there are some challenges out
there,” said Patterson. “There are
some birds that need to be disposed
of.
“These issues are critical and
close to proximity situations,” he
said, “certainly like we have here
in Lancaster County. The public is
going to be looking at how these
are handled.”
PEQAP Update
Dr. David Kradel, poultry health
consultant and coordinator of the
Pennsylvania Egg Quality Assur-
Genetics Make New Home In Poland
ln mid-October, shipments of fullblood Simmental embryos and semen were made
to the Ostaszewski family from Warren Point, a fullblood Simmental cow/calf farm
operated by the Bill and Karen Flagg family in Elverson.
• Lot 3: Sire: Switz Polled Prog
ress. Dam: PMF Athena.
The semen lot was from a bull,
PMF Abraham, son of PMF Athe
na, according to Bill.
Simmental cattle originated in
Switzerland.
The purebred line means that
Simmental genetics were
crossbred to another breed. How
ever, the Flaggs maintain a 100
percent fullblood line meaning
the genetics have never been mix
ed with any other breed.
The fullblood Simmentals are a
more highly muscled, red in color,
and are excellent foragers, noted
Bill.
A couple of decades ago, when
the Flaggs began their cow/calf
operation, they become “sold on
fullblood Simmentals because
they forage extremely well,
they’re not extreme in size,” said
Karen. “But they’re hill of meat
and gain vety efficiently.” Karen
noted the Simmentals produce lots
of red meat, are easy to handle, and
are quiet, gentle animals.
“We’re breeding to create a
good product and a really function-
ance Program (PEQAP), informed
those at the seminar Monday about
the recent meeting of the PEQAP
Executive Committee.
As of Monday, there were 177
premises enrolled in PEQAP, rep
resenting 284 flocks.
The Salmonella Enteritidis (SE)
flock positivity rate has remained
steady at S'A to about 9 percent
But with 35 new flocks coming
into the program as of October, the
SE positive rate has jumped to
about 13 percent, which concerns
the program directors. PEQAP
would like to see the rate below 8
percent.
To provide more credibility for
the program, Kradel noted, one
proposal was to allow the Pennsyl
vania Department of Agriculture
animal health technicians to come
in to the houses on unannounced
inspections. There won’t be prior
notifications for animal health
technicians to visit premises,
according to Kradel, in order to
provide the maximum level of cre
dibility to the program. The com
mittee did not finalize anything
regarding the proposal, according
to Kradel, and the proposal is still
up for discussion.
al female,” Karen said.
The last three years. Bill noted,
Simmentals have achieved top
gain at the Penn State performance
tests. Altogether breeders must
recognize these factors above any
kind of “beauty contests,” he said.
Recently a family in Gap pur
chased eight head of bred animals
from the Flaggs to start a small
herd.
The Flaggs moved to Elverson
from their former farm, Pickering
Meadow Farm, in Schuylkill
Township near Phoenixvillc.
They began raising Simmentals
in 1979 after responding to an ad
for Simmental beef in Lancaster
Fanning, Bill noted. In 1994,
when they moved to Warren Point,
they maintained about 50 brood
cows and 25 calves. Now they
maintain about 40 brood cows and
15 calves on the farm.
Bill and Karen Flagg farm with
their two sons. Dean, 14 and Chris,
12. Altogether they cate for about
112 acres, all pasture or hay. They
maintain about 30 acres for rota
tionally intensive grazing (25 acres
of sacrifice area in the winter) and
about 45 acres of hay. The hay
Five Maryland Holstein
Scholarships Available
The Maryland Holstein
Association is offering five schol
arships to Maryland Holstein
youth. A $2OOO scholarship will
be awarded to the Outstanding
Maryland Holstein Scholar and
four $750 scholarships will be
presented to other deserving
winners at the Maryland
Holstein Convention Banquet to
be held in Howard County in
March 1999
A student must be attending
a two-year or four-year degree
granting institution in a College
of Agriculture. The scholarships
are available to undergraduate
and graduate students who have
been or are currently enrolled in
includes an alfalfa mixture and the
remainder an orchard/timothy/
ryegrass mixture.
Bill said that he gets about four
cuttings of alfalfa per year and two
off the regular grass hay mixture.
On the rotationally grazed lots,
the paddocks range from 3 /< of an
acre to two acres. Most are % to
one acre in size. The grazing areas
contain a mix or rye and clover and
other grasses.
The paddocks are fenced with
12 '/i gauge aluminum wire, “visi
ble to the cattle and deer,” Bill
said. The wire is mounted to blue
recycled vinyl fence.
The farm name, Warren Point,
has been in existence" since “the
Flaggs purchased the farm, at one
time owned by the Pew family.
The homestead was built in
1756 and was an “iron plantation."
According to Karen, the name
“Warren Point” probably origi
nated when a bell mounted on top
of the older section of the house
was used to warn the people of the
iron quarry of approaching indians
coming up the valley. So the name
“warning point," shortened to
“Warren Point,” stuck.
a dairy project with Holstein
cattle as a 4-H or FFA member.
The Outstanding Maryland
Holstein Scholar award is
offered to the most outstanding
applicant based on scholastic
achievements, 4-H/FFA, school
and community activities,
Holstein project activities and
accomplishments, and future
goals.
Applications can be obtained
by contacting Arthur & Peggy
Johnson at 301-972-8274
Applications must be post
marked no later than January
15, 1999 for consideration of
these awards "with all required
information included: