’ ■ - - ' W W * w Jk I M WW W 1 345 P 4 667Z4 030 •1 036034 022801 tttt# - ( PERIODICALS DIVISION ### ' W2OV RATTE LIBRARr PENN STATE UNIVERSITY 1 PA 16802 V 01.46 No. 21 Play It Again , Zita MICHELLE RANCK Lancaster Farming Staff WILLIAMSPORT, Md. They’re not twins. They’re not even sisters. And yet, their pedigrees are the same. Exactly. These two calves are inextri cably tied by the molecular basis of heredity, that double helix construction localized in cell nuclei deoxyribonucleic acid otherwise known as DNA. Now we finally see why we had to study biology in eighth grade. At the aptly-named Futura land 2020 Holsteins, the future is now for the Wiles family. Two new additions to their herd, “Cyagra Z” and “Genesis Z” are the clones of the farm’s “Con-Acres-HS Zita-ET” (2E -94, GMD DOM), an exceptional cow that has proven herself in both production and type. “When we were approached about this, I don’t think either one of us (Charles or Greg Wiles) flinched at it,” said Greg Wiles. “We jumped in it was a way of trying something new at its early stages.” Vl/ March 30 to April 1, At The Penn State Ag Arena Beef Expo Includes Cattlemen’s Activities Pa. STATE COLLEGE (Centre Co.) The 14th annual Penn sylvania Beef Expo will be con ducted here at the Penn State Ag Arena Friday, Saturday, and Judy lager, center, and husband Charles, right, were honored with the 2000 Distinguished Service Award at the Maryland Holstein Association annual banquet late last week. Presenting the award is Helen Remsburg, for A. Doty Remsburg Memorial Fund, trophy sponsor. See story page A 32. Photo by Andy Andrews, editor Four Sections ‘Jumping In’ The story began a year ago when Jim Cooper, from Holstein Friesian Services, was on the farm to inspect a bull for a Japa nese buyer. An offhand remark about cloning lead to a conver sation about the topic. Fueled by information Cooper had from “Cyagra,” the animal cloning division of ACT (Advanced Cell Technology), the Wiles family investigated the option. The Wiles family eventually decided to take the company, Cyagra, based in Worcester, Mass., up on the offer. “We have a really good working relation ship with the company. We talk just about every week,” said Wiles, exchanging information and ideas. To secure the necessary cells, which contain Zita’s genetic in formation, in early 2000 the Wiles got a kit with a hand-held, one-eighth inch needle which punched a piece of Zita’s ear. In the lab, the tissue sample from the ear was cultured in a dish to make cells continue to multiply. This culture be kept indefl- (Turn to Page A 45) _JHl!Beef . Exposition Sunday, March 30-April 1. The event will begin on Thursday evening, March 29, with the annual Pennsylvania (Turn to Page A 36) Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 24, 2001 Zita, squared: “Cyagra Z” and “Genesis Z” are the clones of Zita, once ranked number one for CTPI and with records to 39,620 pounds of milk. The Wiles family of Wil liamsport, Md., believes that her genetics are worth preserving enough to venture into the new territory of cloning. “These calves can start where Zita left off expand on what she did through her daughters,” said Greg Wiles. “Cows are not going to live for ever and this is a way of preserving her for additional time. The calves are a carbon copy of what made Zita so good. The big thing now is keeping everything else the same.” Photo by Michelle Ranch Bunting Joins Lancaster Farming Staff EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.) Mildred M. “Millie” Bunting, editor of the Livestock Reporter since 1975, has taken a part time position on the editorial/ market support staff of Lancas ter Farming. Bunting, who studied journal ism at Penn State University in the early ’sos, began her first job in the field 20 years later in 1973 at the Lancaster Livestock Re porter for the late Issac M. Groff, who founded the weekly tabloid in March 1950. She became managing editor in 1974 and editor in 1977. Bunting noted she had no ex perience with livestock. But she said she learned from a farmer about odors from the hog pens at the stockyards. He told her, “That’s the smell of money.” Bunting will provide addi tional and more in-depth market coverage for Lancaster Farming. Her most rewarding experi ence on the Reporter, she said, is having met so many outstanding young people involved in live stock projects and attending the national conventions of FFA and 4-H. Bunting was born in Lancas ter City, the daughter of the late Jacob A. and Ruth Groff Martin, both of whom grew up on farms. Her dad became fasci- IWM fte.lWYy. sq.ujpnjqi\t v $32.00 Per Year building roads in rural Dauphin County near Hershey. He became a steam shovel operator and subsequently went into the excavating business. Mildred M. “Millie” Bunting, editor of the Livestock Re* porter since 1975, has taken a part-time position on the editorial/market support staff of Lancaster Farming. 600 Per Copy Bunting was educated in the Lancaster city school system and was graduated from Mc- Caskey High School. Many (Turn to Page A 43)
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers