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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)