i,. > ji ■>> vjjjtjrr | V 01.47 No. 5 With Success, Young Pa. Simmental Breeders Go National S&S Sahara was grand champion Simmental female at the West Virginia State Fair open show, Eastern National Livestock Show, Keystone International Livestock Expo, and, here, junior champion of the North American International Livestock Exposition. From left, Valerie Mankey, Judge Roundhouse, Ron Kelly, Cory Frazier, and, at the halter, Justin Mankey. USDA Rep: Organic Rules To Be Practical DAVELEFEVER Lancaster Farming Staff CAMP HILL (Cumberland Co.) USDA policymakers continue to develop a “meaning ful standard” for organic agri culture across the country. That was the message deliv ered by Mark Keating of the Na tional Orgaqic Program (NOP) to a group of farmers, proces Md. Dairy Industry Encourages Progress DAVELEFEVER Lancaster Farming Staff WESTMINSTER, Md. —“Thriving in 2002 and Beyond” was the theme of the annual meeting of the Maryland Marketing , Distribution Discussed At Third Food , Farms Summit MICHELLE KUNJAPPU Lancaster Farming Stuff PHILADELPHIA “Spreading the Bounty and Safeguarding the Future” was the theme of the third annual Future of our Food and Farms Summit, conducted Thursday and Friday at Philadelphia Air port’s Renaissance Hotel. The theme highlighted the summit’s focus of increasing good nutrition, reducing hunger, and supporting farming in the Mid-Atlantic region. The Farmers’ Market Trust and RISA (Regional Infrastruc ture for Sustaining Agriculture) hosted the event, which drew www.iancastorfarming.com sors, and certifying personnel gathered at the annual Pennsyl vania Certified Organic (PCO) meeting here Wednesday. More than 100 people at tended the daylong seminar. While the control of specific materials used in growing and processing organic food will remain an important part of the certification process, Keating Dairy Industry Association (MDIA) conducted here Thurs day. Addressing top challenges facing dairy producers, profes sionals from the region spoke to 180 food distributors, health of ficials, nutritionists, extension agents, government officials, and educators. Information Presented Thursday morning the “Hunger Congress,” featuring Mid-Atlantic region legislators, provided an opportunity for participants to leam about pending legislation affecting hunger and allowed legislators to speak about their positions on the discussed issues. The opening session, “Chart ing the Course for Mid-Atlantic Agriculture in the 21st Cen- (Turn to Page A2B) Four Sections said it is crucial that the final or ganic rule does not create “an unbearable compliance system,” he said, but rather emphasize the whole process of organic ag riculture. “It’s important that we main tain focus on practice stand ards,” he said. “It has to be about the big picture. We can (Turn to Page A3O) the group on topics such as prac ticing biosecurity measures, maximimizing economic re turns, improving reproductive success, and managing labor re sources. Richard Stup of Penn State spoke to the need for good work force management on growing dairy operations, telling the group that none of the other as pects of herd management can succeed unless the people doing the work are well-managed. “If you want to manage a dairy in the 21st century, you need to manage people,” he said. “You’ve got to enjoy people as much as you enjoy cows.” Stup stressed the need for managers to create job descrip tions for employees and stan dard operating procedures for daily jobs such as milking, heat detection, and feeding. Workers need planned train ing sessions for each task, need to see the results of what they (Turn to Page A2B) Saturday, December 1,2001 DAVELEFEVER Lancaster Farming Staff AMITY (Washington Co.) and MYERSTOWN (Lebanon Co.) During the last several years, the Simmental breed in this country has undergone sig nificant changes, largely through intensive breeding prac tices conducted on a national scale. Two young men from Penn sylvania who have positioned themselves on the front edge of those developments are Justin Mankey of Washington County and Tim Schaeffer of Lebanon County. Mankey, 20, a student at Washington and Jefferson Col lege, and Schaeffer, a senior at Eastern Lebanon County High School, both exhibited grand champion Simmental cattle at the Keystone International Live stock Exhibition (KILE) in Har risburg this October. They also shared credit for the grand champion female in the junior show recently at the North American International Live stock Exposition (NAILE) in Louisville, Ky. S&S Sahara, a heifer bred by Schaeffer and owned by Mankey, took championship For the largest cookie exchange in Lancaster County, Join Ruth Rogers, left, and Phyllis Wolf during the Ephrata Community Hospital Auxiliary Cookie Exchange, Dec. 6-7 from 8 a.m.-8 p.m. in the hospital lobby. More than 10,000 cookies are expected to be exchanged, sold, and given to New York firefighters. Photo by Lou Ann Good Event Benefits Disaster Workers LOU ANN GOOD Food And Family Features Editor EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.) “Cookies are comfort food, and I love them,” Ruth Rogers said of birthing the cookie ex change IS years ago as a means Hospital Exchange A Real ‘Cookie’ $34.00 Per Year honors at both shows. Schaeffer, who bought his first Simmental cows in 1995, said the breed produces a “more complete” beef animal. “They might not be the pretti est things in the world,” he said. “But when they mature into cows, they are so functional.” Schaeffer said that in recent years, the Simmental has been bred for increased weight gains over shorter periods of time, as well as for smaller frame sizes and solid color usually black for better commercial and show appeal. Historically red and white, Simmental crossbreeding with Black Angus caused the shift to more solid black cattle. Down sizing the large Simmental frame was also necessary to make the breed more viable in the beef industry. Previously, the animals “were too big for commercial producers,” accord ing to Schaeffer. Meanwhile, the cows have maintained an impressive level of high milk production inher ited from full-blooded Simmen tals, he said. Both Schaeffer and Mankey use embryo transfer (ET) tcch (Turn to Page A 25) of benefiting the Ephrata Com munity Hospital. Hundreds of other people share Rogers’ passion for cook ies and have helped make the annual event the largest cookie exchange in the county, accord (Turn to Page A3O) 750 Per Copy
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