Berks Group Tours Taylor Excel Plant In Wyalusing (Continued from Page A 25) Drew Wilkins, cattle procure ment manager, also spoke to the group. “We’re not backing away from the fed cattle business,” he said. Although the plant is primarily a processor of cull dairy cows, “we will be looking for black cattle to fill the CAB program,” he said. Since the CAB program does not utilize Y 4 animals, producers should perhaps look carefully at their feed and genetic program to consistently grade high without producing Y 4 animals, he said. Wilkins also addressed the question of contracts. “At this stage we are not considering con tract feeding, but that’s always something we need to talk about and consider,” he said. He reminded the cattle pro ducers that “proper animal han dling is extremely important,” he said. On the bottom round flat of dairy animals, for example, which is used for processed roast beef items, injection site scar tis sue can cause the plant a loss of 25-30 percent of the cut. “We have established a price to pay for the cattle based on what we can sell them for,” he said. The blemished meat that must be diposed costs the plant 40 cents a pound. “What we don’t get gets passed on to the producers, so the more that gets thrown out turns into less value for us and what we can pay to the producer,” he said. National Sheep Summary San Angelo, Texas June 11,2002 Report Supplied By USDA At midwest market centers slaughter lambs 2.00 higher; slaughter ewes and feeder lambs steady. At New Holland, slaughter lambs S.OO lower; slaughter ewes steady. At San Angelo, all classes steady. 10,000 head estimated for today. Slaughter l,ambs: Choice and Prime 2-3 90-150 lbs: San Angelo: shorn and wooled 61 00-69.00; new crop 70,00-77.00. Rendering Pete Hatton, operations coordi nator of the rendering plant, ex plained the rendering operation to tour participants. Besides fertilizer, the pet food industry is a large buyer of ren dered products. A large-sized animal will pro duce approximately 500 pounds of blood and raw material, said Hatton. Since the plant is automated, only one operator and two men on the floor are necessary per shift. The blood is dried at the slaughter facility and shipped out for use as fertilizer. However the bones and offal (organs) are sepa rated during processing and ar rive at the plant in tractor trailer loads. The loads are dumped in a specific ratio as the operator makes a high- or low-protein meat and bone meal. The material is dropped into 40-pound metal plates and an auger which grinds the material into smaller pieces for more effi cient cooking. The offal is cooked for 40 min utes to 300 degrees and the tallow that separates out is drained, cen trifuged, and clarified. During the process the solids drop to three percent moisture as they are cooked and further ground into beef meal. Based in Wichita, Excel has approximately 20,000 employees worldwide and 21 production fa Midwest: shorn 72.00-76.00; new crop 76.00- New Holland: 80-110 lbs 70.00- 110-130 lbs 70.00-90.00 Vir- ginia: no test. Slaughter Ewes: San Angelo: Good and Choice 2-4 22.00-32.00; Good 2-3; 32.00- Utility and Good 1-3 39.00- Utility 1-2 30.00-39.00; Cull and Utility 1-2 20.00-30.00. Midwest: Utility and Good 1-3 IS.OO-20.00; Cull 1-2 10.00- New Holland: Good and Choice 2-4 40.00-60.00; Utility and Good 1-3 25.00-40.00. Billings: no test. Hereford calves arrived this spring at Milvic Farm Polled Herefords, Mehoopany, where tour participants stopped on the way home. cilities, including nine beef pro cessing facilities in the U.S., Can ada, and Australia. Excel is a subsidiary of Minne apolis-based Cargill, Inc. Milvic Farm Polled Herefords On the way home the tour group visited the rolling hills of Milvic Farm Polled Herefords, owned and operated by Victor and Millie Cappucci, Mehoopa ny. A former dairy farmer, Cap- Feeder Lambs: Medium and Large 1-2: San Angelo: new crop 40-60 lbs 80.00-82.00; 60-90 lbs 70.00-77.00. Mid west: new crop 60-75 lbs 70.00-80.00; 75-90 lbs 60.00-70.00. Virginia: no test. Billings: no test. Replacement Ewes: Medium and Large 1-2: San Angelo: no test. Billings: no test pucci owns approximately 25 brood cows, which he breeds with a herd sire. This year he had 19 cows calves in less than two weeks. Besides this year’s calf crop, which includes two sets of twins, he has eight yearling heif ers and eight 2-year-olds. The brood cows are out on pas ture year-round, and only the bulls receive grain on a regular basis. The quality purebred bulls are rotated every two to three years. Each fall Cappucci sells his bull calves, mostly for breed- ing purposes. On the farm the cattle roam through hills and tree-lined pas tures, rotated each week in one of four 8-10-acre paddocks. In the winter Cappucci feeds round bales in a 30x40-foot facility with room for 32 animals. He scrapes it out once every two weeks.
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