A4O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 15, 2002
Maryland 4-H Shepherd Recalls Getting Started
WESTMINSTER, Md. Ra
chael Schuster has been raising
and exhibiting sheep for just
about as long as she can remem
ber. At age 13, going on 14, the
Carroll County 4-H’er recalled
how she got started.
“I was around cows before
sheep,” she explained. She lives
on the family farm in New Wind
sor where her parents, Charles
and Sharon Schuster, raised beef
cattle for about 20 years. “I at
tended the Maryland Sheep and
Wool Festival regularly as a
small child,” recalled Rachael. “I
told my mom that I wanted a
lamb more than anything and
that I would never ask for any
thing ever again.”
The 9-year-old’s plea worked,
and the smallest lamb they could
find went home with them on her
lap in the car that afternoon. Ra
chael picked out a black Finn
lamb that she named Zorro be
cause of the distinct dark mask
on his white face.
“I started showing him at the
fairs,” she said. “That year I won
a blue ribbon at the Carroll
County Fair and a silver bowl
trophy at the Maryland Sheep
and Wool Festival for his wool.”
The Maryland Sheep and Wool
Festival, always held on the first
USD A Begins l,OOO Employees
To Speed Up Farm Bill Implementation
WASHINGTON, D.C.—
U.S. Agriculture Secretary
Ann M. Veneman recently
announced the authorization
to hire an additional 1,000
employees to aid county of
fices throughout the country
expedite implementation of
The Farm Security and
Rural Investment Act of
2002.
“USDA is strongly com
mitted to ensuring that the
new farm bill is implement
ed as carefully, effectively
and timely as possible,” said
Veneman. “These new hires,
along with comprehensive
training and information
technology advances, will
help ensure we meet our
commitment.”
This first round of staffing
will account for about 40
percent of the additional
employment needed to
implement the new law. The
new Farm Bill contained $55
million for Farm Bill imple
mentation. The Bush Ad
ministration had requested
$llO million because the
weekend in May, is billed as the
largest festival in America. At
just nine, Rachael became the re
cipient of a much sought after
trophy that bears the inscription,
25th Maryland Sheep and Wool
Festival; Best of Maryland Wool
Producer, 1998.
Zorro became the first of her
flock of Finnsheep. She went on
to increase her flock to where she
now has her own breeding pro
gram. She selects sires for their
correctness and wool quality. Ra
chael said she sells her fleeces to
hand spinners. “Finns have soft
wool and a long staple length,
nice luster and they come in all
colors.” She has gotten top dollar
for the prizewinning fleeces
which range in weight from
about four to seven pounds. “A
hand spinner in Virginia bought
Zorro’s fleece for $100,” she re
ported.
Rachael said she uses the wool
from her sheep for her own proj
ects, too. “I felt it and weave it
after the wool is spun. I wove a
scarf with Zorro’s wool. I make
crafts out of it, like a wreath I
made, and I use it for stuffing,
like in stuffed animals. I use their
wool to make projects to enter in
the fairs.”
Rachael is a regular exhibitor
new law contains extensive
modifications to existing
laws, creates many new pro
grams, and has a very ag
gressive implementation
timeline.
Putting the programs of
the new law into place, most
of which are applicable to
the 2002 crops, significantly
increases the workload of
the Farm Service Agency
(FSA), which had been
steadily reducing staff since
the enactment of the Federal
Agriculture Improvement
and Reform Act of 1996.
A newly completed work
load assessment for the new
law provides estimates of the
additional staff required at
the county offices, Washing
ton headquarters, and other
field offices for timely imple
mentation of the new law.
Based on this assessment,
the agency is hiring the first
group of approximately
1,000 temporary employees,
most for local FSA offices in
parts of the country where
the expanded workload will
be the greatest.
at the fairs in Carroll County,
Howard County, Montgomery
County, and the Maryland State
Fair 4-H and open shows. She
also travels to New Jersey each
September where she always
brings back ribbons for her en
tries in the New Jersey Harvest
Sheep and Wool Festival.
“My favorite breed is Monta
dale,” said the young member of
Maryland Sheep Breeders Associ
ation. Rachael got her start with
this American breed of sheep
quite by chance. “I wrote an
essay ‘Why I want to raise a
Montadale lamb’ and to my
surprise, I won!” she explained.
“I always wanted big sheep.
They’re the perfect size,” she
said. The young shepherd added
that she has had a Shetland lamb
and a Merino lamb, but she has
decided to “stick with Monta-
dales and Finns.”
The two sheep breeds can be
used for their meat or for their
wool. Rachael said that the pure
white Montadale fleeces are also
worthy of show and are pur
chased by hand spinners. She has
won champion ribbons at county
fairs and at the Maryland State
Fair with fleeces from both the
Finnsheep and Montadales.
“I tried my first market lamb
“These new employees
will go to the offices with the
least staff and where the
workload will be the great
est,” said FSA Administra
tor James R. Little. “While
the new law provided some
funding for implementation,
USD A had requested a
larger amount, and is seek
ing additional resources
through a supplemental
Congressional appropriation
or the regular appropria
tions process.”
USDA began implement
ing the new law immediately
upon enactment. Veneman
named an implementation
team to reduce the red tape
and expedite approval of all
the new regulations. The de
partment has also launched
a new Farm Bill Website
featuring responses to fre
quently asked questions.
Correspondence has been
sent to producers describing
significant program changes
and identifying information
they will need to provide
when enrollment begins for
the new programs.
last year,” said Rachael. She
found that raising an animal for
meat is a much different process
than when the focus is on the
wool. She exhibited her market
lamb, a Montadale wether, at the
Carroll County 4-H and FFA
Fair and sold it at the end of the
fair season at the Maryland State
Fair. “It was exciting,” she said
of the new experience. She said
she will try raising a market lamb
again this year, but the focus of
her program will continue to be
on breeding sheep for their wool
quality and correctness.
The room full of ribbons and
trophies attests to Rachael’s
achievements in 4-H. “There are
a lot of other things to do in 4-H
besides animals, although I think
animals are the most rewarding,”
she explained. “I do writing, pho
tography, crafts, baking, public
speaking, horticulture and other
things,” she said. “I like the com
petition of showing sheep,” she
continued. “It’s also nice to be
able to say you have a hobby. Not
many people know about sheep,
and I like teaching people.”
As a member of the local
Sam’s Creek 4-H Club, Rachael
has reached out to the commu
nity via her sheep project. “I
have visited nursing homes, Alz
heimer patients, and the Lions
Club. I also take my lambs to
USDA Grants Protection
To 33 New Plant Varieties
WASHINGTON, D.C.
USDA has issued certificates of
protection to developers of 33
new varieties of seed-reproduced
and tuber-propagated plants.
They include corn and soybean.
The 33 certificates are being is
sued under the Plant Variety
Protection Act. The certificates
require that the varieties be new,
distinct, uniform, and stable. The
owners will have the exclusive
right to reproduce, sell, import
and export their products in the
U.S. for the duration of protec
tion.
The 33 certificates are:
• The PH3HH variety of com,
developed by Pioneer Hi-Bred In
ternational, Inc., Johnston, lowa.
• The GF6150, 8615126,
8615127, 22DHQ3, 87ATD2,
17DHD16, 17QFB1, 4SCQ3,
911515, 01HFI3, 87D1A4,
WDHQ2, 01HGI2, 22DHD11,
171N120, 09DSS1 and 01INL1
varieties of com, developed by
Lancaster Farming’s annual
Dairy of Distinction section is July 27.
The issue is scheduled to include feature
farm reports on more than two dozen
Dairy of Distinction award winners.
Watch for it!
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church and schools.” Rachael
said she would recommend 4-H
to other young people.
While it is not necessary to
have an animal, she said that
raising sheep “is a good learning
experience. It teaches you re
sponsibility.” The young shep
herd has daily chores and step
ped up preparation during the
summer fair season. “They have
to be halter trained, shorn, wash
ed, clipped, and carded for the
shows,” she said.
With two sets of Montadale
twins and a set of Finn triplets
born this year, Rachael has lots
of responsibility. “They’re all
pets,” she said of her flock of
about a dozen. “We give them all
names. My favorite is Princess,”
she said referring to a large white
Montadale with twins in the pas
ture. “She’s my first homegrown
lamb. She has the best personali
ty. Whenever I walk into the
field, she’s always smiling.” And
that’s a good thing for a shepherd
whose own name, ‘Rachael,’
means ‘lamb.’
Look for Rachael and other
4-H’ers at the Carroll County
Fair from July 27 through Aug. 2
at the Agriculture Center in
Westminster, Md. For more in
formation and a complete sched
ule of events, visit www.carrol
lcountyfair.com or call Barry
Lippy (410) 848-FAIR.
DEKALB Genetics Corporation,
DeKalb, 111.
• The LH3O2 variety of field
com, developed by Holden’s
Foundation Seeds, L.L.C., Wil
liamsburg, lowa.
• The 02324990, 5N79628 and
SEBOOI4 varieties of soybean, de
veloped by As grow Seed Compa
ny LLC., Ames, lowa.
• The 91803, 91842, 90851,
90874, 94813, 94874 and 95842
varieties of soybean, developed
by Pioneer Hi-Bred International,
Inc., Johnston, lowa.
• The KS 4895 and K 54997
varieties of soybean, developed
by Kansas Agricultural Experi
ment Station, Manhattan, Kan.
• The HBK 6600 variety of
soybean, developed by Hombeck
Seed Co., Inc., Dewitt, Ariz.
• The MNO2OI variety of soy
bean, developed by Minnesota
Agricultural Experiment Station,
St. Paul, Minn.
Dairy Ab
of m
Distinction