A3B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 22, 2002
Meeting Consumer’s Needs
(Continued from Page A 37)
“The trick is increasing com
munication on the background of
the cattle,” he said. Pritchard
checks the animals’ ears to de
termine what the calves have
been implanted with. “If they’re
fairly green when they come in,
you may want to lay off the ini
tial implant.”
Implant potency is at its maxi
mum two days after being in
jected into the animals, so he rec
ommends waiting two to three
weeks to implant to let the cattle
“get set up on feed” first.
Dr. John Scanga addressed
dark cutters and maturity effects
on beef quality.
According to the 2000 Nation
al Beef Quality Audit, the cattle
industry loses $5.43 per steer or
heifer slaughtered because of
losses incurred for dark cutters.
This number is actually $1 lower
then the 1995 audit.
“The incidence rate is down
and I think we’re getting a han
dle on it,” he said. Two influ
encing factors may be that pack
ing plants are scheduling delivery
of cattle, so there is less time for
the cattle to stand. Also the car
casses are getting cooled faster
they are chilled in 10-12 hours
than previously.
To put the problem in perspec
tive, out of Scanga’s study of 2.6
million cattle, the dark cutter in
cidence rate was less than .5 per
cent.
Dark cutters come from long
term stress, not excitement, even
six hours before slaughter.
Scanga believes that the condi
tion comes from stress
occurring one to two
days before slaughter.
Animals with a poor
temperament, which
includes their ability to
deal with stress, tend
to have problems with
palatability. Animals
“used to a life of hard
ship,” even if they
were more high
strung, tended not be
dark cutters.
Dark cutters are
seasonal, showing up
at the end of July and
August. “It takes a lot
more energy for cattle
to cool themselves
than to stay warm,” he
said
Heifers comprise
most of the dark cut
ters, perhaps because
they may start cycling
if the MGA is not cor
rect in the ration. Es
trogen is a stress-pro
ducing hormone.
Too many, the
wrong combination, or
wrong timing of
growth promotants
may also cause dark
cutters.
Dr. John Come
rford, Penn State, ad
dressed genetic impli
cations of beef quality.
“Most carcass traits
are not affected by one
single gene,” he said.
‘We have to deal with
a combination of
groups of genes.
“Most carcass traits
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“We have some powerful tools
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Expected progeny differences
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With such a wide variation of
traits not only across breeds but
within breeds, EPDs are helpful
in making proper selection deci
sions.
To wrap up the day, Scanga
discussed animal identification
and country-of-origin labeling.
Scanga believes that a stan
dardized system of identification
throughout the U.S. would be
helpful to the cattle industry. Be
sides bringing about more effi
cient management and commu
nication, an identification system
would help to minimize impact of
not only disease but also bioteror
rism impacts.
He also spoke about the Farm
Security and Rural Investment
Act of 2002, signed into law May
13, which mandates country-of
origin labeling. The law man
dates that animals bom, raised,
and slaughtered in the U.S. will
be labeled by Sept. 30,2004.
The U.S. imports 16 percent of
its supply of beef and cattle.
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Drought Emergency Lifted In Six Counties,
14 Counties Returned To Normal Status
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) Gov. Mark Schweiker re
cently lifted the drought emer
gency for six counties and re
stored 14 other counties to
normal status.
Dauphin, Perry and Wayne
counties have been upgraded to
drought-watch status, which calls
on residents to voluntarily con
serve five percent of their daily
water usage.
Bucks, Montgomery and Phila
delphia counties have been up
graded to drought-warning sta
tus, which calls on residents to
voluntarily conserve 10 percent
to IS percent of their daily water
usage.
“Recent rains and water-con
servation efforts have led to some
improvement in water conditions
in parts of the state,” Gov.
Schweiker said. “While I am
pleased to announce that I am
lifting mandatory water restric
tions for six counties, I must
stress that the drought is not over
and that 14 counties remain in a
drought emergency.”
Fourteen counties Adams,
Bedford, Berks, Chester, Cum
berland, Delaware, Franklin, Ful
ton, Lancaster, Lebanon,
Lehigh, Northampton,
Schuylkill and York re
main in drought-emergen-
'v^W)
W /,
cy status and should continue to
follow mandatory water restric
tions on non-essential water use.
Fourteen counties - Bradford,
Centre, Columbia, Juniata, Lack
awanna, Lycoming, Mifflin, Mon
tour, Northumberland, Snyder,
Sullivan, Susquehanna, Union
and Wyoming have been re
moved from drought warning
and watch status and are re
turned to normal status.
A drought emergency, the
third and most severe stage of the
three drought declarations, im
poses mandatory restrictions on
non-essential water use and must
be declared by the Governor.
A drought warning, the second
stage of drought, calls for a 10
percent to 15 percent voluntary
reduction in water consumption.
A drought watch, the first and
least severe stage, calls for a vol
untary five percent reduction of
non-essential water use.
In a drought emergency, man
datory water-use restrictions in
clude strict limitations on the wa
tering of lawns, athletic fields,
golf courses and the washing of
automobiles; not serving water in
eating places unless requested by
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the customer; and closing down
of indoor and outdoor ornamen
tal fountains, waterfalls, and or
namental pools unless they are
needed to sustain aquatic life.
Department of Environmental
Protection (DEP) Secretary
David E. Hess said the drought
underscores the need for the state
to address long-term water-re
sources issues.
“Currently, we don’t have a
full-time program to evaluate the
status of Pennsylvania’s water re
sources and promote the efficient
use of water,” Secretary Hess
said.
“We need to develop long-term
water-use strategies as part of a
comprehensive approach to bet
ter manage our precious water
resources. That is the main rea
son for Gov. Schweiker’s initia
tive that calls for water-resources
legislation.”
Secretary Hess said that
drought-emergency conditions
have occurred in parts of Penn
sylvania in five of the past seven
years. He also noted that the
State Water Plan has not been
updated in more than 25 years.
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