Dr. Fredrick Hofsaess Professor of Animal Science Delaware Valley College For those of us who had mares foal last spring, it is about time to consider weaning the foals, if it has not been done already. While no one weaning practice is best for all situations, a few ne cessities exist. Strong, sound and safe fences are a must. Sufficient space is needed to separate the mares from foals, ideally out of sight and sound range. Foals should be well accustomed to eat ing grain and drinking water from a bucket or waterer. Traditionally, weaning is ac complished by abruptly and com pletely separating mares and foals. Moving mares to a new lo cation while confining foals to a stall is perhaps the most common -Tc C i*** i e * Roundup, for example. As effective as Roundup 11 is for soybeans, you should know more before you use it on your corn. Using it every year, weed resistance could become an issue. For some growers ft already has. The answer? If you plant RR™ beans, plant non-RR corn hybrids and use a non-glyphesatc herbicide with a different mode of action, such as Bicep E MAGNUM? To get the Myt university research on giyphosate weed resistance, visit www.wccdrcsistanc&com. S' < & <s ’&-s ", v .» ~ A.> > , . s\, ' '' \ y.f , ',V „„'* ' wW ** 1 #-<l, ’ .... t' V ’ » J ' ' % If it works on one thing. It y a method. Mares should be out of the foals’ range of sight and sound. On a small facility, this may involve moving the mares to another farm for a week or two. It is preferable to keep foals in fa miliar surroundings to limit stress and limit exposure to new pathogens to which they may not be immune. Gradual weaning by separat ing mares from foals for a portion of the day (or night) prolongs the ordeal and increases labor. Masti tis may be a problem in these mares and digestive upsets from gorging may occur in the foals. Weaning pairs of foals and placing in stalls may appear de sirable initially as they have a “friend.” Whinnying may be less and if the pair is compatible and the stress of initial weaning may be lessened. - M / However, these foals will un dergo another “weaning” when eventually separated from one another. Fenceline weaning, where foals are physically separated from the mares by a solid fence line that prohibits nursing, may provide a method of weaning with less stress on the foal. Since visual and auditory contact still exists, foals are less likely to exhibit stress behavior. With large numbers of mares, some farms find it desirable to re move a few mares from the herd periodically and leave all foals to gether in the pasture to which they have become accustomed. Usually one older and very calm mare is left with the foals when the final group of mares is re moved. There is some risk with using this procedure. “Weaned” foals might attempt to nurse on for eign mares because their mother has been removed. Regardless of the method se lected, every attempt should be made to provide foals with sur roundings and feed during wean ing to which they have been ac customed and thereby limit stress. t work on another. K-K, /0-V--V i x ‘ A**. ~_ skit i««D*<»i | "* t “• .Vrff <w * •r - y. % I 4 / % Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 30, 2002-A23 Michigan Appeals Court Grants Stay On Pork Checkoff Riding WASHINGTON, D.C, On Nov. 15, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit granted a request for stay which allows the pork checkoff program to continue without interruption while the appeal is pending. An Oct. 25 decision by Judge Richard Enslen of the 6th District Court in Michigan ruled that the Pork Promotion, Research and Con sumer Information Act is unconstitutional and directed that the col lection of assessments and operation of the National Pork Board cease by Nov. 24,2002. The stay postpones implementation of the Michigan decision and the pork checkoff program will continue to operate and conduct oper ations as normal while the Court of Appeals considers Judge Enslen’s ruling. This stay was requested by the Department of Justice on behalf ofUSDA. In accordance with this court order, the pork promotion and re search program will remain in effect and pork producers and import ers must continue to pay pork checkoff assessments. Producers and importers who fail to pay the assessment may be subject to late pay ment charges and civil penalties. “Since producers began the Pork Checkoff in the mid-1980s, pork consumption has increased by 21 percent, research has been con ducted on key producer issues and pork has become the fastest grow ing meat category in America’s restaurants,” said Craig Christensen, a pork producer from Ogden, lowa, and vice president of the National Pork Board. “You bet we are glad to see this program continue. The Pork Checkoff provides the tools we all need on our farm, but don’t have time or resources to do individually.” Christensen said: “The Pork. The Other White Meat advertising campaign is just one example of what the Pork Checkoff has done to help increase American consumers’ demand for pork.” The Pork Checkoff also has played a major role in transforming the United States from a net importer of pork to a net exporter, according to Christensen. He noted the University of Mis souri studies have shown that the export pro gram alone has added more than $2 to the sale price of hogs. U.S. pork producers and importers pay $0.40 per $lOO of value when pigs are sold and when pigs or pork products are brought into the Unit ed States. For the month of September 2002, pork check off receipts, which are listed on the Website, www.porkboard.org, totaled $4,054,976. Receipts from the 50 states totaled $3,673,705 and from importers, $380,271. The National Pork Board retained $3,228,621 of the state collections and $825,354 was re turned to the states. The checkoff funds from im ports is retained by the national board. Short Course Offered On Sow Management FINDLAY, Ohio A three-session short course on sow reproductive management is being offered to Ohio producers in December. The Sow Management Short Course, broad cast from the University of Missouri, will be host ed at the Ohio State University Extension North west District Office in Findlay, Ohio, on Dec. 5, 12 and 19 from 8 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The fee for the three-night short course is $2O per farm and registration is limited to the first 20 participants. Registration deadline is Nov. 28. Short course topics include reproductive anat omy and physiology of the sow, sow nutrition, boar management considerations, gilt isolation and acclimation, gilt development and sow re productive management. Livestock and swine specialists from Ohio State University, University of Missouri and University of Illinois will be on hand to present the information. For more information on the Sow Manage ment Short Course or to register, contact Pat Rigby, Ohio Pork Industry Center, at (800) 398-7675, rigby.B@osu.edu or log on to http:// porkinfo.osu.edu. Lancaster Farming Check out our Website! www.lancasterfarmina.com “I hm mlsssd mort than 9,000 shots in my career. I have lost almost 300 games. On 26 occasions I have been entrusted to lake the game-winning shot...and I mlssad. And I have failed over and over and over again in my Ilfs. And that is precisely...why I succeed.” - Michael Jordan
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