Vol. 48 No. 22
Md. Holstein Association
Honors Breeders, Youth
DAVE LEFEVER
Lancaster Farming Staff
FREDERICK, Md. About
400 people turned out for the
Maryland Holstein Association’s
annual banquet March 21 to cele
brate another year of progress.
The gathering took place at the
Lynfield Event Complex near
Thurmont.
Many youth and adults were
honored for theii achievements
with Holsteins in 2002.
Charles and Anne Lethbridge
of Chan-Lee Holsteins, Carroll
County, took hpme the Maryland
2002 Outstanding Senior Mary
land Holstein Breeder Award.
The Lethbridges began dairy-
Ariz. Dairy Makes Heat Stress
Management A (Cool) Breeze
ANDY ANDREWS
Editor
GRANTVILLE (Dauphin Co.)
What can dairy producers in
any of the green and lush valleys
of Pennsylvania learn from a guy
making milk in the harsh desert
of Arizona?
How about keeping cows cool,
for starters.
About 200 dairy producers and
agri-industry representatives
learned a variety of ways one
dairy producer in the dry heat of
the desert is able to stave off
heat-related herd health prob
lems Tuesday during the first of a
two-day Maximizing Opportuni
ties Conference during the Pro
fessional Dairy Managers of
Pennsylvania (PDMP) meeting at
the Holiday Inn in Grantville.
Paul Neer leads Carmell Linjet Sunshine out of the
barn for Lancaster County visitors to see during a
Holstein Club tour to the Belleville area this week.
Sunshine, classified EX-93 as a 5-year-old, was one
of many superb cows the group had a chance to view
during the tour to six farms. See full story on page
A2l. Photo by Dave L.efever
www.lancasterfarming.com
ing in 1966, after purchasing a
farm in the Union Bridge area.
Originally made up of grade
animals, the Chan-Lee herd be
came 100 percent registered a
number of years ago. Years of a
registered breeding program pro
duced an outstanding cow fami
ly, including Chan-Lee Aerostar
Glare, who was three times class
ified 'Excellent-91. One ot her
high quality daughters was a top
seller at the 1997 Maryland Con
vention Sale. Chan-Lee Duster
Glenna went on to score EX-90
and become a high producer for
Conant Acres in Maine.
(Turn to Page Al 9)
Tom Thompson, operator of
Stotz Dairy, Buckeye, Ariz., man
ages 6,400 cattle (milking herd
size of 3,676) and 43 employees.
Thompson also custom-farms
more than 2,400 acres of alfalfa
and 900 acres of double-cropped
corn silage.
While providing an in-depth
review of all aspects of Stotz
Dairy, Thompson was careful to
focus on the greatest challenge
the cows face: the Arizona desert,
which can be deadly.
“Cows are built for 65-degree
weather,” he told those at the
conference. Last summer, "we
measured, in the shade. 125 de
grees."
For 90 days straight, the high
(Turn to Page A 34)
Four Sections
Joe and Nona Schwartzbeck received the 2002 Distinguished Service Award at the
recent Maryland Holstein Association annual banquet. Dennis Remsburg, right, pres
ented the award for the A. Doty Remsburg Memorial Fund. Photo by Dave Lefever
Livestock Evaluation Center Almost Complete
Facility May Be Named Samuel E. Hayes , Jr.
Livestock Meat Animal Evaluation Center
MICHELLE KUNJAPPU
Lancaster Farming Staff
STATE COLLEGE (Centre
Co.) The Pennsylvania Depart
ment of Agriculture (PDA) is
nearing completion of a new,
world-class Livestock Evaluation
Center (EEC).
To better serve the beef, sheep,
and swine breeders of Pennsylva
nia and America, this new $6.4
million center will provide the
necessary facilities to test tor su
perior genetic traits.
The complex is 10 times larger
than the current facility operated
by the PDA.
A meeting ot the Senate Agri
culture and Rural Affairs com
J . i: U* C '
EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.)
Lancaster Farming was the re
cipient of two awards from the
2003 Nor’Easterner Contest
sponsored by the North East
Farm Communicators Associa
tion.
For a team effort, Lancaster
Farming was honored with the
Best One-Time Project Award
for the National Holstein Con
vention Daily Newspaper. In ad
dition, Michelle Kunjappu, staff
writer, was honored with the
Best Photo/Image Award.
The one-time project award
involved, for the first time in
Lancaster Farming's history,
publishing a four-color daily
newspaper covering the events at
the National Holstein Conven
tion in Atlantic City, N.J.. June
24-27, 2002 The newspaper was
Saturday, March 29, 2003
mittee on Monday, March 24,
was slated to address designating
the new center as the Samuel E.
Hay es, Jr., Livestock Meat Ani
mal Evaluation Center, as put
forth in Senate Bill 340.
“The new facility is roughly 80
percent complete," said Glenn
Eberly, Livestock Evaluation
Center director. “The hog barn is
relatively completed and we al
ready have boars and gilts there.”
“Many of the livestock produc
ers are justly very excited about
all the possibilities,” Eberly said.
“1 think that there will be great
deal of interest in using this new
facility tor meetings, conferences
and educational programs."
distributed exclusively to those
who attended the annual conven
tion.
The entire newspaper staff was
involved, including Editor Andy
Andrews: Lou Ann Good, food
and family features editor; Mich
elle Kunjappu, staff writer; and
Dave Lefever, staff writer.
A separate award for best ag
photo image was for a photo
taken in late October by Kunjap
pu on a frosty fall morning show
ing beef cattle capering across a
farm pasture near State College.
The photo appeared on page 1 on
Nov. 2, 2002.
The Northeast Farm Commu
nicators Association awarded
certificates of excellence to par
ticipants in *he Nor'Easterner
$36.00 Per Year
(Turn to Page A 33)
$l.OO Per Copy
“We tried to design and budd
a facility with a great deal of flex
ibility and utility to it,” said
Eberly.
“There will be a very nice
conference/ classroom, the food
prep aiea could be used to serve a
large group of people, and there
will be a large area that could ac
commodate a large trade show "
New features also include an
assembly hall, exhibit aiea, dor
mitory room, manure manag
ment tactilities, bunker silos, auc
tion capability, and seating foi
700.
The new Livestock Evaluation
Centei is more than 178.000
square feet.
“ There is also a huge potential
to use this world-class facility for
meaningful research to benefit
the livestock industries," said
Eberly.
“The beet industry stands to
gain a great deal from this expan
sion."
Each of the five pens under
roof cover a concreted area 30
feet by 100 feet, “which is rough-
(Turn to Page A 35)
Insidi
The Fanner
✓ National Holstein
Convention preview pages
A2B-29.
✓ PennAg Poultry Ban
quet page A 37.
✓ Lancaster Holstein
tour page A 2