Virginia Cattlemen, Women Conduct Beef Expo, Celebrate 50 Years GAY BROWNLEE Virginia Correspondent HARRISONBURG, Va. The 14th Virginia Beef Exposi tion took place April 18 and 19 at the Rockingham County Fair grounds here. In conjuction with the Virginia Cattlemen’s Associa tion’s 50th anniversary cele bration, the event was billed as the largest beef oriented-trade show in the Mid-Atlantic region. Visitors hopeful of evaluating exhibits found they could do so both indoors and out. On hand were trailers, pharmaceuticals, artificial insemination supplies, watering and feeding equipment, fencing supplies, cattle-handling equipment, mineral and feed ad ditives, vaccines, farm equip ment, livestock, ag publications, and more. Participants in hay evaluation, forage knowledge and beef stock man’s contests were presented with various opportunities to prove the depth of their knowl edge and skill with regard to hay bale weight and quality, forages, and cattle. Pennsylvania’s Red Meat Production Up 7.2 Percent In 2002 HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.) Commercial red meat production in Pennsylvania dur ing 2002 totaled 1252.6 million pounds, dressed weight basis, up 7.2 percent from a year ago, according to the Pennsylvania Agricultural Statistics Service (PASS). Commercial cattle slaughter, at 1,040,900 head, was up 9.0 FOR ALL DAIRY FARMERS Learn more about the CWT (Cooperatives Working Together) program proposed by the National Milk Producers Federation. The CWT program is designed to improve milk prices by bringing supply and demand in balance. The major Northeast dairy cooperatives will be holding joint informational meet ings to update you on the details of this farmer-controlled program and answer any questions you may have. Cooperative members, independent dairy producers, and agri business professionals are all invited to attend. lew York: Little Falls 5/14 Waterloo 5/14 Oneonta 5/15 Cortland 5/16 Owego 5/16 W. Chazy 5/19 Canton 5/20 Batavia 5/22 Watertown 5/27 Morrisville 5/28 Lowville 5/28 Falconer 5/28 Greenwich 5/29 Kanona 5/29 Cuba 5/29 Middletown 6/2 Maryland; New Midway 5/28 10 am, New Midway Fire Hall Meetings also *. New England, Information can also be found on line at: www.dairymarketlngservlcee.com/cwt or by calling the Northeast CWT hotline at 1-888-858-7813. Dairy cooperative sponsors include Oairylea Cooperative, Dairy Farmers of America, Agri-Mark, St. Albans Cooperative, Allied Federated Cooperatives, Inc., Conesus Milk Producers Cooperative Association, Mount Joy Farmers Cooperative Association, Oneida-Madison Milk Producers Co-op, and Cortland Bulk Milk Producers Co-op among others. Virginia Beef Queen Amie Knick touts beef as “nature’s best multi-vitamin.” Samples of new products were offered and beef cooking demon strations took place at intervals throughout the two days. Inform ative brochures and handouts in tended for consumer education were readily available. These generally provided the answer to percent from last year. Of this number, 1,037,200 head were slaughtered in federally inspected plants. The federally inspected slaughter consisted of 46.7 per cent steers, 8.4 percent heifers, 41.9 percent cows (of which 73.5 percent were dairy cows), and 2.9 percent bulls and stags. Beef production, at 1329 mil lion pounds live weight, was 10.0 percent more than 2001. Average MEETINGS 7:30 pm, Best Western 7:30 pm, Holiday Inn 7:30 pm, Holiday Inn 7:30 pm, NYS Grange 10 am, Treadway Inn 7:30 pm, Miner Institute Millheim 9:30 am, Best Western New Holland 7:30 pm, Holiday Inn Intercourse 7:30 pm, Best Western Greencastle 7:30 pm, SUNY Morrisville Williamsport 9:30 am, Elks Club Georgetown 7:30 pm, Ross Grange Whitneyville 7:30 pm, Elks Club Elk Lake 10 am,Tally-Ho Rest. Towanda 7:30 pm, Cuba VFW 7:30 pm, Holiday inn mavlvi Ulysses Peach Bottom Martinsburg Bellville Mt. Joy Lebanon Delaware: 5/15 10 am, Hartley Fire Hall Hartley whatever beef-related question that arose. The purebred sales of Angus, Hereford, Limousin, Red Angus, Simmentat and Tarentaise beef breeds dominated the schedule of Friday activities. Some 270 head of cattle were consigned by breeders from a number of states. live weight per head was 1,277 pounds, an increase of 12 pounds from last year. Commercial calf slaughter, at 190,300 head, was up 11.6 per cent from a year ago. Veal pro duction, at 64.87 million pounds live weight, was up 3.4 percent from a year ago. Average live weight per head decreased 27 pounds to 341 pounds per calf. Commercial hog slaughter, at 7:30 pm, First Citizen Bank 7:30 pm, Peach Bottom Inn 7:30 pm, Morrison Cove Park 10 am, Bellville Livestock Mkt. 10 am, Acorn Conf. Ctr. 7:30 pm, Millheim Fire Hall 10 am, Yoders Restaurant 7:30 pm, Harvest Drive Rest. 7:30 pm, Kauffman Ruritan Bldg. 7:30 pm, Pine Run Grange Hall 7:30 pm, Bart Fireball 10 am,Tioga Cty Fairgrounds 7:30 pm, Elk Lake Fire Hall 10 am, Towanda Country Club 7:30 pm, Expo Center including those as far as lowa and Missouri. Auctioneers for the event were Gary Vance, Strasburg, Va., Red Angus and Tarentaise; Mike Jones, West Point, Ga., Angus and Limousin; Dale Stith, Gus ton, Ky., Hereford; and John Spiker, Simmental. Amie Knick from Lexington was selected as the 2003 Virginia Beef Queen in a contest spon sored by the Virginia Cattle Women. Throughout the coming months Knick will traverse Vir ginia to tout beef as a great choice for any menu. “Beef is a very safe meat,” said Knick. “It is nature’s best multi vitamin and contains iron, zinc, protein and B-vitamins.” Approximately 100 commer cial replacement heifers were sold at the expo. Each one was certi fied through the Virginia Premi um Assured Heifer Program. Ad ditionally, pen bulls were available for private treaty sale. Youth events featured a beef showmanship contest and the youth Red Angus, Simmental, 2,628,400 head, was up 3.9 per cent from last year. Of this num ber, 2,623,200 head were slaugh tered in federally inspected plants. Barrows and gilts made up 99.9 percent of the federally inspected slaughter. Pork pro duction was 649.0 million pounds live weight, up 4.1 percent from 2001. Average live weight in creased 1 pound per head to 247 pounds. Commercial sheep and lamb slaughter, at 70,200 head, was up 22.1 percent from last year. Of Your Grain Equipment Headquarters » t ✓ * Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 17, 2003-A39 Hereford, Angus, Shorthorn and Steer shows. The Virginia State Cattle Working Contest found the com petitive edge sharp between 10 teams demonstrating their skills before a large group of specta tors. The FFA and 4-H members were judged on knowledge of beef quality assurance, product administration and cattle han dling as they processed a group of stocker cattle. The Cattlemen’s group became official in April, 1953, and has since grown to its current mem bership of 6,000. Member Reggie Reynolds, ex ecutive secretary, noted in an ar ticle that recapped the associa tion’s history; “The latest new feeder cattle merchandising tool is Virginia Quality Assured (Ear Tag) Feeder cattle, which was de veloped in 1996.” Reynolds added that in 2002, some 5,000 head of Virginia Quality Assured feeder cattle with known genetics and health were sold. this number, 69,600 head were slaughtered in federally inspected plants. Lambs and yearlings made up 90.5 percent of the fed erally inspected slaughter. Lamb and mutton production was 7.3 million pounds live weight, up 24 percent from a year ago. The av erage live weight increased 1 pound to 103 pounds. There were an estimated 331 commercial slaughter plants in Pennsylvania on Jan. 1, 2003, of which 114 were under federal in spection. || Westfield Grain Augers 8" Si 10” Transport Augers (In Stock) Call For Special Price A. Assembled B. Knocked-Down C. Delivery Available
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