A2O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 28, 2003
‘Dairying’ By Different Means
(Continued from Page A 1)
The decision to go to grazing
was brought about by his realtor,
who showed Lucas a similar
grazing operation, and a county
extension agent.
Lucas attended a week long
grazing seminar in the winter of
’95-’96 and by the spring of 1996
had begun pasture and fence
preparation.
The first cattle moved onto the
pastures in 1997.
Generally, the bulls are “pretty
docile,” according to Lucas, and
“once they’re trained they’ll
move easily from paddock to
paddock.
One of the farm’s calves sizes up Natalie, 7.
“When I want them to change
places I’ll call them and they’ll
come running to the next one
(paddock),” he said.
However “they’re a little more
rambunctious than dairy cows,”
and he occasionally finds himself
replacing fence posts.
He keeps the group on the pas
ture 2-3 days at a time. During
dry times such as last summer, he
did not make any hay but rather
put all the paddocks into the
grazing rotation.
When the bull calves arrive at
the farm, “I keep them separate
to let them adjust from the small
er pen setting,” said Lucas.
“Once they’re adjusted, it doesn’t
seem to be to much of a problem
to run different ages together.”
Serving The Veal Industry
As a longtime veal producer,
Lucas takes his responsibility as
an industry representative seri-
ously.
One of two veal producers on
the Pennsylvania Beef Council
(PBC) board, he is also in his
third year of representing the
PBC on the joint veal committee
of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board.
The committee considers op
tions to increase demand for veal,
through both foodser
vice and retail chan
nels, by allocating
checkoff dollars. Re
cent projects include a
sateelite media tour
with celebrity chefs
and the launch of
www.vealstore.com, a
website that allows
consumers to purchase
veal online.
Additionally, for the
first year, Lucas has
assumed the position
of vice-chair of the na
tional veal council,
which makes recom
mendations to the veal
committee regarding
pertinent industry is
sues.
The meetings are
conducted in conjunc
tion with the National
Cattlemen’s Beef As
sociation (NCBA)
summer and winter
meetings.
As a representatives
on these national or
ganizations, he has
traveled .to. .Denver,,,
Colorado, and Reno, Nevada,
and will go to Dallas, Texas, this
summer for 2-3 days.
In addition to working in the
industry, Lucas feels that it is im
portant for producers to work
against the challenge of misinfor
mation and, consequently, unfa
vorable public opinion.
To help disseminate the truth
about raising veal, Lucas part
nered with the PBC and the veal
issues management program to
bring a veal display to the Penn
sylvania Farm Show.
“I mentioned that we were
missing an opportunity with the
public,” he said. With the back-
The Lucas family’s diversified operation includes 200 head of veal calves, 40-50 Hol
stein bulls, several milk cows and a large garden. With Dave and Sharon Lucas are chil
dren, from left, Derek, Kara, Natalie, Austin, and Kenton. Photos by Michelle Kunjappu
ing of the PBC and other veal in
dustry representatives and agri
businesses, Lucas collected buck
ets, collars, flooring, and pens.
The donated equipment allowed
him to exhibit a few calves to the
public for the event.
In addition, an informational
display provided educational in
formation to the public.
“We just wanted to take a cut
out of the barn and expose people
to how we raise calves,” he said.
Because of health concerns for
the calves, they have not contin
ued to bring the animals to the
event, however Lucas returns
each year, with his family and
other producers, with the display.
The information presented
provided an easy way to strike up
a conversation, according to
Lucas.
“Most of the time when people
realized how we raised them (the
calves), they decided to try veal
again,” he said. He was also en
couraged by the number of peo
ple who “read the whole board”
of information on the backdrop.
A continuous-play video fea
turing a veal operation is comple
mented by handouts such as a
children’s activity book.
Choosing Agriculture
Before moving to Bemville,
Lucas managed a poultry and
veal operation in Morgantown.
Although other job opportunities
beckoned, he opted for the farm
ing lifestyle.
“We wanted to stay in farm-
(Turn to Page A2l)
Industry Introduces Interactive
Curriculum For The Classroom
MIDDLETOWN (Dauphin
Co.) “Ava’s World,” an inter
active CD-ROM developed to
serve as an educational tool for
family living and consumer sci
ence instructors to expand
knowledge about veal cooking,
nutrition and food safety and
preparation is
now available
through the
Pennsylvania
Beef Council of
fice
Designed for
seventh, eighth
and ninth grade
students, Ava’s
World presents
instructors with
a variety of les
sons that can be
used as an indi
vidual, small
group or class
project and easi
ly incorporated
into teaching
materials to
enhance fami
ly and con
sumer science
curriculum already in place.
“With cool sound effects, cap
tivating graphics and music, stu
dents can explore each world
through one of Ava’s friends,”
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said Paul Slayton, Pennsylvania
Beef Council.
“Each world provides fun facts
about everyday meal planning,
including nutritional content and
value, cooking techniques, safe
food handling and shopping tips
that will encourage students to
This CD-ROM was developed to serve as
tool to teach students about veal.
become involved with what meals
are prepared in the household.”
The CD-ROM also contains
additional resources and ideas for
the classroom including:
• “Hey, Teach!” - ideas spe
cifically for instructors to add
Ava’s World into existing nutri
tion, food preparation, culinary
or home econmfftos^^ricujuni;
• “Veal -- a text
reference that jjlrovraes details
about veal and the veal industry,
resources, websites and recipies;
• “Brain Gain” is a quiz for
students to take after exploring
Ava’s World and. Veal Mega-
Bytes that tallies the score at the
end.
Funded by America’s beef and
veal producers through their
sl-per-head beef checkoff, the
project was produced for the Cat
tlemen’s Beef Board by the
American Veal Association.
The Pennsylvania Department
of Agriculture, through a match
ing grant, and the Pennsylvania
Beef Council produced and dis
tributed Ava’s World to Pennsyl
vania educators at the Pennsylva
nia Association of Consumer
Science Educators annual con
vention.
To obtain a copy of Ava’s
World, contact the Pennsylvania
Beef Council office at (717)
939-7000. Ava’s World also is on
line at www.vealfarm.com.