Penn State’s Beef Sale Teaches Students About Selling Cattle
UNIVERSITY PARK
(Centre Co.) The Penn State
Proud! Beef Cattle Sale, Nov. 7
at the University Park campus,
should generate upwards of
$lOO,OOO for the College of Agri
cultural Sciences, share highly
desired top-quality Angus genet
ics with beef producers across
the East and reaffirm Penn
State’s reputation as an institu
tion that maintains a first-class
breeding operation.
But those aren’t the biggest
benefits from the first such sale
the university has conducted in
IS years, according to John
Comerford, associate professor
of dairy and animal science and
beef cattle coordinator.
“The most important reason
why a university like Penn State
would own cattle is for their ed
ucational value,” he said. “Sales
give us an opportunity to teach
students how to prepare cattle
for a sale as well as how to create
catalogs and advertisements.
For that reason, we developed
an undergraduate class in live
stock merchandising.
“Students in the class will
participate in all aspects of the
BQA Certification Meeting Set
LIGHTSTREET (Columbia
Co.) Beef producers can be
certified or recertified through
the Pennsylvania Beef Quality
Assurance (BQA) program on
Monday, Nov. 17, at the Penn
State Cooperative Extension
office in Lightstreet, Columbia
County.
A meeting at 6:30 p.m. will be
for producers needing to be re
Farmstead Cheesemaking Workshop Set
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.
The Regional Farm & Food
Project will conduct its second
cheesemaking course of the year
Tuesday through Thursday,
Nov. 11-13.
The workshop, in collabora
tion with the Northeast Center
for Food Entrepreneurship, will
take place at Sprout Creek
Farm near Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
It will be taught by British
cheesemaker and teacher Kathy
Biss of West Highland Dairy,
Scotland.
This hands-on program is of
fered to farmers and others in
tending to develop or refine an
artisan cheesemaking business.
For a workshop application and
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sale activities, including prepar
ing the catalog, submitting ad
vertisements, reviewing budgets,
preparing the sale facility, meet
ing and interacting with buyers
and guests, and providing feed
back to help improve our sales in
the future.”
Not since 1988 have Penn
State students experienced a
cattle sale. “Our department
made a strategic decision a few
years ago to begin having regu
lar beef sales,” Comerford said.
“We have been producing more
cattle to get ready for this one.
In addition to purebred
Angus cattle, some crossbred an
imals from the college’s com
mercial herd also will be sold,
including some Simmental
crossbreds and 4-H steer pros
pects.
Starting at noon at the Beef-
Sheep Center off Orchard Road,
approximately 65 head of cattle
will be sold. Many of the cows
will have calves at their side and
all females will have been bred
to top A.I. sires. A few bull
calves will be auctioned, along
with one two-year-old bull. The
sale is being managed by one of
certified. A second meeting, at
7:30 p.m., will offer first-time
training toward certification.
Chute-side training will be con
ducted at a later date.
The extension office is located
on Sawmill Rd., just north of I
-80 at exit 236.
For more information, call
Dave Hartman (570) 784-6660
ext. 12.
additional workshop informa
tion, please contact the Regional
Farm & Food Project (RFFP),
(518) 271-0744, farmfood@capi
tal.net as soon as possible.
Workshop participants will
gain experience in the practical
aspects of the manufacture of a
mature, hard-pressed cheese, a
bleu cheese, and a surface rip
ened cheese. The practical expe
rience will be reinforced with
discussion of scientific reasons
for the various aspects of the
processes.
If interest warrants, the
course will include a presenta
tion by a New York state farm
stead cheese maker on setting
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the college’s alumni, Dick Beck,
originally from York County,
who is in the cattle sale manage
ment business in North Caro
lina.
Beef unit manager Don Ni
chols stresses that sales are great
for students. “We are develop-
PDMP Membership Offers
UNIVERSITY PARK
(Centre Co.) The Professional
Dairy Managers of Pennsylva
nia (PDMP) is making the Com
monwealth’s dairy producers an
offer they shouldn’t refuse, ac
cording to PDMP leaders. The
organization is launching a six
month membership campaign
that has some special initiatives
in place to help introduce pro
ducers to the benefits of joining
PDMP.
“There has never been a
better time to join,” said Presi
dent Dave Hileman of Hilecrest
Farm. “This is an exciting time
for our organization. PDMP has
experienced significant growth
over the past three years, and
this new membership campaign
is designed to help the organiza
tion continue to grow in size and
influence.”
The campaign features incen
tives to encourage new members
to join now, explained Randy
Huntsman of Pennsylvania Fair
Valley Farms in Blair County.
Huntsman chairs the member
ship committee and is a member
of the PDMP board of directors.
“Members who join PDMP
Md. Horse Industry Board Issues Grant
LEESBURG, Va. The
Marion duPont Scott Equine
Medical Center, one of three
up a small-scale dairy plant,
from acquiring equipment to
jumping over the hurdles of li
censing.
The three-day workshop will
run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. each
day. To allow for hands-on ex
perience and individual atten
tion, the course is limited to 12.
Preference will be given to dairy
farmers in enrollment. Inexpen
sive lodging will be available on
the farm.
Individuals who wish to
receive announcements for
future cheese making seminars
and workshops are advised to
contact the Regional Farm &
Food Project.
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ing students who will be quali
fied to merchandise cattle,” he
said. “They will learn marketing
techniques and the subtle things
we do to prepare animals for
sale. This will teach them some
thing that they can take home.
now pay no additional member
ship dues until the end of 2004,”
said Huntsman. “For members
who join in October, that’s like
getting three months of mem
bership free. Dues for 2005
won’t be payable until Decem
ber 2004.”
As an added bonus, members
who join prior to the PDMP
membership meeting in Novem
ber can attend that meeting for
the member rate of $lO, a big
savings over the regular $5O
non-member rate.
The membership meeting will
take place Nov. 13 at the Paul
Dotterer and Sons Farm in Mill
Hall, Clinton County. Titled
“Growing Forages for Milk and
Money.” the meeting will fea
ture a presentation on forages by
Randy Shaver of the University
of Wisconsin, plus a tour of the
Dotterer’s dairy and custom
TMR operations. The PDMP
Research and Development
Committee will also announce
the results of its 2003 corn silage
research project, weather per
mitting.
Huntsman encourages pro-
campuses that comprise the
Virginia-Maryland Regional
College of Veterinary Medicine,
has been awarded a $5,000 grant
from the Maryland Horse Indus
try Board.
Grant funds will be applied
toward equipping a new collabo
rative research laboratory based
at the College’s Leesburg
campus. Collaboration among
the Equine Medical Center, the
VMRCVM’s College Park
campus, and Virginia Tech’s
“MARE Center” (based in
Middleburg, Virginia) will en
Mt. Airy Lumber Joins
Sustainable Forestry Program
STATE COLLEGE (Centre
Co.) Mt. Airy Lumber Com
pany in New Providence has
become a participant in a pro
gram designed to promote sus
They’ll meet people in the busi
ness and hopefully make mer
chandising contacts that might
help them later.”
For more information about
the beef sale, call (814) 863-0831
or visit the Web at das.psu.edu/
beefsale/.
ducers interested in PDMP to
join in time to attend the meet
ing. “Attending a membership
meeting is always a great way
for producers to experience
some of the educational and net
working benefits of belonging to
PDMP,” said Huntsman,
adding: “Forage quality is a
timely topic and so this meeting
will be of particular interest to
all producers.”
PDMP objectives focus on
promoting a favorable dairy
business climate in Pennsylva
nia for progressive dairy pro
ducers.
“Members of PDMP are de
fined by attitude and learning
styles, not by farm size or loca
tion within the state. Our mem
bers want to improve their
business and management skills
so they can be more produc
tive,” Hileman said.
To receive a membership ap
plication to PDMP, visit the or
ganization’s website at
HYPERLINK ‘‘http://
www.das.psu.edu/user/pdmp”
www.das.psu.edu/user/pdmp or
call (888)373-7232.
hance abilities to expand re
search that will promote the
health and well being of the
horse.
“The support from the Mary
land horse industry through the
Maryland Horse Industry Board
will ensure the success of the re
gional college’s equine research
program,” said Dr. Nathaniel
White, interim director of the
Equine Medical Center. “This
support will enable the Center to
obtain instrumentation, which is
currently needed to complete
state of the art equine research.”
tainable forestry practices in
Pennsylvania.
The Sustainable Forestry Ini
tiative® (SFI) progrm was devel
oped by the American Forest
and Paper Association
(AF&PA), a representative or
ganization for the forest prod
ucts industry. The SFI program
currently operates in 37 states
across the country and four
Canadian Provinces.
Mt. Airy Lumber Company
operates under the direction of
Fred Schneider.
Perks