Beef Cattle Animals for Agriculture Science
The beefiness barn was built in 1924 along Shortlidge Road, at the intersection with Park Artery. Both the beef barn and sheep befouled (not pictured) were similar in compages to the dairy barn, making Shortlidge from Curtin to Park an unusually picturesque scene.
The department'due south early on activities with beef cattle were limited because such cattle were of petty fiscal importance in Pennsylvania'due south agricultural economic system until the center of the twentieth century.
Nigh farms had a mix of animals including dairy cows, swine, sheep, poultry, and horses for farm power. In 1900 the state's sheep population numbered about a million head, largely full-bodied in the southwestern corner of the state. However, the earliest statistics that separated beefiness cattle from dairy cattle were found in the 1920 census that listed xxx,000 beef and 893,000 dairy animals.
Beef moo-cow numbers declined to 12,000 head by 1940, and then reached a high of 247,000 in 1982. Beefiness convenance herds accept usually been a secondary enterprise or located on part-time or hobby-blazon farms. Many farmers who had quit the dairy business concern and/or those who had jobs in town put beef cows on their land to employ their pastures and hay crop acreage.
PS High Pockets
In contrast, steer feeding was a major enterprise in southeastern Pennsylvania because of the demand for "kosher" beef by slaughter plants located in Philadelphia and New Jersey. Many slaughter cattle were shipped past track from Chicago and other mid-west assembly points. Steers in Pennsylvania weighing 500 pounds or more were reported at 121,000 caput in 1920 and reached a loftier of 294,000 head in 1977.
When the Department of Animate being Husbandry was formed in 1907, it was noted that they owned only 4 beef animals. Such limited numbers were a serious handicap to teaching and research work. The 1920 higher catalogue reported having both Angus and Shorthorn cow herds.
PS Eilenmere
Early on enquiry work with beef cattle was with fattening steers, comparing housing systems (open shed vs. enclosed barn), types of roughage, and cottonseed repast vs. "Ajax" flakes. No data seems to be bachelor equally to what the latter contained.
Franklin L. Bentley was the get-go professor in the section with total responsibility for beef cattle education and research until the late 1940s. Alex Buchan was the first full-time beef herdsman. He was hired in 1923 and retired in 1963.
The Pennsylvania Legislature passed the Livestock Improvement Act in 1949 that allocated funds for the improvement of the herds and flocks at Penn Land. It was a revolving fund in which the proceeds of livestock sales were returned to the fund. James Christian was on the resident staff and in accuse of beef cattle from 1947-49.
PS Ability Play
Glenn Kean joined the faculty in 1949 and taught the beef courses until 1954, when Herman Purdy was hired every bit "Coordinator of Beef Cattle." Purdy retired in 1972 and was replaced by Erskine Cash. Under Purdy and Cash, the quality of the beefiness herds improved.
Many prove champions have been exhibited in the Angus and Polled Hereford breeds, and numerous outstanding sires accept been produced from the departmental herds.
In the 1970s the measure of an fauna's worth gradually moved from show band winnings to the concept of beef performance testing. Over the years, Penn State has owned and worked with herds of Angus, Hereford, Shorthorn, Charolais, and Simmental cattle. With the aid of long-time beef herdsman Don Nichols, the higher has been in the forefront in producing superlative quality Angus cattle. All of the nowadays-day purebred beef cattle are Angus.
PS Troubadour
In the mid-1950s, a cooperative agreement was worked out with the Rockview Correctional Institution for a long series of inquiry trials comparing steer grazing systems, crossbreeding, and sire evaluation. All of the beef produced was slaughtered at the University's Meats Laboratory and returned to Rockview.
The present beefiness cattle barns were completed in the belatedly 1960s, with one entire wing devoted to feeding enquiry. Trials are currently beingness carried out at this location utilizing food manufacture by-products as well as general beefiness nutrition studies. Harold Harpster and John Comerford direct these studies.
The Haller Research Farm enabled the department to acquit out long-term studies on grazing systems, crossbreeding, and management systems under the leadership of Lowell Wilson. Wilson coordinated a cooperative inquiry try with the Agronomy and Agricultural Technology departments, which made use of the Haller farm unit.
Pictured on this folio are some of the beef bulls and steers that lifted Penn Land to national prominence.
Writer: Lester A. Burdette, Professor of Brute Science
Source: https://animalscience.psu.edu/about/history/dairy-ansc/beef-cattle
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