Milford chronicle., 1961-03-03


lined the basic principles of insur-
ance buying as they apply to
farmers.
Fruit
The fruit sessions featured spe-
cialists from Pennsylvania State
University. the us. Department of
Agriculture. and the University of
Delaware. Talks covered insect
and disease control on fruit, dwarf
apple research results. orchard
management practices and mer-
chandising opportunities for fruit.
Livestock
The Thursday morning livestock
sessions featured DR.. f. p. Young,
livestock nutritionist with the I'm
iversity of Maryland, speaking on
swine, and Professor Ben Morgan
Pennsylvania State University live
stock specialist, speaking on sheep
production.
Both men saw a trend toward
indoor production of both sheep
and hogs.
Young said that research has
/ shown that the vitamins and min
erals contained in pasture plants
can be provided by supplements.
This means hogs can be produced
(, indoors in highly concentrated
numbers requiring very little land.
He also pointed out that improv-
ed antibiotics enables hog pro-
ducers TO concentrate large num-
bers of animals without suffering
from serious disease problems.
Morgan forecast the same trend
in sheep production. A few leaders
in the sheep business are already
producing sheep in feedlot without
pasture. He said Michigan farm
/ er is keeping $50 ewes with only
35 acres because he keeps the an
imals off the land and harvests
his forage with machinery. This
also eliminates the need for fenc-
ing, an important cost.
DIR. George Litton, head of ami
NAL husbandry at Virginia Poly
technic Institute, discussed the APP
plication of research TO beef
production.
About 200 persons, many of them
youngsters wearing riding outfits.
packed into the Agricultural Hall
Auditorium Thursday night to
hear University of Delaware and
University of Pennsylvania special
lists discuss pointers on feeding
and managing riding horses.
| Delaware agronomist William III.
Mitchell recommended new pas
ture grass mixtures to overcome
the dropp-off in pasture yields in
/ late summer and early fall.
He said horse owners in North
ern Delaware, where soils tend to
be heavy. should use the follow
ing mixture to stretch the pasture
season: / pound ladino clover.
4 ky bluegrass and s pounds birds
foot trefoil. Twenty pounds of this
mixture will seed one acre and
will make excellent horse pasture
III the northern part of the state.
| On the sandy soils of lower
/ Delaware, Mitchell said horseman
will want TO seed a 15-pound mix
ture of / pound of ladine clover.
pounds birds-foot trefoil and
pounds orchardgrass.
DIR. John II. Shropshire. Uni
versity of Delaware livestock spec
ialist. reported that his expert
ments in feeding pelleted hay to
horses showed that pellets improv-
ed feed efficiency by 275 percent
over baled hay. The study was de-
signed to test the practicability of
pelleted hay as horse feed and
particularly to test the effects of
hay pellets on the nutrition and
breeding efficiency of mares.
Mares that received hay in the
form of pellets produced heavier
foals at birth, and the foals of
pellet-fed mares averaged 409 lbs.
at $50 days, compared with 357
pounds for foals of mares fed bali
ed hay. The project is one of sew
/ eral currently underway at the
University of Delaware to explore
new methods of producing and
marking hay.
The final speaker on the horse
program was DIR. Jacque Jenney
of the University of Pennsylvania.
DR.. Jenny, an orthopedic surgeon
| for large animals, discussed the
causes of lameness in horses. He
/ explained the anatomy of the bone
and muscle structure of horses
and emphasized the need for fire.
quent examination of horses
hooves. The hooves and legs are
the horses engine and shock abb
sorbers and should receive frequent
| inspection and care. DR.. Jenny
said