Southwestern Pa. Beef Producer Yields Results From Calf Pool

Carol Ann Gregg
Western Pa. Correspondent

SMITHFIELD Pa. — Retirement for many is a time to relax. For Warren “Skip” Dick, it has been a time to do what he loves most — work with his cattle here on his Fayette County farm.

He and his brother farmed with their dad on the family dairy farm until in 1964 when the family went out of the dairy business.

Dick and his brother went to work away from the farm. Dick worked for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Bureau of Animal Health and Diagnostic Services for 30 years. All that time, he farmed with his dad, moving from dairy to beef production.

Because of his job, he visited farms in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania. He often would bring home ideas that other farmers were using and share them with his dad. Together, they would adapt many practices to their farm.

Dick keeps about 50 or 60 brood cows and sells feeder calves in the fall.

However, this year Dick said his numbers were down a little because he had an opportunity to sell a few more head when someone who was looking over the cattle liked what he saw and made an offer.

Dick was one of the first beef producers to participate in the calf pool that originated in nearby West Virginia. Under the watchful eye of West Virginia University beef specialist Phil Osborne, the calf pool provided producers with the opportunity to offer their animals to many buyers and the results were higher prices than the local livestock auctions. Dick could see the advantage of selling his feeder calves in conjunction with other producers.

About 15 years ago with Penn State beef specialist John Comerford, along with local extension agents at the time Mary Shick and Bill Brown, helped farmers in Fayette, Greene and Washington counties participate in the calf pool. They weighed the first calves in Dick’s handling facility.

Dick recalled that it rained all day.

“Mary was soaked and I promised her it wouldn’t happen again,” Dick said. Before the next fall he had put a roof over the area beside the chute as well as over the chute so the people working the cattle and typing in the information would at least be dry.

“We have the scales certified each year,” Dick said. They continue to weigh out the calves at his handling facility. It isn’t fancy, but it does the job, he added.

Dick figured the squeeze chute with headlock would cost about $2,000 and the scales about $1,400. He feels that the investment was more than worth it.

Dick is a spokesperson for the calf pool and encourages others to check it out as a way to market feeder calves for a better return. When asked about why he continues to sell his feeders through the pool, he said, “I get $4 to $5 per hundredweight more with the pool.”

To participate in the pool, producers must meet several requirements. As long as they are willing to do these few things, the buyers receive the best product and the cattlemen earn a reputation of providing quality animals year after year.

Dick divides most of his 300 acres of land into eight-acre paddocks. He then can divide them into smaller paddocks with poly-wire for intensive grazing or he can mow them to make hay. The farm is an all grass operation. Calves are weaned on grass. Each year he makes about 400 to 500 1,000-pound bales of hay from these paddocks.

He depends on good bulls to insure he has good calves for fall.

“I believe I get better cattle with the vigor of crossbreeding,” Dick said.

When his utility vehicle comes up the lane, the cows are ready to follow him wherever he wants them to go. Considering the hills of southwestern Pennsylvania, walking isn’t really a good option for working the cattle.

Dick believes that one of the best investments he ever made was putting in frost-free water hydrants about every 1,000 feet around his pastureland. He has city water as well as 15 to 20 springs to provide water for his cattle.

Dick said that he works his cattle by himself so gentle, even-tempered cattle do well on his farm.

At the recent Pennsylvania Cattlemen’s Association banquet in State College, Dick received the Commercial Cow Herd Grower for 2008. He doesn’t think he does anything special but the condition and quality of his animals speak volumes about how much he cares for his herd.