McAlester News-Capital 12/28/2014

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Local/State

By Greg Owen4-H EXTENSION EDUCATOR

The 4-H Famous Personcontest is designed to pro-vide a 4-H member withthe opportunity of por-traying a person fromsports, pop culture or his-tory, either from the pastor present, through publicspeaking and props. The 4-H member will not only beprovided a public speakingopportunity, but will alsodevelop research skillsthrough seeking informa-tion regarding theirfamous person. 4-H mem-bers also have an opportu-nity to be creative in bothcostume and prop designwhich is used to “tell theirstory.”

Age categories includeJunior (ages 9-13) and Sen-ior (ages 14+). Teams areallowed if team membersrepresent two different agecategories, they mustenter the older age catego-ry. Team members musthave equal parts in thepresentation. Presentationlength-junior-3-6 minutesand senior 4-7 minutes.The room monitor willinstruct participants onset up. The maximum timefor prop set up is 5 min-utes. Adults are not

allowed toassist the4-H mem-ber in anyway. Thisis theiropportuni-ty to showwhat theyknow andcan dothem-selves.

Each participant willhave a 4’X4” square offloor space within which towork. They may use thisspace however they wantbut this space is all that isallowed. Props and 4-H’ermust stay within designat-ed space. All props must beno larger than 30” wide orover 4 feet tall. It is expect-ed that 4-H members onlyportray famous people ofgood moral character.Their dress or costumemust be appropriateregardless of who they areportraying; one thatreflects the values of the 4-H program.

If props leave behindany type of mess, examplehay, etc. the 4-H member isresponsible for cleaning upthe area. Props and cos-tume are a required scor-ing element. See the entryform for judging criteria.

Cost is $5 per memberand is due the countyoffice by February 3, 2015.

For more informationabout this and other 4-Hevents and activitiesplease give us a call at 423-4120 or email me atgreg.owen@okstate.edu.

Oklahoma State Univer-sity, U. S. Department ofAgriculture, State andLocal governments cooper-ating. Oklahoma State Uni-versity in compliance withTitle VI and VII of theCivil Rights Act of 1964,Executive Order 11246 asamended, Title IX of theEducation Amendments of1972, Americans with Dis-abilities Act of 1990, andother federal and statelaws and regulations, doesnot discriminate on thebasis of race, color, nation-al origin, gender, age, reli-gion, disability, or status asa veteran in any of its poli-cies, practices, or proce-dures.

Greg Owen is the Exten-sion 4-H Youth Develop-ment Educator for thePittsburg County Oklaho-ma Cooperative ExtensionService. (phone: 423-4120; e-mail:greg.owen@okstate.edu)

GREGOWEN

Southeast District 4-HFamous Person Contest

By David Cantrell OKLAHOMA COOPERATIVE EXTENSION SERVICE

Does the severity (coldness or mild-ness) of the winter have an impact onspring-born calf birth weights? Ranch-ers have asked that question duringmany springs and veterinarians havespeculated for years.

The debate rages on! This is obvious-ly a difficult subject to research becauseyou cannot have a “control” group ofcows to compare to a “treatment” groupthat is exposed to a cold winter whilestill running on the same pasture.Therefore research data on this subjectis limited.

University of Nebraska researchers(Colburn and co-workers) have done thenext best thing. They have monitoredthe birth weights of genetically similarcalves across three different winters andhave related average winter tempera-tures to birth weights.

A 3-year study was conducted to evalu-ate effects of high and low air tempera-tures and wind chills during wintermonths on subsequent calf birthweights and calving difficulty of spring-born calves. Records on approximately400 2-year-old heifers and their calveswere used. Heifer and calf genetics werethe same each year.

Heifers were fed similar quality hayfree-choice each year before calving.High temperatures during the 1994-95winter were 9 degrees higher than dur-ing the 1992-93 winter. The low tempera-tures were five degrees higher for 1994-95compared to 1992-93.

The greatest differences in monthlytemperatures between years were foundduring December, January and Febru-ary. Average temperatures for these

three months increased11 degrees F over thethree years. Averagecalf birth weightsdecreased 11 pounds (81to 70) from 1993 to 1995.A 1:1 ratio wasobserved.

Although calving dif-ficulty was high due tothe research design, italso decreased from 57%to 35% from 1993 to 1995. Results indicatethat cold temperatures influenced calfbirth weight. Weather cannot be con-trolled; however, if we have below aver-age winter temperatures, larger birthweight calves and more calving difficul-ty may be expected in the spring.

Other data that may shed some lighton this subject, comes from OklahomaState University in 1990. Birth weightsof 172 fall born calves and 242 springborn calves were compared.

These calves were the result of AI mat-ings using the same bulls and bred tosimilar crossbred cows. The fall borncalves averaged 4.5 pounds lighter atbirth than their spring born counterparts (77.7 vs 82.2). One possible expla-nation for this phenomenon, the chang-ing of blood flow patterns of cows ges-tating in hot weather versus cold weath-er.

During hot weather blood is shuntedaway from internal organs toward outerextremities to dissipate heat, while theopposite is the case in very cold weatherwith blood flow directed toward internalorgans in an effort to conserve heat andmaintain body temperature.

This change in maternal blood flowmay impact fetal growth in a small way,but result in a measurable difference.

Severity of winter andimpact on calf birth weights

DAVIDCANTRELL

M c A L E S T E R L I V E S TO C KOn Tuesday, Dec. 16, 1,175 head

of cattle were sold at theMcAlester Union Stockyards. Steersweighing less than 400 poundssold $4 to $7 higher than at thelast sale.

Steers over 400 pounds sold for$8 to $10 lower. Heifers weighingless than 500 pounds sold $5 to $8lower

The next special cow and bul saleis in February.

225-300 lb. $385-$420 $301-$330300-350 lb. $368-$395 $317-$330350-400 lb. $340-$374 $298-$321400-450 lb. $296-$311 $278-$297450-500 lb. $297-$311 $250-$285500-550 lb. $261-$276 $246-$259550-600 lb. $251-$264 $229-$242600-700 lb. $230-$245 $210-$232700-750 lb. $209-$218 $194-$207800-850 lb. $210*$215 $182-$195

There were 220 cows and bulls sold atthe evening sale Tuesday at McAlesterUnion Stockyards.

Packer cows sold steady to $1 to $3higher than at the last sale, and packerbulls sold $3 higher.

High-yielding packer bulls sold from$140 to $143. Average-yielding packerbulls sold from $136 to $139. Low-yield-ing packer bulls sold from $29 to $133.

High-yielding packer cows sold from$116 to $122. Average-yielding packercows sold from $113 to $117. Low-yield-ing packer cows sold from $106 to $111.

A sale is held at the stockyards everyTuesday, with sales of stocker andfeeder cattle beginning at 10 a.m. andsales of cows and bulls beginning at 6p.m.

WEIGHT RANGE #1 STEERS #1 HEIFERS

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Okla-homa Lottery is looking for the state'snewest millionaire.

Lottery officials areseeking the owner of a$2 million Powerball win-ning ticket from the Christmas Evedrawing. The winning ticket waspurchased in Mustang.

It's the Oklahoma Lottery's second$2 million Powerball winner in a week. Thewinner matched five of five white balls towin $1 million, but because he added the

Powerplay feature for an additional$1 million, the prize doubled to $2

million.This is the 43rd time a win-ner in Oklahoma has wona prize of $1 million ormore. Four have beenlucky enough to hit thePowerball jackpot since

the lottery's launch.Winners have 180 days from the day of the

drawing to claim their prize at the lotteryheadquarters in Oklahoma City.

GUTHRIE, Okla. (AP)— A pair of earthquakeshave been reported in dif-ferent parts of Oklaho-ma.

The U.S. GeologicalSurvey says the firstmagnitude 3.0 earth-quake was recorded atabout 11:13 a.m. Friday inAlfalfa County northeastof Cherokee less than 15

miles south of theKansas border. It wasrecorded at a depth ofabout three miles.

The second temblor, amagnitude 2.9, wasrecorded shortly afternoon in Logan Countyabout three miles southof Guthrie and 30 milesnorth of Oklahoma City.The quake occurred at a

depth of about six miles.Authorities say no

injuries or damage hasbeen reported followingthe temblors.

Geologists say earth-quakes of magnitude 2.5to 3.0 are generally thesmallest felt by humansand that damage is notlikely from quakes ofbelow magnitude 4.0.

Oklahoma Lottery seeksPowerball winning ticket

2 earthquakes rock differentparts of Oklahoma