Cattle

By SHEILA HOTCHKIN / Staff Writer photo: MIKE CRUPI / staff photographer [ enlarge ] SHARPSBURG - Houdini did Jeff and Sharon Wiles of Clear Spring proud Thursday night when he won the grand champion award for longhorn steer at the Washington County Ag Expo cattle show. "I had him all cleaned up, and you see what he did for the show," said Jeff Wiles, shaking his head as he examined mud smeared on Houdini after the Ag Expo cattle show. --cont from news -- Sharon Wiles pinned the purple ribbon on Houdini's pen after the show.

SHARPSBURG - Farmer Tom Shaw still volunteers with the Washington County Ag Expo, even though his youngest son outgrew the 4-H events seven years ago. The reason goes back to his own childhood, when he and his father went on the road each fall to show cattle at county fairs all over the region. "It was such a good experience. It was a long tradition and a tradition I did not want to see die," he said. In the 1950s, farmers could make a profit showing cattle, he said. These days, the money made from selling a prize-winning animal often doesn't cover the costs.

By LISA GRAYBEAL Staff Writer, Waynesboro WAYNESBORO, Pa. - So his customers don't have a cow, Waynesboro butcher Eugene Horst beefs up his business with some home-grown information. Determined to put people's minds to rest about eating beef, the 38-year-old owner of the Country Corner Meat Market at 10586 Buchanan Trail East sells only what he's raised and fed himself. "I'm concerned with consumers' health," Horst said. "We stand by everything sold here as far as quality and customer satisfaction.

By LAURA ERNDE Staff Writer DRY RUN, Pa. - Police have charged three teenagers in a cattle-rustling operation in northern Franklin County, according to Pennsylvania State Police. Just before dawn on Oct. 9, two teenagers loaded 13 cows onto a rental truck from a Dry Run farm, Trooper Tony Manetta said Friday. They later sold the cows at a central Pennsylvania livestock auction for about $3,800, police said. But by the time the youths tried to cash the check at a Chambersburg area bank two days later, the authorities were on to the operation, according to police.