rue * GF,CULT!J RAL LIBRARY Mary K. Bettendorf, Librarian state college Agricultural Library The Ferma. State Uni-ears ity f Vol, 111. No. 16 PENN-DEL FARM operator Raymond Wit- mer. Willow Street, knows that the safest way to handle a bull is by npt handling him at all. But if the animal must be handled, 35 Gilts Average $lOB at First Producers Sale Thirty-five spring gilts averag ed sloB'at the first sale sponsored by the Lancaster Swine Producers Assn Saturday. Nine fall boars averaged $55.83. The top price was $l5O paid by John J. Hess 11, Intercourse, for an April gilt from George Cog ley’s Leacock Yorkshire Farm, R 1 Ponks. She was bred to Brooks End Brunstance Ist in November. A top of $65 was paid for two boars One was a Yorkshire con signed by Ira Hfl. Dombach & Son, R 2 Lancaster, and the other a Landrace consigned by Elmer Kopp, R 1 Reinholds Paying the price were David Eckery, R 2 East Berlin, and Frank B Sensemg, P. 2 Ephrata. The high price paid for a Berk shire gilt was $ll5 paid Masonic Homes, Elizabethtown, by Clyde S Mumma, Landisville. Other Berkshire gilts sold for $112.5 and $lO2 50. Only two Chester White gilts were offered The top was $l2 50 paid by Clyde S Mumma, Landis ville, to John E. Hastings, Kirk \v ood The other gilt bi ought $9O. n the Duroc-Jersev division prices were higher with a top of $137 50 being paid for one of two gilts offered. W. S. Dreibelbis, Virginville, paid the top for a Masonic Homes consignment. The other gilt brought $l3O Clarence D. Heller, R 2 Wilow Street paid the top price for a Hampshire gilt. Model Rosedale, Quarryville (Lancaster County) Pa., Friday, Feb. 28, 1958 a bull staff should be used to keep the animal under control. A bull, no matter how tame or how long you’ve had him, is a dangerous animal. (LF Photo) Eastern Soil Research Center Sought by State An eastern United States re search center to deal with soil and water conservation problems ■s being sought by the Pennsyl vania Association of Soil Conser vation District Directors, it was learned yesteiday. David G. Unger, soil conserva tion director in the State Depart- consigned by John F. Stuber, R 2 Denver, went under the hammer for $125. Other Hamp gilts brought from $95, mostly about $llO. Two Landrace gilts consigned by Elmer Kopp brought $125 and $llO Jacob B. Landis, R 3 Lititz, took home the higher priced ani mal. Three Poland China gilts were sold. A top of $ll2 50 was paid Clifford A. LeVan, R 1 Milton, by Arthur W Smith,. Rising Sun, Md The other gilts moved at $lOO and $102.50. Another Rising Sun buyer, James W. Gibney, brought the higher priced Spotted Poland China gilt. The price was $102.50 for a consignment by C Warren Leminger, R 2 Denver. Other Spot ted gilts brought $92 50 and $97.50. Nine Yorkshire gilts were of fered. The top price was the $l5O seller from Leacock Yorkshire Farms. From a low price of $9O paid for two gilts, the Yorkshires aver age was $ll5 80. Four crossbred gilts, bred to ir.ent of Agriculture, said support \for /the proposed center was pledged by 11 other northeastern stales at the lecent annual con vention of the National Associa tion of Sod Dis tricts at Minneapolis, Minnesota. A research center would en courage improvement of quality and efficiency of soil-saving prac tices in Pennsylvania, according to Robert Lott, Aspers RD 2, Adams County, Pennsylvania as sociation research committee chairman. Specialists at the cent er would study ways to more ef fectively match construction and design of conservation measures to northeastern soils, climatic and topographic conditions. Research centers lor soil and water conservation are not new, Lott explained. Develop/ient of similar centers is under way in Georgia, Mississippi and Cali fornia Other centers exist in sev- r oral areas of the nation. All have been developed and staffed by the U. S. Soil Conservation Serv ice through the Agricultural Re search Service, The Pennsylvania soil district directors attending the Minne sota meeting said they expect to encourage their Congressmen to seek federal appropriations for the reserch center. registered boars, brought $112.50 _ for three head, and $117.50 paid H. B Endslow & Sons, R 1 Mar ietta, by Glenn S. Burkholder, 345 Running Pump Rd., Lancaster, The top gilt was a Yorkshire-Ches ter White cross bred to a Berk shire boar. The sale was hed at Martni’s Sale Barn, Blue Ball. Paul Z. Mar tin was auctioneer. This was his first purebred swine sale. Warm Air, Sunn Bulk of Snow with A week of “just the right kind of weather” removed much of the ecord snowfall during the past A'eek without danger of flood 01 iiuch damage to crops. Lancaster Countians were still icrvous last week with the Wea ner Bureau holding out a prom se of more snow over the week end Fortunately the promise fail ed to materialize , Warm sunny days that started many people thinking of spring in 'he first part of the week hastened ‘he departure of the snow Au thorities at Harrisburg, nervous over flood possibilities from a rapid melt, breathed easier The run-off into sti earns was so gradual that no danger of flood ing was or is seen And the fair sky also helped thaw frozen soil letting some of he water that has become so orecious go into the ground A ayer of frozen under a muddy surface still hampers the intake of water into the soil Road crews were still working as late as Monday in opening some State Livestock Value Up $34 million Although Numbers Drop 5.3 Per Cent Value of all livestock inventor ied on Pennsylvania farms as of dan 1 showed an increase of more than $34 million last year, the State Department of Agriculture announced today. The 11 per cent advance in val ue was accompanied by a 53 per cent decline in numbers between Jan 1, 1957" and the same date this year accodding to the annual Pennsylvania Crop Reparting Service livestock survey. This year’s 2,677,000 head of horses, beef and dairy cattle, swine and sheep have a farm val ue of $337,092,00 compared with the January 1957 total of 2,838,000 head valued at $302,669,000, the statewide inventory showed. Na tionally the farm livestock popu lation last year decreased one per cent. Cattle numbers move in “up and down” biological cycles over a period of 12 to 14 years and in Pennsylvania are now about half Plambeck Lauds State’s Plans For National Plowing Matches Farmers of the United States can look forward to an ideal set up for the 16th annual National Plowing Contest and Conservation Exposition to be held at Hershey, next Aug. 21-22, according to the man who originated the national farm event 16 years ago. Herbert Plambeck, Des Moines, lowa, following a week-end con ference with members of the Pennsylvania general contest committee headed by Leland H. Bull, state deputy secretary of agriculture, declared. “In all my experience I have never seen such complete and thorough preliminary planning lor a national plowing match and conservation demonstrations. The Hershey set-up is what the plow men have always hoped for in ac commodations and arrangements. It will definitely be a farmers’ show, as it should be ” Plambeck said Chat in recent years the national plowing matches and the worldwide Skies Remove Little Damage little-used township roads State roads were mostly clear with only a few one land spots bj the week end No cost has yet been estimated on the damage caused by the =now, although estimates are in the five to six figure brackets. Milk losses, as a whole, were not so high as expected Bulk milk truck drivers rolled their rigs across fields and pushed through snow clogged lanes to get out most milk Can lecemng stations also man aged to relieve the stiain on the dairyman in many localities Al most all types of vehicles were used to transport the cans from the farm to town_ tractors and spreaders or wagons, sleighs, and horse drawn equipment Only in the southern end of the county were there reports of ex tensive milk dumping .lust for the record, history shows that we are not out of the woods yet One of the largest snows on record in the county fell in the month of Apul. way on the down-trend side “Such cycles are the ioundation ot economic factors in meat and milk pioduction are aie watched closely for up and down indica tions and trends,” he added. Hogs can be traced by a five or six year trend. The Jan 1, 1958 Pennsylvania livestock inventory, compared with a year earlier, showed dairy and beef cattle at 1,858,000 head were down three per cent, 513,000 hogs, 15 per cent lower, 254,000 sheep, down three per cent and 21,881,000 chickens, off seven per cent Horses and mules xere esti mated at 52,000 compared with 58,000 a year previous In citing the effect of the bio logical cycle on the livestock pop ulation, the report said a dairy heifer calf takes nearly two and a half years before reaching ma turity and “paying her way’’ with adequate milk production. Breed- ing beef cattle can be measured by the same rule of thumb. The cycle for hogs can be cut in half, the report concluded matches last year in Ohio have required from two to four years to organize. The Pennsylvania committee received the go-ahead signal the early part of January and now has less than six months for completion of the hundreds of details required Bull explain ed. Chairman of major committees and many sub-committees are working toward making the na tional event a success It is to be held during the annual Pennsyl vania Dutch Days celebration at Hershey and will be preceded on. Aug. 19 by matches to select Pennsylvania entrants in the na tional contests. Plambeck, a radio farm editor, indicated that the Pennsylvania national contest should attract champion plowmen from upwards of -16 states. Entries usually run from 12 to 16. Ralph Patterson, Pennsylvania State University ex tension specialist who is chairman of the plowing contest division, said inquiries have been received to date from Maine and Georgia. S 2 Per Year
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