Vol. II No. 25 Burgesses, Mayor Are Invited To Barbeque Pouftrymen Plan Special Event For Broiler Week The week of May 4 to 11 has been, designated as Pennsylvania Broiler Weekr This week is to kick-off the broiler season and acquaint more people with chick en as being a tasty and economi cal food. In Lancaster County, the poul try association is staging an in vitational broiler barbecue to be held on May 4 at the Lancaster Poultry Center. The Mayor of Lancaster, the Burgesses of the County towns, press, radio and television repre sentatives, and representatives of service clubs are invited. Mayor KendigC. Bare of Lan caster will proclaim this period las Broiler Week in the City of Lancaster. The Chicken of Tomorrow con test is the highlight of the week on a statewide basis. Nearly 700 farm boys and girls are entered in the competition State Agricultural Secretary Willjaar IS; to present a^speciaTprize' to top'place win ners at the close of the state wide judging at the Farm Show Building on May 7. The boy or girl winning the Grand Champion award for the highest quality nine and a fialf week old broiler will receive an engraved silver bowl. The same type award will go to the reserve champion. Entrants ' placing third to tenth will get special plaqdes. from -Henning. Each-of the 23 regional winners whose birds reach the finals will re ceive $5O U, S. Saving Bonds. In addition, the top ten win ners will be given a one day ex pense paid visit to the North eastern Poultry Producers Ex position in the Farm Show Build ing next Oct. <3 (to 10, A big broiler barbecue demon stration is scheduled for May 8 in Philadelphia. Preliminary ar rangements have been complet ed for an outdoor chicken “bar becue to -be set up in Reybum Square, center Philadelphia. The Mayor of Philadelphia, and other city officials will be entertained. Miss Elizabeth Erb, state poultry queen, will j6in in this observ ance City and County officials m the Scranton area will partici pate in a special barbecue on the Court House grounds in Scran ton on May 9. Demonstration barbecue pits will be set up also on the Court House grounds to show the public various ways to barbecue chicken in their back yards. Similar events are being plan ned for Pittsburg, Johntown, Al toona and other cities across Pennsylvania. Later in the month, a “Barbe cue Clinic” is slated to be held at Camp Fred L. Rentz, New Castle. Sponsoring the May 22. event in the Northeastern Poul try Producers Council and the Poultry and Egg National Board. The clinic actually is a one day school to train people to be able to put on a full scale chick en or turkey barbecue for groups of 19 or more-persons. Applications for the school should be sent to NEPPCO, 10 Rutgers Place; Trenton, N. J. Quarryville (Lancaster County) Pa., Friday, "April 26, 1957 HOW WILL THESE little pigs go to market from the farm? As finished slaugh ter hogs or as feeder pigs? In line with growing interest in Lancaster and other Pennsylvania Counties on production,'and V __ | , . Missouri Feeder Pig Sales Provide Market Outlet To Small Producer Raising Limited Numbers of Swine By RICHARD LEE Asst. Agricultural Editor, University of Missouri When a group of Ripley Coun ty, Mo., hog producers got togeth er and held an organized feeder pig sale at Doniphan in the spring of 1950, they started a movement that has been adopted by many other South Missouri and ’ out state localities. Why did these Ripley County farmers want to sell their 562 feeder pigs in an auction they would supervise themselves? Primarily because they wanted a better price. The Missouri Agri cultural Extension Service recog nized an opportunity for this to be a demonstration sale to show in dollars and cents that good breeding and good feeding pay. It would be a valuable teaching tool for the extension program in livestock production and maket ing, particularly in a swine im provement program. Many producers had failed to get full and equitable prices for their feeder pigs because of the small number produced by most farmers, lack of adequate sorting and weighing facilities, distance from central markets, lack of fa miliarity with other available mrakets, and lack of knowledge of grades and current values. Also inherent in this situation were the higher procurement costs and less uniformity in the feeder pigs that feeder buyers obtained. Each year since the first sale in 1950, more counties have or ganized feeder pig sales pattern ed after Missouri’s now widely known feeder cattle sales held each fall. The sale pens and facili ties in counties often serve a dual purpose since both feeder pig and calf sales are held'there. The county livestock associa tion is incorporated under the sales of feeder pigs, see the article in this issue on how Missouri farmers found a new market and new source of income through farmer owned and operated sales. Missouri Statues for Non-Profit Agricultural Marketing Associa tions, with charter and bylaws. Each association elects a board of directors and officers annually and every consignor to the sale is an active member. The county extension agent acts as an ex-of ficio member in an advisory capacity. All feeder pigs consigned to the sales have been vaccinated for cholera at least 30 days prior to sale dates, are brought to the sale pens on the date of the sale, and are unloaded under a veterinar ian’s supervision." Unsalable pigs, such as boars, cripples and unthrifty animals, are sent back to the farm. Although there is a range in pig weights, the majority fall in the 40 to 60-pound class. Consign ments to each of the farmer-own ed and farmer-operated sales are graded into uniform lots t by Uni versity extension specialists. During the past year, 10 county associations held 23 sales with 1,474 producers consigning near ly 50.000 feeder pigs. These pigs were sold to some 450 buyers for a total of nearly $630,000. Aver age weight of all pigs was 60 pounds and the average price per hundredweight was $2l. It’s important to note that the number of pigs consigned averag ed 34 head to each producer. The sales have helped the small pro ducer. He gets his pigs into uni form lots as to grade and quality and, in addition in size of lots de sired by buyers. Each producer can compare his pigs with others and see how his pigs grade and sell in comparison with his neighbors’ pigs. He can witness first-hand the reward for following recommended practices such as vaccination and castra tion. He can see the quality and heavier weights of pigs raised on good pastures and a good ration. And, most important, he can see the better type and quality pigs that result from the use of better breeding stock. Missouri feeder calf sales are a medium through which college and extension personnel can be of service to cattle producers by passing on information in man agement, selection, feeding and pasture and marketing. * “We don’t look on the sales as iust a way to sell pigs,” says Mis souri Extension Service Director J. W. Burch. “We look on them as a demonstration and will work with producers as long as they are improving the quality of their pigs through the use of better breeding stock, better pasture management, and selection.” Smaller Cattle Numbers Part Of Typical Cycle, Says Economist The cattle population of the country appears to have entered a downward swing this year typi cal of cattle cycles, reports Jim Reynolds, midwestern extension livestock marketing specialist. But the downward drift is no. expected to Hast as long as it has in most previous cycles. Reynolds explains that the number of cattle on farms us ually runs in cycles—with num bers falling over a period of years and then rising again to new heights. The United States Department of Agriculture recently reported a reduction in cattle population for the first time this year after a seven-year‘upswing carried the total number to an all time high of almost 97 million head. The reduction applies all to classes of animals with milk cows down $3 Per Year Farm Credit Shows Increase From Year Ago Production Loans Show Slight Rise; Money Not Tight Agricultural production credit is both plentiful and in demand, this year, according to a survey taken m Lancaster County this week by Lancaster Farming. Lee R. Brobst, secretary treas urer of the Lancaster County Production Credit Assn and the National Farm Loan Assn., said that approximately $50,00(1 more had been borrowed this spring tint last year. -However, the number of borrowers stayed about the same. He~ said that approximately $2% million in loans are out-, standing from the farmer owned cooperative lending association. Most of the money has been borrowed for fertilizer, spray material and labor to be used in raising cash crops These crops include tobacco, potatoes and tomatoes. Other lending agencies and banks found the picture about the same with demand for oper ating capital about the same as lest year. The average rate of interest for production loans this yeat is five to five and a half per cent. This reflects the governments tight money policy and the cur rent discount rate from the Federal Intermediate Credit Bank of four and a half per cent. The key word, it seemed in conversation with the credit su pervisors, was management. “It is becoming more import ant to look at management. It is becoming the key to profit,” said Brobst. He indicated that farm man agement practices are being watched more carefully by lend ing agencies now than ever be. fore. Sympathy for the young man getting started was expressed by many. In Lancaster County, with land prices well above the (Continued on Page Three) one percent, calves down one percent, beef cattle down two percent and the number of steers reduced four percent. Most of the decrease has oc curred in the Great Plains re gion stretching from the Cana dian border to the Gulf of Mexico and the Rio Grande. Drouth that plagued this area explains much of the change but other influences also were at play, marking the downward trend as part of a caittle cycle. In some areas cattle numbers had reached the limit of grazing capacity. And, in general, lower prices for cattle have discourag ed producers, tending to reduce them cash expenditures for caittle production. Cattle cycles usually continue (Continued on Page Three)
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