61. 11. No. 48 Gypsy Moth Eggs Found on Crate In Harrisburg State Secretary of Agriculture William L Henning has com mended the alertness ol a Bureau oi Plant Industry inspector who discovered gypsy moth egg mass- os on a poultry crate near the -State Farm Show Building Henning announced that the timely action of Milton Searfoss of Avoca, Luzerne County, could well have checked a possible in Testation of the Harrisburg area by dreaded gypsy moth cater pillars which completely defoliate trees and shrubby. The insect egg clusters were dis covered this week on the under side of a poultry crate shipped about a year ago to the Depart ment of Agriculture’s chicken egg laying test buildings near the Farm Show Arena. There was evidence" that caterpillers had hatched from one of the four egg masss, but apparently had died because tlhey were unable to reach tree leaves upon which to feed. Close inspection of poultry crates used to transport pullets for the opening this week of a new'egg laying test revealed "no gypsy moth egg deposits Thor ough inspection of the area with in half a mile or more of the Farm Show Building will be made after tiee leaves have fallen, he added. This was the second “by chance” discovery of gypsy moth by State employees. Earlier this year State foresters reported a defoliated'area in southern Lu zerne County which later proved to be gypsy moth damage This area will be sprayed with a solu tion of DDT next Spring Now Is The Time . . . By MAX SMITH County Agricultural Agent TO ACCEPT UNIVERSITY SHORT COURSES A large selection of both short courses and cor respondence courses in agriculture are offered at Penn State Umversity each winter, we recom mend these courses as one of the best ways of gaining additional information on a subject with out spending mudh time on the campus The correspondence courses are conducted by mail and are quite popular throughout the state. Ad ditional information may be secured at our Ex tension Service office. TO EXPAND FARM BUSINESS'— Many small farmers are having difficulty in meeting growing Max Smith expenses. To stay in farming and expect a rea sonable income fanners should try to keep their enterprises growing as much as possible If expansion is impossible then it may be quite difficult to compete with other laiger producers TO IMPROVE DAIRY BARN VENTILATION The dairy herd will soon be moving into winter quarters, with more animals under one roof the problem of proper ventilation becomes more acute. Cow comfort is very essential to maximum, efficient production; we recom mend the electric exhaust fan system as very successful in this area An Extension Service Bulletin is available on the subject A county wide meeting is scheduled for Oct 22. TO UTILIZE ROUGHAGES IN STEER FEEDING Most any form of roughage may be fed to feeder cattle at the beginning of the feed ing period; ample pasture, hay, or silage is recommended to get the tattle on feed and to develop capacity, feed nutrients from roughages ar e usually cheaper than nutrients from grain feeds As the feeding period advances, the amount of roughages are decreased and the gram increased. Roughages may be used economically on all weights «f cattle except heavy, short-fed-steers that are nearing the desired market finish. Quarryville (Lancaster County) Pa., Friday, Oct. 11, 1957 LANCASTER COUNTY VISITORS at the NEPPCO Exposition were, left, Harold K. Witmer, R 2 Manheim, and his son, Lemer, 18 months old, and Lester Gehman, R 2 Canadian Wool Production Down Production of shorn wool in Canada during 1957 amounted to 61 million pounds, a decrease of about two per cent Manheim, with his son Laverne, who is o. Both Witmer and Gehman are egg pro ducers, the former having about 700 layers and the latter about 5.000 (LF Photo) Seven Per Cent Rise in Swine Can Break Bubble of Prosperity By 808 BEST With hog prices climbing steadily up to levels not enjoyed by the pork producer since the fall of 1954, the U. S Depart ment of Agriculture this week issued a special study on the hog situation And the story laid out for all to see is not an amusing one These things stand out as para mount in the hog sduation. One; Hog prices fluctuate dras tically in short periods Two; Hog numbers fluctuate even more drastically and m even shorter periods. Three: The pork industry is losing its share of the consumer dollar to beef, and to some ex tent, veal Four. There is a limited woild marketfor United States produc ed pork. Since 1950 swine producers have had four big peak maikets, that is, top prices of over 20 cents a pound. And in that same period, there have been five low markets The lows ranged from about 18 cent low in 1950 to a 10 5 cent low in the late winter of 1955 In between the lows and highs there have been little peaks and valleys that may' at the time seem signi ficant, but have failed in the long run Couple this constantly chang ing market to the yearly price cycle and you have something else again Prices of hogs almost invariab ly rise in the spring and decline in the fall. Seasonal price peaks ind lows have been shitting eam 'r, farrowings have become earli >r and the growing and feedmff oenod shorter The winter-spring ow price is now often in March, md the fall low sometimes is in November The corn-hog ratio, the bushels if corn equal in value to 100 lounds of live hog, is usually l aken as the best basis of the wactical aspect of profitable hog feeding. While prices of hogs were ad vancing in 1957 the price of corn •emamed stable The hog-corn once ratio increased to a high of 16 6 in September and the Sep temberi-Deoember average may be between 14 and 15. The ratio has averaged slightly ibovc 12 over many years A ratio of 14 to 15 during the breeding season almost invariably has been followed by increased farrowings. There is no apparent reason to the per cent of increase in spring farrowings after a rise in the hog corn atio A look at the figure® Since 1925 shows that farrowings have risen as much as 20 per cent on a rise in the ratio that did not even lead to profitable hog feeding During 1942 and 1943 Ameri cans ate pork at a record rate of nearly 80 pounds per person per year This was nearly 52 per cent of t)he red meat consumed in the United States This year Americans are eating only 65 pounds of pork per per son, and this amounts to a, by (Continued on page 11) $2 Per Year Pennsylvania Poultry Capitol This Week Visitors from 14 stales gather "d this week to witness one of 'ho greatest accumulations of modej n poultry equipment and and educational displays and supplies, contests and events, talks ever staged under one roof. The occasion was the annual exposition of the Northeastern Poultiy Pioduceis Council, stag ed this year in the Faim Show 3uildmg at Harrisburg _ Largely responsible for draw ng the crowds were the more ■ han 160 commercial exhibitions, large, colorful and educational to the commercial poultryman whose hvlihood depends on his knowledge of the industry A “push-button” exhibit featur ing a newly-developed colony cage system for laying birds and an egg gathering belt which col lects the eggs for the farmer from as many as 1,800 hens in less than five minutes Feeding and watering is done on a push button basis, too An electronic calculating ma chine whidh allows pedigree breeders to accumulate a myraid of records on a single punch card and to machine analyze the figures, revealing which breeders will make the best sires and dams for lutuie generations of chicks Gold-plated laying cages with anodyzed feeders and waterers in. red and gieen A display showing how improv ed poultry house construction can make use of the heat of the sun in wintertime, controlling mois ture problems and minimizing fumes from the litter. Two Pennsylvania hatcheries swept away top honors in the an nual Egg-to-Chick Show. Grand champion’s trophy went to York DeKalb Hatchery, York, Pa, for its entry of DeKalb 121 hybrids The entry scored 96.52 points. Reserve champion, for the sec ond year in a row in runner-up spot, was an entry of White Leg horns from Pennsylvania Farm Bureau Hatchery, Harrisburg, scoring 95.97 points. Just a breath behind the win ners in the number three spot was another Leghorn entry from the Babcock Poultry Farm, Ithaca, N. Y, scoring 95.96 points. Eighty hatcheries from the 14- state Northeastern area partici pated The contest got underway early in September, when en trants shipped 60 hatching eggs each to be placed in the incuba tors at Moore Farms, Lancaster. Each entry was graded on the basis of size, shape, interior qual ity, color and condition. When the entry hatched early in October, 25 of the resulting chicks were scored on vigor, uni formity of size and color, condi tion and weight. Hatchability was also a judging factor. A pert Leghorn hen owned by Darby Leghorn Farm, Somerville, N. J., was the nation’s queen-of the-roost when she was crowned with poultrydom’s coveted Hen of-the-Year Award. The bird scored a total of 93911 points out of a possible 1000 to top the second-place en try, also a White Leghorn, from the farm of Leo J. Graybill, Mc- Alisterville, Pa., scoring 935.93 points. The award was made on the (Continued on page 11)
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