VOL. 8 NO. 10
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STANDING IN FRONT OF TWO LAYING houses that total 536 feet of
length is Mel Wenger, Rheems. The two houses are a part of a seven-house com
plex of a caged layer complex that will eventually house 60,000 laying hens and
12.000 pullets. The seventh structure, now under construction will contain egg pro
cessing equipment. Eggs, Incorporated, the firm formed by Wenger, will wash,
candle, grade and carton the eggs for retail trade, but will not sell the eggs at
retail. A total of 24,000 hens are already in production with another unit of
12.000 scheduled to come into production shortly. L. F. Photo.
FeedOoinpany
Will Initiate
Egg Promotion
Every retail outlet wnich has
handled Pennsylvania Certified
eggs-since initiation, of.the pro
gram in 195 S has increased sal
es volume, Ed Lawless, Chiet
of the Poultry and Eggs Divi
sion- of the Pennsylvania Bur
eau of Markets said Monday
Speaking at the Kickotf
luncheon of an egg promotion
program sponsored by the Rals
ton Purina Company in Harris
burg,.Lawless said the program
now includes 44 plants and in
cluded 2,777,000 dozen eggs in
December 1962 compared to
168,000 dozen in April of 1958.
A total of 23 million dozen
eggs were sold as certified in
1961 compared to 28% million
dozen in 1962.
Lawless said inspectors make
unannounced visits to the co-
(Continued on Pago 4)
Farm Calendar
Feb. 11 1:30 p.m. Celery
and early tomato grower?
meeting at the packing house
ol Amos Funk, Millersville
HI.
7:30 pm Northeast 4-H
- tractor club meets at the
shop of Allen Mats, Denver
7:30 p.m. Lancaster Cou
, nty Soil Conservation Dist
rict Directors meet in the
count house, Lancaster
Feb. 12 6:30 pm Fift
ieth anniversary annual
meeting and banquet of the
Lancaster County Extension
service m the Hotel Bruns
wick, Lancaster.
7.15' New Holland Young
Farmers meeting in the Gar
den Spot High School. New
Holland. Subject Acety
lene welding.
7:30 p,m Manor Young Far
mers meet in the Penn Man
' (Continued, _on Page 10) .
; u v
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EggWasking
Saves Time For
Co. Poultryman
How much time does in
plant egg washing save?
According to-Roger Thome,
'Mount Joy R 2, it saves in the
neighborhood of six hours a
day over washing on the farm
Thome, who has 9,000 hens
in cages, says the saving in
time is not in the gathering or
in the washing, since the eggs
have to be handled" separately
Scholarships
Available For
4-H Members
Three $lOO scholarship
giants and three $5O grants
will be made available to coun
ty 4-H club members by the
Lancaster County Bankers As
sociation, it was announced
this week by the extension ser
vice.
. The larger grants will be
awarded to three 4-H club
members enrolled or planning
to,enroll in a four year pro
giam at some college or univer
se The $5O awards will go
to members who plan to furth
er their education beyond high
school in some field such as
nursing or beauty culture.
Applicants must be either
high school graduates or sen
iors at present and regularly
enrolled in the county 4-H pro-
gram
Application must be made on In other business, the e\-
a standard form available at change reelected Robert Heil
the County Agent's office, and bron, 71 Oak Lane, president
must be submitted to the office Heilbron is a partner in the
not later than February 22. firm of Samuel L Heilbron and
Winners wjll be selected on the Sons, livestock brokers
basis of achievement in 4-H Also reelected were James
work and other youth or com- C. Dunlap, 1209 Marietta Ave,
munlty activities, and on high vice president. Robert F. John
schqol or college activities and son, 41 Hess Blvd , treasurer,
scholarship. ■. j; , (-.Continued on Page 2)
1 1* j 5 ! i , ' ' f! i l ' ,
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 9, 1963
>if < - > <
and sprayed with oil, but the
time saving is in the casing
Eggs can be' handled 30 at a
time on the fillers after oiling
and cooling When they were
gathered and washed in bas
kets, they had to be packed in
dividually and inspected for
soil and stains
With only two weeks’ ex
perience with the in-jilant
w-ashlng, Thome was hesitant
to say how much saving he
could expect, but he did say
his egg report from the lirst
two deliveries showed only
about half as many cracked
eggs when they were wa >hed
in the plant as when they were
(Continued on page 5)
Stock Yards
Business Tops
$55 Million
Livestock value traded on
the Lancaster Union Stock
Yards last year topped the $55
million mark, it was reported
at the annual meeting of the
Lancaster Livestock Exchange
Tuesday night.
The dollar volume "was moie
than million higher than
.the reported figure in 1961
Total volume in 1962 was
$55,059,577 S 9 compared with
$51,314,479 63 the previous
year
■Hog numbers during the
year were down by almost 10,-
000 head, but the increase in
both cattle numbers and prices'
more than made up the differ
ence Calf and sheep receipts
were about even for the two
years
Eggs Incorporated Builds
Factory In Lancaster Co.
An egg factory is nearing
completion in northeastei n
Lancaster County
Eggs, Incoipoiated, headed
by John and Mel Wenger,
Hheems, will soon be turning
out eggs, iead\ foi the retailer,
at the iate of neatly 200 cases
a da\
MVttNHMsjt
»s<s«n
The first two of si\ units,
which will eventually house
60,000 lajmg hens and 12,000
pullets haie alieadj been put
in seivice and about 70 cases
ot tresh eggs aie being gathei
ed dail\
Mel Wenger sees the new
coiporation as a bid to recap
tme some of the lost egg mar
ket foi Pennsylvania farmers
“We do not want to go into
competition with local egg pro
ducers.” he said, “In fact, wo
will do everything we can to
see to it that -we do not com
pete with the local growers ’
Wenger went on to say that
nearl> a thud of the eggs con
sumed in Pennsylvania are im
ported from other states Even
with Pennsylvania; and Lancas
ter County in particular, sitting
right in the geographic center
County Future Farmers
Aid Drill Box Survey
Penn 'State’s drill box survey
will get an assist this spring
from .the Future Farmers of
Lancaster County
Future Farmers of America,
under the direction of the
countj teachers of vocational
agriculture will collect samples
ot the oats, clover and timothy
they plan to seed on their home
farms this spring and send
them to Clarence Bryner, ex
tension agonomist from the
state university for purity and
germination testing
Bryner, who .has been con-
Celery Growers
To Hold Meet
Celery growers have been in
vited to a county-wide meeting
with extension vegetable spec
ialists in the packing room of
Amos Funk, Millersville Rl,
next .Monday, February 11 at
1.30 pm
Dr Roy Creech, plant breed
er, James Dutt, extension veg
etable specialist, and Dr Ernie
Bergman, nutrition researcher,
all from the Pennsylvania State
University will discuss vai let
les. breeding progress being
made, fertilization, cultural
practices, and nutrition experi
ments Improved selections of
the H-46 variety which was re
leased by the University last
year as a replacement for the
Houser strain which disappear
ed during World War II
Farmers interested in grow
ing early stalled tomatoes will
be invited to ask questions on
this subject.
$2 Per Year
of the Atlantic coast “Megapo
lis' of over 50 million consum
ers poultry numbers have de r
dined steadily to the lowest
point since 1940
“We want to pioduce an egg
of uniform quality and market
it as a Penns* Ivama egg to bet
ter the market for all produc
ers in the state”. Wenger ex
plains. “We will not sell any of
the eggs on the local retail
market, but if we can put out
a quality pack which will com
pete with the Southern eggs
being shipped in, we hope to
help improve the market for
all produceis in Pennsylvania ”
Eggs, Inc put the first 12,-
000 hens in cages last October
and added another unit of 12,-
000 in December The third un
it w ill be in pi eduction shortly,
and the fourth house is virtu
ally completed Twelve-week
old birds will go into the house
and begin a 15 -ftionth cycle of
production before they are re
placed with new pullets
When rhe six units are all in
production, 60,000 layers and
12,000 pullets will rotate on a
(Continued on page 6)
ducting the drill box surveys in
several Pennsylvania counties,
met with the teachers at their
regular meeting Tuesday night
and enlisted their aid in com
pleting a survey in Lancaster
County
“Five years ago,” Bryner
said. “I was in charge of the
small grain classes at the Penn
sylvania State Farm Show. I
was astounded at the number
of weed seed, including noxi
ous weeds and especially quack
grass, in the samples.”
Bryner said that while the
samples were farm grains, they
ji ere supposed .to be cleaned
samples, and should have been
almost seed quality, but most
of the grams, especially oats
were loaded with weed seed.
He has collected samples of
(Continued on Page 6)
FIVE - DAY
WEATHER
FORECAST
Temperatures during the
ne\t five days are expected
to average three to seien de
grees below the normal
range of 24 at night to 3S>
in the afternoon. Consist
ently cold weather is expect
ed throughout the period
with some moderation near
the end of the period. Preci
pitation is expected to total
0.1 to 0.3 inch occurring
mostly as light snow or rain
-Sunday, or Monday.