Library School of Agriculture Patterson Bldg, Aq#2 University Park, Pa, VOL. 12 NO. 17 FOLLOWING ANNUAL MEETING of Atlantic Breeders Cooperative mem bers Wednesday, featured speaker State Secretary of Agriculture Leliand H. Bull, left, is shown with four ABC directors whose years of service to the cooperative total nearly 100. From the left they are: J. Lewis Williams, 1966 president; Mark N. Witmer, past president; Abner Risser, 1966 vice president; and Samuel B. Williams, Jr. L. F. Photo Governor Will Tolerate No Violence In Milk Strike, Bull Advises «, Jr* > - “Governor Shafer has made it known that _he_ will not toler ate any violence in Pennsyl vania during the current milk holding action,” state agricul ture secretary Leland H Bull told dairymen Wednesday He noted that “some dump ing is going on m the western part of the state, and that the state police have 'been alerted to watch the situation closely “If you hear of anyone hav ing trouble call the state po lice they’ll cooperate,” Bull promised Speaking at the third annual meeting o i Atlantic Breeders Cooperative at Meadow Hills Dining House, the Secretary said that last year the state’s agricultural production hit a value of $9OO million for the first time in. history. SIGNPOSTS TO THE FUTURE He noted that this represent ed an increase of $ll6 million over the total reached four years ago but added, “It is questionable whether this in crease has matched the rising cost of things farmers must buy ” Bull said he was “deeply con cerned about the controversy Farm Calendar March 28-7-30 pm, Ephrata Farm Electricity Course, "Farmstead Wiring Layout and Emergency Power Gen erator”; at Ephrata H. S. -7:30 p.m, Organizational meeting, Penn Manor 4-H Community Club, at Ann Le tort Elem. School. March 30-7:30 p.m, Spring meeting of Lancaster County Farmers’ Assn., at Strasburg Fire Hall. . -7:30 p.m., Organizational meeting, Willow Street area 4-H community club, at Peq uea. Twp. Elem School. March 31-8. p.m, Horse owners informational meeting at Earavillo Fire'Hall -and' criticism that besets the -dairy industry.” One major problem, he said, is going to be supplying enough milk for lire expanding popu lation He pointed out that al though per cow output had in creased nearly a ton of milk in Pennsylvania, since 1960, there are now 117,000 less cows in the state On a per capita basis. Bull noted, there were 59 quarts less milk per person in 1966 This was nartially balanced by a declining per capita consump tion, he added. SLIM MARGIN In comparing production and consumption of milk in the U.S. at this time, the Secretary said it comes down to one quart per person per month. “That’s a mighty slim margin between supply and (Continued on Page 9) Farmers’ Assn. Sets March 30th Meeting Date The Lancaster County Farm ers’ Association will hold its Spring meeting on Thursday, March 30, at 730 p.m, it was announced this week by as sociation public relations di rector James Martin Featured speaker for the an nual affair will be Hollis Hat field, administrative secretary tor the Pennsylvania Farmers’ Association. Hatfield will dis cuss legislative matters in which the association is involv ed at the state level. Martin said In addition, a representative of the National Livestock and Meat Board will give an illus trated talk on “The Work of Meat Promotion” The meeting is scheduled for the Strasburg Fire Hall, Strasburg, Martin'■nbtedl ’ moioac TH£PtoNdB, Af library ST 4<E UNIVERSITY Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 25,1967 Finol Horse Meeting Planned For March 31 The -final countrywide horse owners’ informational meeting will be held on Friday, March 31, at 8 pm, at the Bareville Fire Hall, associate county agent Win Mernam announced this week , Featured speaker will be James Gallagher, horse special ist at Penn State University He will discuss, “The Foot and Its Care’’, and “Stabling and General Management During the Show Season”. As with the two previous meetings, Memam noted, all intei ested horse owners in the county aie invited “This is not a 4-H meeting,” he added Holstein Assn, Tour Set For April sth The Lancaster County Hol stem-Fnecian Ass oeiation an nounced this week that its an nual tour this year will be held on Wednesday April 5 Buses will be leaving from the Con estoga Transportation Company tei minal, 825 East Chestnut Street, Lancaster at 8 a in. ac cording to tour committee chairman Titus M Hurst The tour this year will visit four dairy farms in Chester County, p'as the famed Long wood Gardens The farms of Donald Hostet- ter, Gideon Stoltzfus, John Lia ble, and Tom McCann will be visited.. Several of these dairy men are outstanding purebred breeders, others have the lat est equipment systems which will interest dairymen Lunch, which will be served family style in the Atglen Fire Hall, is included in the S 5 per person tour charge Anyone interested in visiting neighboring Chester County on tliis tour is urged to contact Hurst, or other committee members—Jay Landis and Paul (Continued on Page 9) Top Dairymen In Lancaster CountyßejectNFO Action by Don Timmons With milk dumping tlus week , in the streets of Pennsylvania ] and 24 other states, accompan ied by reported vandalism and . violence, we asked several lead ing Lancaster County dairy farmers tor their impressions 1 The general feeling of our ' dairymen ranged from “sym- 1 pathetic” to “it’s against all * moral standards of decency to 1 dump food away”, with the ma- 1 jority apparently leaning more * toward tie latter sentiment. ' DO FARMERS NEED 1 BETTER MILK PRICE? 1 With the whole National Farmers Organization effort di rected toward securing better milk prices for the nation’s dairymen, it was surprising to be told by several of the farm ers interviewed in Lancaster County that the present milk price was sufficient to enable an efficient operator to make money. All-agreed it was un equal to good wageS'mfmy -oth--. ers enjoy m our economy when one considers the seven-day week the farmer puts in. and his increasing investment in land, buildings, livestock, and ; equipment ’ WILL NFO EFFORT ' SUCCEED? ( No daily man consulted ev i pressed much hope for an NFO by Don Timmons Chester Countians Urged To Join And Support NFO Approximately 45 dairymen and other interested persons gathered at the Honey Brook Grange Hall Wednesday night for an informational meeting sponsored by the National Farmers Organization (NFO) MILK HOLDING ACTION J Winfield Trego, Eagle area dairy farmer, and one of only three Chester County dairymen who have been actively cooper ating with the 25-state NFO milk holding action, w r as unof ficial spokesman for the group Referring to graphs and fig ures from a book by Frank Le roux called “The Fai mers’ Woist Five Years—l96l-1965”, Trego observed that average farm net income is at its low est point since the Depression years, that, in relation to in iH Wea/Aer Temperatures for the next five days are expected to con tinue below the normal range of 54 to 34 degrees. Little day-to-day change is expect ed. - Precipitation may total *4- % inch, melted, says the weatherman, but he wouldn’t say whether it would occur as snow or rain. He does look for one or the other on Mon day or Tuesday. ‘ - $2 Per Year price victory Some thought it might gain the organization some members, but didn’t feel it would affect the milk price —at least, not more than tem porarily The general consensus was that NFO wasn’t getting enough cooperation from members or non-members to bung suffici ent pressure to bear in the marketplace As one dairyman put it, “You can’t get the job done with only one-quarter or one-fifth of the supply con ti oiled” FARMERS’ IMAGE Some felt the sensational publicity the milk strikers were receiving was damaging to the consumers’ opinion of farmers. But several others said the public eye has to be opened to the farmers problems in mak ing a living. One farmer not ed, “You can’t worry about the public unaee at this point. The present effort will dramatize -theJarmer’s need for action”. WILL YOUJOINNFO? No dairyman we spoke to during this interview had ever been contacted by an NFO or ganize*’, but we did talk with one county fanner earlier this week who had been approach ed several times by NFO. He mentioned hov'ever, that after (Continued on Page 9) come ot the rest of the popula tion, farmers are in a mighty poor position He added, there is no surp l us and he doubted there ever had been DUMPING COSTS MOUNTING Trego told Lancaster Farm ing by phone on Thursday that it is costing him approximately 575 to $BO a day to dump the milk from his 55-cow herd ia the gutter How lone can he continue this practice’ “I can keep dumping al’ my milk for about one month,” the dairyman said. He added that if the NFO ef fort is unsuccessful in getting contracts for Chester County dairymen, both he and his brother will plan to work their way out of the dairy business as soon as possible Tiego, who farms on rented ground, said dairymen can not continue to operate at present prices HIGH-PRICED LAND “There’s not much land down this way that’s not worth at least SlOOO an acre,” Trego noted, adding that too many farmers aie now living off of loans made on their land in or der to meet operating expenses. NFO IN 25 STATES According to NFO field rep resentatives Dave Elwell of Woodstown, NJ. and Les Mc- Namara of Kennett Square area, (.Continued on Page 8)
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