VOL. 15 NO. 5 FFA DEGREE WINNING FATHER AND SONS. Ira Welk (center) was named an American Farmer m 1952 after receiv ing hie Keystone Degree in 1949. Now his' twin Lloyd (left) and Leroy aie nam- Solanco Twins Follow Father’s Footsteps As Keystone Farmers When you talk about FFA achievements in the Ira Welk family you don’t talk singularly, that’s- for sure Because when the Keystone Faimer Degrees aie given at the mid-winter con vention at the Harrisburg Farm Show in a few weeks, not just one but two of the state awards will be coming to this Quarry ville R 3 address. You see, Lloyd and Leroy Welk are twins And if you want to go a step further, you could say the boys aie following in dad’s footsteps. For in 1949 Ira too received the Keystone Degree while in high school at Lampeter and in 1952, he became an Ameiican Farm er, the. highest national award given in.FFA. So, with this representation of outstanding agriculture achievement in one family, you natural ask for comments about the past and the future. “If a fellow had 30 cows when I started farming,” lia said, “he had a big herd. The overhead was notmearly so great, and two Farm Calendar Tuesday, December 30 12.00 noon—4-H Corn and To bacco Show, Fai m and Home Center 7 30 P.M —Gaiden Spot Young Farmer Meeting, Vo-Ag Boom. Thursday, Jan. 1 Happy New Yeai ed to receive the FFA Keystone Degree at the Farm Show in Harrisburg in January. Lloyd has a Charolais cross-bred steer for his latest FFA project but Leroy is a con firmed Hereford man. L. F. Photo oi three men took care of them > Now 50, 75 or even 100 cows in a hei d are common ” And Ira remembers a $2,200 tractor that now costs $5,000. As for the future, the six-foot, one-inch tall boys are agreed that dany and beef operations will get bigger but obtaining land and labor will get tougher “I don’t think farming $l,OOO per acre land is very profitable if you must go out and buy it to start farming,” Lloyd said. And as for the new proposal to set aside land to be used only for farming (see story page 1 of Lancaster Farming December 20 issue) Lloyd favored the idea and if it affected him directly would go along with it. “But I doubt that it will lower the price of faim land in Lancaster Coun ty veiy much,” he said. “Be cause outside people who want to buy farm land will run-up the price on local farmers ” Leroy agrees but also added that the land tax advantage for farmers as proposed would be helpful. When you ask the boys about their projects, Lloyd will say he has had pi ejects of dairy, beef, corn, tobacco, swine and alfalfa. And Leroy will say he had “the same” Leroy is the Chapter Re porter at Solanco and Lloyd is Secretaiy. But the 17-yeai-old Seniors (their birthday was yesterday), though in many ways are iden tical, do not always like the same side of faiming Leioy (Continued on Page 6) Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 27,1969 Dairymen Vote No - In Milk Referendum Dairymen across Pennsylvania rejected Ihc.pf-Ojjos'ed, milk mar- week. The annjjjuneeni'ght Tuesday Department of Agricul tireiir IJMfisb&'g.- Tfie; defeat shojyed 54.5 per cent’. 61 -^he, d»f^jSfrn r ,vqtjng gs” f beinj* 'while ’45.5’ percpnt'of-thpse voting were for. the -A Lancaster County official said that as-long as he could .remember, about 30 percent of the'dairymen payed for advertising of milk and all the other farmers rode along on their efforts. “Apparently this situation will continue,” he said. Nearly every farm organiza tion had supported the program, but individual farmers went against their organization’s opin ions. Only 10,060 farmers voted out of a state possible vote of 22,500 dairy farmers. State officials had expressed pleasure at getting that many farmers to vote. One County farmer who said he voted against the proposal was asked if he had attended any of the information meetings on the proposal. “No, he said. “I was hunting turkey at the time.” The majority of the ballots counted were against the mea sure, with the official count show ing 5,483 against and 4,577 for it. And a greater volume of milk production was represented by votes against. Officially, 50.2 per cent of the volume was repre sented by those voting against the measure. Under the voting rules, two thirds approval of those voting was necessary with production represented greater than 50 per cent. Members of the teller com mittee were Sam B. Williams, Middletown, chairman; Ira Yo (Continued on Page 7) Ag Outlook Shows Slight Gain In 1970 Farm Income For 1969 realized net farm income is limning close to a $l6 billion late, up substantially from $l4 8 billion last year Live stock puces and cash icceipts are about the same With slightly larger livestock marketings and continued strong demand in pi ospect for first half 1970, livestock cash receipts like ly will post a small gam over first half 1969 But with a smaller 1969 wheat crop and lower prices for soybeans, market receipts from crops will probably ease lower in eaily 1970 Balancing these prospects Holstein Breeders Announce Cooperative Herd Promotion The Lancaster County Asso ciation has announced plans for a cooperative county-wide ad vertising and herd promotion program to go into effect as soon as possible. Jay Landis As sociation President, said that any interested Holstein breeder should contact him or any of the local directors The individuals are planning to join together in securing advertising space in thp breed magazines and re ceive special rates for county Association members. Landis said they hope to get the piogiam underway by the membership kick-off meeting scheduled for Jan 5 He also said leports from the regular Holstein directors boaid meet ings will be made public thiough Lancaster Farming With this increased communica tion, Landis hopes to improve the effectiveness of the associa tion. All breeders interested in the herd promotion program with the county association should make it known immediately. The ’69 Agriculture Census To Be Taken By Mail In Jan. The 1969 Census of Agricul ture has been designed to pro vide information needed by farmers and those who serve farmers This census, to be con ducted by mail in January 1970, will provide figures by coun ties, for all farms comparable with data for 1964 and eaiher census yeais. The definition of a farm, as used in 1959 and 1964, will be the same in the 1969 census Places of less than 10 acies will be counted as farms if 1969 sales of agricultural products are at least $250. Places of 10 acres and more will be counted as farms if sales amount to at least $5O For the first time in a Census of Agncultuie, farmers will be requested to fill out and mail back their repoits for the cen sus In earlier censuses, enu merate! s called on all faim opeiatois to complete and pick up the leport foims. The 1969 $2.00 Per Year against increasing pioduction ex penses, realize net farm .ncome in the first half of 1970 may not match the $l5 6 billion rate of January-June 1969 Business Outlook The U S economy is stepping Lvely as it enters 1970 Demand piessures continue strong, de spite some cooling in defense or ders and housing and slower ad vances in business investment. Wages are still rising briskly, employment remains at high lev els. and puces have continued to advance Consumption and investment iates have moderated recently. In the new year, Fedeial Govern ment plans to cut back on de fense and constiuction spending and industiy plans less rapid growth in new plant and equip ment Even so, outlays for con sumer goods, including food and other farm products, will grow next year, due to rising wages, scheduled income tax reductions, and larger social security pay ments Cattle Feeding Future Continued growth in store for fed cattle output in the seventies. Beef cow herd will continue to (Continued on Page 8) NOTICE Just like our farm friends, the Lancaster Farming Staff were snow bound too, and with the mailman, taking a day off on Friday, your copy will be reaching you a day or two late. We’re sorry for the delay, and we hope by now you have your farm lane open and are back to normal activ ities. blank forms will be mailed out in January 1970 The mail method allows farmers and rancheis to complete the report at their convenience, within a reasonable time period, and to use their records as needed. Since response is required by law, faimers who do not return then leports for the census will be contacted to obtain the miss ing data Data included in the census will cover Total number of faims, acres in farms, average value of land and buildings per faim, cropland harvested, total land irrigated, acreage and pro duction for the major United States ci ops, and numbers of major kinds of livestock on the farms Additional items include: Number of faim operators by age, value of all farm products sold (including forest pro ducts), days of off-farm work by (Continued on Page 7)
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