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)