• Keystone
(Continued from Page SO)
served ns chaplain and secretary
of his local chapter.
Paul was a slate delegate and
attended the National FFA Con
vention in Kansas City. He won
the Guernsey calf at the Lam
peter Fair in 1967 and had the
champion ewe and was named
the best fitter in the sheep
show. He won the Chapter Scars
Gilt.
An interesting project for
Eckman was the planting of
1000 pine trees on some unfarm
able land. The trees were sup
plied at a nominal cost but
must be left to grow for con
servation purposes.
Thomos Aoron
Thomas Aaron, son of Mr. and , , .
Mrs. William J. Aaron, Quarry- f e, \ in S ai jd bleeding swine, corn
ville Rl, is a member of the So- ana a “ a if a - Thomas is a vice
lanco FFA Chapter. Growing up P r ® siaen t of his local chapter
on a 176 acre Registered Jersey ana was * ae Lancaster
Dairy Farm, Aaron received the C° unt y FFA. Chaplain.
State Jersey Herdsman Award He is a member of the County
as the top Jersey boy in the Ayrshire, Jersey Brown Swiss
State Association. 4-H Dairy Club and plans to stav
His FFA farming proiects on the farm and build up the
have included a dairy herd, fat- size of their Jersey herd
Thomas Aaron
Matthew Young
Motthew Young
Matthew Young, son of Mr
and Mrs. Henry Young, Peach
Bottom R 2, lives on a 420 acre
dairy farm with a total of 230
dairy animals and 25 steers
Young has FFA projects of
dairy heifers, a steer and fat
tening hogs In the spring he
plans to start 100 feeder pigs,
buy a few more dairy animals
and raise 10 acres of corn alon'
with working on his family
farm
President of the Solanco
FFA. Matthew was a delegate to
the Pennsylvania Association of
Faimer Co ops in Shippensburg
and the American Institute of
Co-operatives in Illinois
Paul Clark
Paul Clark
Paul Clark, the son of Mr and
Mrs David R Clark, is a senior
at the Pequea Valley High
School He works on his father’s
Lancaster Farming. Saturday. January 10.1970
dairy tarm which is located near
Kin/ors. Paul's fanning pro
gram includes dairy cows, dairy
cair and eighty guinea pigs He.
also, keeps production iccords
on his father’s foity head of
cows
Paul is presently serving as
president of the Pcquca Valley
FFA Chapter He has also serv
ed as treasurer and chaplain
Paul will complete his year as
county secretary this month He
was a county delegate at the
summer State Convention. He
is, also, active in church work
Paul won the FFA Quiz at the
1968 Leadeiship Training Con
ference and a weed identifica
tion contest at Hershey He has
been awarded several chapter
awards and was the high seed
salesman for Pequea Valley in
1969.
Carl Erb
Carl Erb
Cail Erb, son of Mr. and Mrs
Daniel S Erb, Columbia R 2, is
the fourth boy in his family to
become a Keystone Farmer A
member of the Penn Manor
FFA Chapter, Carl is serving
as president and had also serv
ed as president of the Junior
Agriculture Club as a freshman
The Star Farmer when he re
ceived the Red Rose Degree.
Erb was a member of Penn
Manor’s winning County parlia
mentary procedure team last
year and was a member of the
state poultry judging team Carl
is just finishing his term as
County corresponding secre
tary and was a County delegate
in 1968
His farming experience in
cludes small grains, tobacco,
corn and hay and he is now un
der the supervised farming pro
gram, working at Huber’s Nur
sery.
Wanted: Tags
With Stay Power
Ear lagging. the most commoa
way to identify livestock both on
a pcimancnt and temporary bas
is has two disadvantages—tags
aic easily lost or they become
illegible To eliminate these pro
blems, ARS animal identification
specialist N W Hooven, Bclts
ville, Md„ is evaluating several
types of tags
Showing promise for identifict
tion of sheep and lambs, for ex
ample, is a new tag made of an
oilcloth-like material that is light
in weight and yet large enough
to be easily seen fiom a distance.
The tag is shaped like a barbell,
except that the ends aie flat and
squaie The lamb’s nuising abil
ity is not affected by this ear tag
as it is with heavier tags The tag
is also being tested on calves
and older cattle
Another eai tag under evalua
tion is made of a lightweight,
flexible plastic One end is
square and contains the identifi
cation number, the other shaped
like an anow, is punched throu
gh the animal’s ear with a spec
ially designed tool. In 1-year
tests with beef cattle, this tag
had about 98 peicent retention
as compared with some other
lags which had only about 77
peicent retention
A high level of retention is al
so found with a plastic tag which
i' held in place by a four-pointed,
star-like projection at the back
ct the tag
Anothei type, (he basket tag,
can be easily seen, says Hooven,
and none of them has been lost
b> cattle But it is expensive and
hard to insert because of the
thick skin in this region of the
body Since the tag passes throu
gh two folds of skin, infection is
more likely to develop and be
more difficult to treat than in
fection from ear tags
When dairy cattle are milked
in herringbone-style parlors, on
ly the hindquarters are visible,
making neck chians and ear tags
impractical for identifying ani
mals To help dairymen, Hooven
is trying newer methods of iden
tification which can be seen by
the person milking the cows One
method is the “flank” tag Unfor
tunantely, flank tags are difficult
to insert and require careful dis
infection of the wound area, a
time-consuming project for a
busy dairyman And the flank is
continually subjected to contam
ination by dirt and manure, in
viting infection When the cow
walks, the flank stretches, irritat
ing the wound and thus prolong
ing the healing process Addi
tional work needs to be carried
out to overcome some of these
disadvantages
Tail tags have been used by
dairymen, but Hooven considers
them a waste of money If the
tags are not tight, they slide off
easily, especially in fly season
when the tail is used as a swat
ter If, on the othei hand, the
tags are tight, the blood can’t
circulate and the animal’s tail
sloughs off
Several types of tags are also
being evaluated on sheep and
cattle at Clay Center, Nebr , and
Front Royal, Va
My Neighbors
“You’ve got to come out of
your shell on this job, Frims
by—”
31
s