VOL. 16 NO. 42
| 1
| Lancaster County Fair Schedule |
j Quarryville Fair September 15-17 I
{ Ephrata Fair September 21-25 I
l Lampeter Fair September 22-24 l
{ New Holland Fair September 29-October2 i
i Manheim Fair October 6-8 ■
t
SMV Emblem Required
For Hired Farm Help
The U. S. Department of Agri
culture has reminded farmers
that beginning August 27 all
farm vehicles operated on pub
lic roads by hired help must
display the official “slow mov
ing vehicle” (SMV) emblem.
Robert 0. Gilden, executive
secretary, USDA Committee on
Safety, said the requirement
was adopted by the Department
of Labor as part of the rules for
administering " the Williams-
Steiger Occupational Safety Act
of 1971. The proposed rule was
published in the May 27 issue of
the Federal Register. It applies
to any farm vehicle traveling
less than 25 miles per hour.
According to the National
Safety Council, farmers in 26
States and Puerto Rico will be
most effected. Five States have
legislation permitting the use
of the emblem, while 21 have
no legislation on the matter.
The emblem is a fluorescent
orange and yellow triangle
measuring 16 inches at its
widest point It was adopted af
ter extensive research at Ohio
State University to determine
Ezra W. Martin Co. Is Expanding Hog Slaughtering Operation totally
The Ezra W. Martin Meat Co.
has begun excavation for a new
$1.4 million dollar hog-killing
plant.
Present facilities, which are
obsolete under new federal
meat inspection standards, have
a capacity of up to 60 hogs an
hour. The new facility will be
designed for up to 150 an hour
While the company, 1625 Old
Philadelphia Pike, Lancaster, is
now slaughtering about 300
hogs per week, plans are to
gradually expand the volume
to about 2,500 per week, ac
cording to Landis E. Hershey,
company president.
Hershey said he thinks Mar
tin Co is the only major (more
than 20 per hour) hog slaugh
tering operation in the area,
except for Chester County
Other major hog slaughterers
are located in Allentown and
Hatfield None are located in
Berks, York, Lebanon or Adams
counties, he said.
Martin Co. also slaughters
some beef. Kunzler & Co and
Lancaster Packing Co. also have
large beef slaughtering opera
tions.
But he noted that Kunzler re
cently discontinued hog slaugh
ter and now is trucking hogs
to Allentown for slaughter
Elmer Martin ,Jr, company ,
the shape and color that would
be most easily recognized under
both daytime and nighttime
conditions. The American So
ciety of Agricultural Engineers
has approved the emblem.
According to the National
Safety Council, a Michigan
study shows a noticeable de
crease in rear end collisions in
volving farm vehicles display
ing the emblem.
The emblem is transferrable
from one vehicle to another. It
is relatively inexpensive and
may be purchased at most im
plement dealers and farm sup
ply firms. Manufacturers re
port that the supply should be
adequate to meet the demand.
According to the National
Safety Council, the order af
fects the following States: Ala
bama, Arizona, Arkansas, Con
necticut, Delaware, Hawaii,
Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Mis
sissippi, Missouri, Nevada, New
Hampshire, New Jersey, North
Carolina, Pennsylvania, Puerto
Rico, South Carolina, Tennes
see, Utah, West Virginia, Wyo
ming, Illinois, lowa, Oklahoma,
Vermont, and Virginia
secretary and livestock buyer,
added that Hervitz Packing Co
of Harrisburg and Kessler Pack
ing Co. of Lemoyne are also
among large area hog slaughter
ing operations which have dis
continued recently in the face
of the new regulations.
Martin described the new
structure as strictly a slaughter
ing and chilling facility, mostly
for hogs. At present, about 15
per cent of the company’s out
put is devoted to beef, he in
dicated.
Inter-State Gives Refunds
“Dairy farmers who are mem
bers of Inter-State Milk Produc
ers’ Cooperative were mailed a
total of $147,869.83 September
1,” announced Florence Schultz,
treasurer for Inter-State.
“These patronage refunds
were for the fiscal year that
ended July 31, 1964, and repre
sent the remaining 80 per cent
of their pro-rata share of sav
ings set aside during that 12-
month period. Regardless of
whether a producer has since
sold his farm and cows, or
whether he has withdrawn his
membership from Inter-State,
he receives a refund based on
the number of pounds of milk
marketed in his name during'.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 11,1971
Solanco Launches Fair Season
It’s Lancaster County Fair time
again.
The Solanco (Southern Lan
caster County Community) Fair
will begin the season Wednes
day, September 15 at Quarry
ville Memorial Park.
The usual full schedule of
judging events will be featured
at the Solanco Fair with classes
for everything from livestock to
domestic and fine arts.
The opening day schedule
Wednesday includes dairy cattle
judging and queen contests
The Thursday schedule will
feature a county-wide' tractor
driving contest, swine and baby
beef judging and a tug-of-war
Solanco Fair
Schedule
Wednesday, September 15
10 am. Judging Dairy Cattle
and various other judging
7:30 p.m. Formal 1 opening of
the Fair
8 p.m. Talent Contest and
Crowning of the Queen
Thursday, September 16
10 a m. County-Wide Tractor
Driving Contest, 4-H, FFA
and Open Class
Ipm. Judging Swine
2 p.m. Judging Baby Beef
7-45 p.m. Tug of War
Friday, September 18
10 a.m. Baby Parade
2 p.m. Fat Hog and Baby
Beef Sale
6:30 p.m. Parade
8 30 p.m. Rural Youth
Awards
Major changes have been tak
ing place in animal slaughter in
the last several years as a re
sult of new federal standards
These standards have driven
many smaller, and some larger,
operators who did not want to
or could not afford expend!
tures for new and revised plants
to cease operation. Hershey
noted that the federal law does
not apply to some small opera
tors processing less than 20 hogs
an hour and some of these arc
that period. 20 per cent was
paid to the dairymen on April
15,1965,” Miss Schultz declared
“This is the 26th consecutive
year in which the board of
directors has authorized the
September 1 payments,” assert
ed Schultz, “bringing the total
of such payments to $2,442 819 -
41.”
Inter-State Milk Producers’
Cooperative, Philadelphia, has
3,000 self-employed dairymen
who are members residing in
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Mary
land, New Jersey, Virginia and
West Virginia The cooperative
is owned and controlled by
dairy farmers since it was or
ganizedl in’ J9l7. v V.V.V
The Friday schedule includes
a baby parade, fat hog and
baby beef sale, the annual parade
and rural youth awards
Both the Lampeter and Eph
rata fairs will be held the fol
lowing week. The Ephrata Fair
runs from September 21-25 and
the Lampeter Fair from Sep
tember 22-24.
The New Holland Fair is
scheduled from September 29-
October 2
The Manheim Fair will con
clude the Fair season fiom Oc
tober 6-8
Schedules of events at each
local fair will appear in Lancas
ter Farming as they approach
The fairs wall dominate local
farm events for the next month
In This Issue
Classified 29, 30, 31
DHIA Report 18
Editorial Page 10
4-H News 20
Market Reports 2,3, 4
McSparran Feature 22
Women’s News 23, 24, 25
Also see special feature on
the national FHA farm family
of the year on page 13 This
family visited Lancaster Coun
ty several weeks ago
While the outstanding three
day Ag Progress Days show
represented a long drive for
farmers during the busy harvest
season, many local farmers and
agribusinessmen attended See
photos on pages 8 and 9
still operating m Lancaster
County.
As a result of the new law=
many meat processing plants
have discontinued their killing
and are either buying hog cai
casses or having their own cus
tom killed Hershey said the
plant expansion will allow Mar
tin Co to sell dressed hogs and
kill hogs on contract for other
packing houses within a 100
mile radius.
Hershey also emphasized that
his firm will buy animals direct
ly from the farmer, saving farm
ers the normal selling costs
He also emphasized that his
firm will pay farmers who con
. sistently raise quality hogs a
bonus He noted that some
farmers are currently getting
one and one half to two cents
above market price and that the
firm will continue to encourage
production of quality animals
Hershey explained that the
firm specializes m the sale of
quality meat at a premium
price “We have been in the
business a long time with the
idea of quality,” he stated
While the new federal legis
lation has been important in en
couraging slaughtering opera
tions to modernize and expand
or to discontinue operations,
’. Hershey. ’also 'sees, 'the'.overall
$2.00 Per Year
Farm Calendar
Monday, September 13
Fulton Grange meeting, Oakryn
Tuesday, September 14
10 a m -2pm Wayne Feed
plant open house, Lancas
ter.
10-30 a m - 1-30 pm Trojan
Field Exhibition, Eugene
Hoover farm. Route 722
southeast of Lancaster Air
port
Bpm Manheim Young
Farmer monthly meeting
Bpm Ephrata Area Young
Farmer Association offi
ceis meeting, Ephrata High
School
Egg Packaging Association an
nual meeting, O’Hare Air
port, Chicago
York Inter-State Fair, Septem
ber 14 -18
Wednesday, September 15
1130 am Pennsylvania
Poultry Piocessors Associa
tion, Schindlers Restaurant,
Camp Hill
Sola n c o Community Fair,
Quarryville, September 15 -
17.
Thursday, September 16
8 pm. Lancaster County
Pomona Grange election
meeting, Oakryn
Eastern States Exposition
Springfield, Mass, Septem
ber 16 -17
Saturday, September 18
Sam -spm Tractor Pull,
Rough and Tumble Muse
um, Kinzer
Lancaster County Pork Cook
out entry deadline
trend toward -specialization as
playing an important role in the
company’s plans He explained
that increasing specialization in
meat processing and most othei
phases of farming is occuirmg
largely because of expens've
and specialized equipment
which can’t be operated profit
ably for only a few hours a
week
The present Martin Co plant
will be used exclusively for the
production of processed meats
The new structure, expected to
be operational at the end of
1972, is located to the rear of
and a short distance away from
the present facility on a portion
of the company’s five acre tract
The East Lampeter Township
Industrial Development Author
ity is helping make the expan
sion project possible by provid
ing financing through a $l4
million mortgage from Com
monwealth National Bank The
Martin Co then repays the
authority
Hershey said the new build
ing of masonry and steel will
be mostly one-story, with some
higher portions
He said the expansion could
eventually mean an additional
25 ,tp ,3<X employes