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VOL. 18 No. 5
Congressman Edwin D. Eshelman, left, toured half-a-dozen
Lancaster County farms on Thursday to discuss farm issues.
He s shown here with Donald Hershey, Manheim R 2,
president of the Lancaster County Farmers Association.
Eshelman Visits
County Farmers
Congressman Edwin D.
Eshelman toured half-a-dozen
Lancaster County farms on
Thursday to discuss the goings-on
in Washington with area farmers.
A group had gathered at each
place he visited, and he met with
about 150 farmers in all.
One of the first questions he
was asked at the Donald Hershey
farm in Manheim, was whether
or not he could do anything about'
soaring feed prices. “I’ve been
hearing the most about feed
prices,” he said. “And I’m going
to kinda throw it back at you. You
didn’t want price controls.”
Eshelman said he, too, did not
favor price controls on farm
commodities, but, he warned,
Sealtest Dairy Releases
Independent Producers
Sealtest Dairies in
Philadelphia announced this
week that it was ceasing to buy
milk from independent producers
in this area. In a December 14
letter to producers, Sealtest
urged them to join cooperatives
because that’s where the com
pany would be buying all its milk
from now on.
A Sealtest spokesman em
phasized that his company was
definitely not going out of the
milk business. They’re simply
changing their buying methods.
He had no idea how many in
dependent producers were af
fected in the LANCASTER
FARMING readership area, but
a good many farmers here will be
affected.
Most observers feel that the
move by Sealtest will have little
economic effect on dairymen who
had beoKSCtlling to Sealtest. As an
official of one producers
cooperative said, “Any of these
there may be a price to pay for
the exemption.
He suggested that selective
price controls might be a more
practical path to travel with farm
products.
He also told the farmers that
the national government is not
going to step into the problem of
property taxes. He noted that
the courts could declare the
property tax unconsitutional. If
this happens, income taxes and
sales taxes would probably in
crease, he said.
Eshleman and his wife were
escorted on the farm tour by Mr.
and Mrs. Ivan Yost of Christiana
Rl.
farmers who want to join a coop
can get in. There are still a few
firms buying from independent
producer, and if a farmer decides
he doesn’t want to joing a coop,
he’s still going to sell his milk.
Actually, Sealtest couldn’t have
picked a better time to cut loose
from the independents. We’re in
the middle of a very strong milk
market.”
farm Calendar
Monday, December 25
Christmas Day.
Thursday, December 28
11 a.m. - 4-H Tobacco and Corn
Exhibits entered, Farm and
Home Center.
1:30 p.m. - 4-H Tobacco and Corn
Show, Farm and Home
Center.
Lancaster County Swine
Producers board of directors
meeting, Farm and Home
Center.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 23, 1972
Markets Rise,
Costs Up, Too
Farmers right now in this area
are getting top dollar for their
milk, beef cattle, hogs, chickens
and eggs. Prices for all these
commodities are up well over last
year Beef cattle are selling at
record highs. Eggs have virtually
doubled since just this summer.
Yet, very few farmers have been
seen dancing in the fields, and for
good reason.
While prices paid to farmers
have been taking an escalator
ride upwards, input costs -
especially feed - have been on an
express elevator to the roof. Last
week a LANCASTER FARMING
report discussed the soaring feed
costs and the reasons behind
them This week we take a look at
the stronger prices farmers are
getting for animal products, and
the extent to which these in
creases are reduced or wiped out
by higher input costs.
Eggman are getting a
Christmas present this year - the
highest egg price in about two
years. Friday’s market for large
white eggs was quoted at 56c a
dozen, which compares with 29c
in June.
Normally, egg producers feel
they can live comfortably with an
egg market of 40 to 45c per dozen,
which means that 56c could be
considered an extremely good
market. It must be remembered,
though, that many producers
were selling at or below cost for
the past two years. Any unusual
profits now will only help to make
up for some of the losses suffered
during a long, hard depressed
period.
That 56c price loses some of its
impressiveness, too, when
considered in the light of higher
feed costs. According to one local
eggman, the feed cost for
producing a dozen eggs has risen
A new slate of officers to represent the
Lancaster County Red Rose FFA Chapter
were selected recently at a meeting in New
Holland. Chosen as 1973 officers were.*
front row, left to right, Don Miller, Pequea
Valley FFA Chapter, treasurer: Parke
Hess, Manor FFA Chapter, secretary;
Richard Hess, Lampeter-Strasburg
EGGS
anywhere from 4c to 6c in the
past few months. Today’s 56c
market then, is only equivalent to
a 50c market at last year’s feed
prices Increases in other inputs
(labor, fuel, etc) would add even
more to the cost of production
In the event, egg producers
seem to be the only people with
something to crow about,
because their increased income
has raced ahead even faster than
rising feed costs.
The increases are seen as
having little or nothing to do with
feed cost increases It’s due in
stead to a smaller laying flock,
and better demand. The decline
End to Cholera
Embargo Seen
“If we find no more evidence of
cholera infection, breeder and
feeder hogs will be released for
movement within the state of
Pennsylvania, except for the two
quarantined areas,” Dr. Homer
Fomey said on Thursday night.
Forney is chief of the
miscellaneous diseases section of
the Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal
Industries.
Forney said his department is
now conducting veterinary in
vestigations on all feeder and
breeder swine in the quarantined
areas of Montgomery, Cum
berland and part of Bucks
Counties. These investigatons
could be completed by December
23 or shortly thereafter, and if no
further incidents of cholera are
found, restrictions on hog
movement within the state of
Pennsylvania would then be
in the number of layers was
brought about in large part by the
destruction of millions of birds in
California, victims of exotic
Newcastle disease
Also, slightly more birds are
laying slightly fewer eggs. One
expert pointed out that a lot of the
nation’s laying flock consists of
old birds which will be moved
into the meat markets as soon as
the traditional Christmas market
slows down
“The cost of milk production
has gone up faster than the price
I get for milk,” we were told by
(Continued On Page 24)
lifted. Forney emphasized,
however, that if any infection
were found it would completely
change the picture.
The Department of Agriculture
also confirmed on Thursday that
it had canceled all hog com
petition at the 1973 Pennsylvania
Farm Show. Industrymen both
locally and around the state
expressed their disappointment
at the action, but were virtually
unanimous in supporting it.
The current hog cholera
situation began on December 8
when cholera was discovered in a
Montgomery County herd of
swine. The state Department of
Agriculture declared a complete
halt to all hog movements. This
ban was partially lifted on
December 18 when it was an
nounced that market hogs could
be moved, but only to slaughter
points.
Chapter, president, and Ray Martin,
Grassland Chapter, vice-president. Back
row, Robert Gruber, Elizabethtown
Chapter, sentinel; Melvin Weiler, Cloister
Chapter, reporter; Louis Roether,
Brownstown Vo-Tech Chapter, chaplain,
and Thomas Stottlemyer, Solanco Chapter,
corresponding secretary.
$2.00 Per Year
MILK
ZiUicMter Fanning photo