Periodicals Division /
W 209 Pattce Library /
VOL 18 No. 34
There was a little confusion, but it didn't
take long for 38 visiting 4-H’ers from
Michigan to find their Lancaster County
Swine Industry Leader. . .
Henkel Sees Bright
Future for Hogmen
“The hog business is tough
now, but it’s been tougher and
it’ll be tough again. The future
looks bright, though. Very bright.
And there are good years ahead
for the pork producer who’s
willing to hang on,” John Henkel
told LANCASTER FARMING
this week.
Henkel is Pennsylvania’s
representative to the National
Pork Producers Council, and sits
on that group’s ten-member
executive board. He is the only
board member from an eastern
Swine Group
Plans Tour
The Lancaster County Swine
Producers Association will
conduct their annual summer
tour on Wednesday, July 25,
The tour bus will leave the
Lancaster Farm and Home
Center at 8:30 a.m. to go to the
Smith, Kline and French
Research Farm in West Chester,
Pa. Elaborate research and
experimental facilities at the
farm are used to develop
veterinary products for large
animals.
In the afternoon, the tour will
stop at the University of Penn
sylvania’s New Bolton Center in
Kennett Square.
There are 40 seats available on
the bus, and tour tickets are $2.50
each. There will be a stop for a
picnic lunch, which is not in
cluded in the price of the tour.
Participants have been advised
to pack their own lunches
To reserve a place on the tour,
contact James Horton, Masonic
Homes Farm, Elizabethtown. His
phone number *s 717-367-4428
state. Periodically, Henkel meets
with other hog producers around
the country to discuss the
multitude of factors which in
fluence the production of meat
and breeder swine.
Henkel said the uncertainties of
the current situation are
bothering hog farmers more than
anything else. “Hog numbers just
aren’t building up the way they
were expected to and that’s
bound to drive up prices,” Henkel
noted “Bred gilts and sows are
being sent to the packers because
it’s just getting too expensive to
feed them. Some producers are
dropping out, but those who stay
will be glad they did.”
The uckle market has an effect
on the Henkle operation, of
course, but not as much as it
might Most of Henkel’s hogs are
sold when they’re five to six
weeks old to laboratories for
experimental work. Five drug
company labs now buy their
experimental pigs from Henkel.
The animals are used in feeding
trials and other experimental
work
“Our operation provides an
ideal environment for the kind of
experimental animals these labs
want,” said Henkel. “They want
disease-free hogs, and that’s
what we’ve got. As far as I can
tell, ours is the only hog farm of
its kind in the state.”
Atropic rhinitis and
Mycoplasma pneumonia are two
chronic, but non-fatal, hog
diseases that hold down weight
gains, preventing the animals
from reaching their genetic
capacity and hitting the swine
producer where it hurts the most,
in the pocketbook.
In 1961, just months after he’d
moved onto the 30-acre Strasburg
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 14, 1973
Lancaster Farming' Photo
hosts, and to begin a week-iong adventure
in the Pennsylvania Dutch country.
farm, the Henkel herd was hit
with both these diseases.
“The only way to get rid of the
diseases is to get rid of the hogs,”
John Henkel is a Lancaster County swine producer who is on
the executive board of the National Pork Producers Council.
The Council is reportedly the largest commodity
organization in the country.
Henkel said. “That’s what we
did. We depopulated. It took two
years to get back up to 60 sows,
and I was determined that we
weren’t ever going to get hit
again And we never have been.”
Keeping the herd free of
rhinitis and pneumonia meant
starting with absolutely clean
hogs and imposing strict health
rules to keep them that way
Week long stay . . .
Mich. 4-H'ers
Visiting County
Imagine spending a week 550
miles from home, in unfamiliar
surroundings, living with
strangers - and enjoying every
minute of it!
That’s just what happened this
week for 38 4-H’ers from three
southern Michigan counties, who
visited in Lancaster County on a
week-long 4-H exchange. And
from the comments of visitors
and hosts, the week just wasn’t
long enough!
“Friendship” is the word that
best sums up the benefits of the 4-
H exchange, according to some of
the participants.
Kathy Schneider of Lenawee
County said, “We should be here
at least two weeks -1 don’t want
to go home.”
Nancy Kocher, RD2 Columbia,
who is hosting both Kathy and
Josie Green, also of Lenawee
County, said, “It really is great to
be able to go somewhere and stay
in somebody’s home. You really
learn a lot about different
customs by living with a family.”
Nancy seemed to express the
feeling of the others when she
said, “Within just a few minutes
we were the best of friends.”
Kathy added, “I didn’t know
Nancy until Monday, but now I
feel like I’ve known her forever.”
Mark Chapman, Monroe
County, is a guest of Mike Peifer,
RDI, Manheim, co-president of
X>a.nca«ter iPurmixir Fhoto'
“Alter we discovered the disease
problem, we picked 12 of our best
sows and bred them. Then when
the pigs were born, we stayed
right with the sows and took the
little pigs right away. We caught
each pig in a plastic bag as it was
being born They didn’t even
touch the floor, much less come
in contact with the mother. We
(Continued on Page 18)
$2.00 Per Year
the 4-H County Council Mark
says there are definite ad
vantages of an exchange
program like this, “besides
getting away from home and out
of work for a week.” He said, “It
shows how different it can be in
different areas.”
His host Mike, who visited in
Mark’s home last summer said,
“The exchange is definitely good.
I often think about the way they
did things when I’m working
here.”
The visitors, who came from
Monroe, Wahtenaw and Lenawee
Counties, all agree that Lan
caster County crops Ipok a lot
better than those at home.
They’ve had a very wet spring
and summer, and Mark said,
“There’s been some flooding, but
mostly it’s just raining too much.
I left 60 acres of hay at home that
(Continued On Page 19)
Farm Calendar
Saturday, July 14
10:00 a.m. ~ 1973 Keystone Stud
Ram and Ewe Show and Sale,
Farm Show Building,
Harrisburg.
3:00 pm. - Pa. Ayrshire Club
field day, Spruce Villa Dairy
Farm, Lititz.
Monday, July, 16
9:30 a.m. - Holstein Judging
School, George Knight’s
Woodbine farm, Airville, York
County
Wednesday, July 18
18-28 Kimberton Fair,
Phoenixville.
Thursday, July 19
9:30 a.m. - Annual Stockholders
meeting, Production Credit
and Federal Land Bank
Assoc, of York, South Mt. Fair
Grounds, Arendtsville*
Thome Farm
Is Site For
Conservation,
Plowing Meet
Lancaster County’s annual
Conservation Field Day and
Plowing Contest will be held
again this year on the Roger
Thome Farm at Elizabethtown
RD3. The date has been set for
July 24, and activities will start at
10:00 a.m.
There will be a 4-H tractor
driving contest, an FFA land
judging contest and a greased pig
chase.
Winners in the plowing contest
will be eligible to compete at this
year’s Pennsylvania Ag Progress
Days scheduled for August 28-30
at the Milton Hershey School
Farms m Hershey. Anyone who’d
like to participate in the plowing
contest should contact Mrs.
Nancy Burkhart at the Lancaster
County Conservation District
office in Lancaster’s Farm and
Home Center. The number is 299-
5361.