VOL 18 No. 36
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I FARM TRENDS I
A summary of market
and commodity news for
the week ending July 21
Railroads - A Real Crisis
It would cost Pennsylvania farmers $4OO million dollars
more a year to farm if the Northeastern railroads go out of
business. And if they don’t get some relief from Washington,
the railroads, Penn Central among them, say they won’t be
running trains after the first of the year. Biggest impact on
farmers would be in feed costs. Railroad men and state
transportation officials say the'best thing to do is to keep
pressure on Congressmen to get some kind of government
help for rail transportation. Would be in keeping with past
government funding of port facilities, airports and the in
terstate highway system. Further details in page one story.
Hogs - Would You Believe 65 Cents?
Hogs this week were going for 55 cents a pound and more,
both here and at Midwestern hog markets. Some hog experts
see prices remaining high for the next year or even longer.
Nationally, supplies are short. When Washington first at-
tempted to put brakes on the economy, many farmers sent
pregnant sows to the packing houses, resulting in a dwin
dling supply of feeder pigs. It’ll take at least six months to a
year for production to begin catching up with demand.
Consumer resistance is expected to develop when pork
prices get up to the $2-a-pound level, but even this may not
materialize. Beef's going to be just as expensive, eggs may be
going for $1.50 a dozen in retail stores and poultry prices are
getting stronger, too.
With the ceiling on retail beef prices set to last through
September 12, packers around the country were com
plaining loudly to Washington. They said beef shortages were
imminent, black marketeermg was a genuine threat and
plants were going to shut down. Live cattle prices remained
strong, hovering around the $53.00 level, with many packers
buying animals they knew they were going to slaughter at a
loss. Most packers are buying only enough to keep their
plants in operation. After September 12, retail prices will
certainly skyrocket, and live prices may go even higher.
Eggs - Higher and Higher
Last week in this column, we said egg prices were headed
for the dollar-a-dozen mark. That could be a little low, with
some crystal ball gazers predicting $1.50 in the near future.
Crops - A Good Year in the Offing
Kansas and Oklahoma wheat fields are yielding a bounty
Linda Witmer, left, was named senior
showmanship champion at the Lancaster
by Dick Wanner |
Cattlemen Fighting Phase 4
(Continued On Page 27)
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 28, 1973
Rail Leaders Tell Feedmen. . *
Railroads Could
Close by ian.l
“If taxes on railroad users
were spent the same way taxes
on highway users are spent, we
wouldn’t have a railroad crisis,’’
E. L. Tennyson told a meeting in
Wilkes-Barre on Wednesday
night. “The gross receipts tax on
rail freight revenues, and the rail
capital equipment tax generate
about $23 million annually for the
Pennsylvania treasury. If that
money went back to the railroads
for track maintenance and other
expenses, the railroads wouldn’t
be in trouble today.”
Tennyson is the deputy
secretary for local and area
transportation in the Penn
sylvania Department of Tran-
Crowd Views
Conservation
Day Contests
The dirt was tlying near
Elizabethtown Tuesday as a
record number of contestants
vied for plowing trophies at
Lancaster County’s annual
Conservation Field Day.
Eleven county farmers pulled
scores of plow blades through the
farm of Roger Thome,
Elizabethtown RD3, resulting in
three entries for the state com
petition to be held at'this year’s
Pennsylvania Ag Progress Days,
Aug. 28-30 at the Milton Hershey
School Farms, Hershey.
Winning the plowing events
were Harvey Sauder, New
Holland RDI, in the contour
plowing contest, and Merle Groff,
(Continued On Page 11)
Lancaster Panning 1 Photo
County 4-H Dairy Show this week. Rhoda
Stauffer, left, took reserve honors.
sportation. He was addressing a
group of mostly feed dealers who
are members of PennAg In
dustries Association. PennAg had
called the meeting to bring
together railroad leaders and
feedmen, to shed some light on
the problems of rail tran
sportation.
Other speakers at the meeting
were; Richard H. George, vice
president for traffic for the
Delaware & Hudson Railroad,
Albany; C. P. O-’Rourke, vice-
Paul Smith, chairman of
Penn Ag’s Wilkes-Barre rail
meeting.
Dairy Shows Held
At Guernsey Barn
This was a busy week at the
Guernsey Sales Barn, with the
Lancaster County 4-H Dairy
Show on Tuesday and Wed
nesday, followed by the Lan
caster District Holstein Show on
Thursday.
The colored breeds started the
ball rolling on Tuesday, with a
total of 41 Guernseys competing
for ribbons. The grand champion
of the breed, as well as the senior
champion, was a four-year-old
cow owned by Marlin M. Stoltz
fus, Ronks. Stoltzfus also took
champion senior showman
honors in Guernsey competition.
Junior breed champion
Guernsey honors went to Mary
Kirk, who exhibited a senior
yearling. The junior champion
showman was Carol Balmer,
Lititz, and the reserve champion
$2.00 Per Year
president for traffic at the Lehigh
Valley Railroad, Bethlehem; J.
R. Sullivan, senior assistant vice
president for planning and
coordination at Penn Central;
and Merle A. Forst, director of
the PUC’s bureau of tran
sportation. The meeting was
chaired by Paul Smith, traffic
manager of the Lancaster feed
firm of John W. Eshelman and
Sons.
Tennyson pointed out that
gasoline taxes paid by highway
users must go into highway
maintenance. This is not the
case, though, with taxes levied on
railroad users. Tennyson also
said that if Pennsylvania
agriculture had to depend totally
on trucks, the industry’s tran
sportation bill would increase by
some $4OO million annually. He
commented that it would be lots
cheaper to find some way of
maintaining a viable rail system.
If relief from Washington is not
forthcoming by October 1, there
will be almost no rail service in
the Northeast, according to the
(Continued On Page 27)
In This Issue ...
rage
Markets 2-4
Farmer’s Almanac 6
Homestead Notes 20
Sale Register 30
Classified Ads 33-35
4-HNews 17
4-H Horse and
Pony Roundup
Results 16
Manure Power 13
senior showman was Mark
Witmer, Willow Street.
Altogether, there were five
reserve prizes awarded in
Guernsey competition, and one
young lady in her first year of
exhibiting walked away with four
of them. Connie Balmer, Lititz,
took reserve champion honors for
junior breed, senior breed and
junior showman in addition to the
reserve grand champion ribbon.
In Jersey competition, 14 cows
competed for the ten ribbons
awarded to the breed. A senior
yearling owned by Barbara
Jeanne Aaron, Quarryville,
captured three awards, junior
breed champion, reserve grand
champion and reserve junior
showman. The grand champion,
and senior champion, was a four
(Continued On Page 26)