Lancaster farming. (Lancaster, Pa., etc.) 1955-current, January 05, 1974, Image 1
Periodicals Division /v WEO9 Pattce Library L Ponm. State University U Unlversit'y?^^ 0 -* v| \ "'■"w lan c aster Farm in a Vol. 19 No. 7 FARM THEMIS A summary of market and commodity news for the past week Good weather has been predicted for Farm Show Week, but it probably won’t be good enough to inspire anybody to ride their bicycles to the annual event, the world’s largest agricultural show under one roof. We hope lots and lots of area folks will get to the show (Lancaster Farming will be there all week), but we hope nobody gets stranded without gas. Fill your gas tank before you leave, because there’ll be an awful lot of people in Harrisburg wanting to bpy an awful lot of gas. And fill your car, too. The more people you take along, the less competition there’ll be for available parking. Triplet Calves Born Near Union The blessed event last Sunday on the Robert Weicksel farm in Southern Lancaster County saw the birth of not one, not two, but three calves, all living and all healthy. The hungry triplets, two bulls and a heifer, were the result of a mating between a Brown Swiss bull and a Holstein dam. Mrs. Weicksel said the calves were only a little smaller than normal, and needed a little help at first in nursing, but there were no problems at all. Do You Want Bulls or Heifers? Breeding By Design Genetics researchers are searching for ways of guaran teeing, more or less, the sex of calves from- artificially bred cattle. Several methods are under intensive study at the moment. Livestock experts have expressed interest in the studies, but most are maintaining a “show-me” attitude. Twp techniques have been developed for separating male and female sperm, and one group of researchers has developed a vaccine which makes female mice allergic to male sperm. This allergy markedly increases the odds m favor of a female conception.. A look at the futures prices in this week's market pages shows a jump from last week in all categories. February Chicago cattle futures are up $2.55 from last week, hogs are up $2.65. March potatoes moved up 38 cents, gaining some ground lost the previous week, and fresh egg contracts moved up a bit. Live steer prices on local auctions were holding firm, but still nowhere near the 55-cent market many Conservation farmer Earl Smoker is a firm believer in the value of terraces and strip cropping, and he employs both practices on his Stevens RDI dairy farm. Smoker installed terraces in 1969. and savs hp’s plarl ho HiH by Dick Wanner tall Up for the Farm Show Futures Prices Up Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 5, 1974 This architect’s drawing of the proposed Keystone Exposition Center is just a gleam in the collective eye of a growing legion of Pennsylvania farm leaders. If it were built, the center would replace the present Farm Show complex, and provide facilities for Will it Replace Farm Show Building? Support Mounts for Keystone Exposition Question: What was built on a dump, is subject to flooding, causes traffic jams, has a leaky roof, rotting plumbing and not enough parking? Answer: The Pennsylvania Farm Show complex. Questiorf: What is the Keystone Exposition Center? Answer: None of the above. Proposals to shut the doors of the Pennsylvania Farm Show complex have been kicking around Harrisburg ever since the Annual Farm Show Issue Conservation Case History No, 2 Earl Smoker - Committed To Conservation Farming (Editor’s Note This is the second in a senes of interviews with Lancaster County farmers who have embraced the idea of farming with conservation practices In the past, farmers have been to choose whether or not they want to use con servation as a • >rm management tool PennsvH na Ij« 0i,>..1.l Scranton administration. Built on a landfill in 1929, the facility is thought by many to be outmoded and unattractive. Whatever legislative sentiment may have been for a new complex, though, In This Issue Markets 2-4 Sale Register 58 Farmers Almanac 6 Classified Ads 24 Editorials 10 Homestead Notes 46 Farm Calendar 9 Pennsylvania Farm Show Schedule 40 Farm Show Vo-Ag & Homemaking Schedule 53 Farm Show Association Meets 9 Letters to the Editor McHale Replies 45 Keystone Farmer Degrees 30 New Holland Sales Stables sold 17 remove the element of choice from that decision by making conservation plans mandatory for all farmers by 1977 We hope that these interviews will helplo explain the different aspects of conservation farming as they apply to individual farm operations More information f «h>*» Un U U« many more events than can be held in the present facilities. The $l5O-million com plex would, it is hoped, be self-supporting and be in at least partial operation by 1976. the project’s cost kept it little more than a glimmer in the eyes of many Pennsylvania farm leaders One of those leaders was Dr. Norman Reber, editor of Penn sylvania Farmer Magazine. In his speeches and editorials, Reber kept plugging for a new facility. His persistence was rewarded last summer by a (Continued On Page 22) Rohrer’s Top Tobacco Show Lancaster County’s Rohrer family, headed by Penn sylvania’s master tobacco showman Roy M, Rohrer, Strasburg RDI, dominated Thursday’s county tobacco roundup, taking the top prize in five of six classes (Continued On Page 22) contacting the Soil Conservation Service, Lancaster County Farm and Home Center, 1383 Arcadia Road Lancaster ) Earl Smoker is a firm believer in conservation and in the future of Lancaster County larming The Stevens RDI dairyman in- I Pnntmiipil On P •»(*#> 7) S 2 00 Per Year