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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