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Vol. 20 No. 28
Brucellosis - Few Farmers Are Affected,
But It Can Bring Great Personal Tragedy
Lancaster County is
rumored to be a hotbed of
brucellosis, the scourge of
the dairyman, a threat to
both his bank account and
his family’s health.
There is brucellosis in
Lancaster County. But ac
cording to Dr. John W. Dick,
with the Bureau of Animals
Industries in the Penn
sylvania Department of
Agriculture, the problem in
Lancaster and other
Southeastern Counties is no
better or worse than can
reasonably be expected.
“There are a lot of cows in
Tancaster County and we
are having trouble with four
herds. But there are 19
quarantined herds in the
state,” Dick said on Thur
sday.
“Even that is no great
degree of incidence. I don’t
think we need any more
news stories about
brucellosis. People get ex-
Francois Phillipe
FFA Exchange Student
Enjoys Farm Work
Over the years, Lancaster
County has become a “home
away from home” for many
/Visiting exchange students.
This spring a young man
from France found his way
to Lancaster County as a
work exchange student
under the FFA program.
Francois Phillippe arrived
in Lancaster County in April
and will be residing with the
Robert Ginder family near
Manheim until September.
Francois or Phillip (as he
has been nicknamed by the
Cinders) comes from the
farming country of France
on the Route de Paris -
CAGNY. He attended
grammer school and then
chose agriculture school for
his higher education.
Francois explained that
the agricultural school in his
province of France teaches
much theory but not much
practical work.
“Learning comes from
books but no field work is
taugbt,” the young man
commented.
“We did leam many things
of agriculture but without
the practical work.”
As an agricultural trainee,
Francois worked on two
dairy and crop farms in
France for some additional
practical work. ,
Since arriving at the'
Cinders, who have a dairy
farm on the Elizabethtown
Road, Francois has spen|'
cited about a problem that
dosen’t really amount to
anything.”
Lancaster County has
about 70,000 dairy cows, or
some 10 percent of the
state’s total dairy herd. With
four quarantined herds, the
county has about 20 percent
of the brucellosis herds in the
state. The number of in
fected herds both in the state
and the county is small
compared to the total
number of cows.
In Lancaster County, milk
ring tests uncovered only one
reactor cow in each in two of
the infected herds. Another
herd, reportedly in the
northern part of die county,
had no reactor herds in its
most recent test
But numbers don’t tell the
whole story. One herd in
Southern Lancaster County
is slowly being wiped out by
brucellosis, and the herd
owner, has spent the past
much of his working time
helping out with the dairy
operations and also working
in the field.
Tractor driving has been
one of his favorite oc
cupations along with
working in the fields.
“In France we only work
40 hours in the fields but here
you put so much effort into
your work,” the student
explained.
Mrs. Ginder explained that
Francois has been
fascinated by the filling of
the silos. When Lancaster
Farming inquired why,
Francois answered, “here
you have tall silos that reach
to the sky but in France we
have only silos under the
ground, they are not filled
with machinery such as you
have.”
The young man com
mented on the livestock in
this country saying that it
was similar to those breeds
in France although the beef
looked somewhat different.
Francois went on to ex
plain some of the foods that
he had found to be different
in this country.
“We do not ear com in
France and I do not care for
it here, but I do like com
flakes as they are different.”
“You eat so much here at
one meal, but in France we
A eat just a little at a time.”
} One thing which has been
r of interest to the student is
gathering and eating eggs.
Serving The Central and Southeastern Pennsylvania Areas
Lancaster Farminf, Saturday, May 24, 1975
several weeks in Lancaster
General Hospital being
treated for undulant fever.
We talked to his wife by
phone on Wednesday. “We
lost nine cows two weeks
ago,” she said. “We’ve lost
90 cows so far, and we had
197 when this whole thing
started.”
The nightmare for this
farm family began on the
first of November when a
milk ring test disclosed
brucellosis in the herd. In
April, 1974, that same herd
had been tested and certified
free of brucellosis. Where
did the disease come from?
“We have no idea,” the
farmer’s wife said.
Except for the condemned
animals, no cows have been
moved into or out of the herd
since the quarantine began.
And the'last time cows were
added to the herd was in
April, 1974. That’s when 18
cows were bought from a
Francois Phillipe, an FFA Work Exchange Student
from France is living with the Robert Cinder family
near Manheim.
Mrs. Cinder explained that
Francois liked to gather the
eggs ami also eat them.
“He (Francois) told our
family that he hadn’t eaten
many eggs in France - so
everytime I serve them, I
know he’ll enjoy it.”
The Ginder family had not
originally planned to board
i the exchange student but
when a home could not be
found for the young man, the
Cinders offered their farm.
“Since we have three
daughters, we felt we could
use some more help on the
farm during the summer,
“Mrs. Ginder stated.”
“It has worked out quite
well as Francois is a help in
herd in Florida. Florida is
one of 13 Gulf Coast states
which are acknowledged to
have serious dairy health
problems.
We asked Dr. Dick if those
cows could have brought
brucellosis along with them
from the South. “Eveiy one
of those cows had good
health charts,” Dick said,
“we checked back with the
Florida agriculture officials,
and they told us every cow
had a negative milk ring
test. And there’s no question
about the legitimacy of the
tests. They were all com
pletely honest.”
Where, then, did the
disease come from? “We
don’t know. It’s impossible to
trace every cow,” Dick said.
“The cows lose eartags.
People forget. We don’t have
enough time, money or
people to check every cow.
And the incubation period
can be very long. A cow may
the field.”'
One of the Cinder’s
daughters, Ruby, who is well
known for her FFA activities
summed up her approval by
stating, “he’s okay - he can
drive a tractor real well!”
In This Issue
FARM CALENDAR 10
Markets 2-6
Sale Register 65
Farmers Almanac 8
Classified Ads 30
Editorials 10
Homestead Notes 42
Home on the Range 42
Organic Living 51
Junior Cooking Edition 48
Sale Reports 67
York Farm Women 40
Farm Women Calendar 61
Roots Auction 44
Country Corner 42
be exposed to brucellosis and
not show any symptoms -
even a milk ring reaction -
until nine months later. We
do know that all the problem
herds had added cows
sometime before they
developed the disease. And
as far as we can tell, all the
cows that were added came
with legal health charts.”
Dick said indemnities are
paid to farmers who must
destroy diseased cows. The
state indemnity amounts to
67-percent of the cows ap
praised value. There’s also
an an additional $5O in
demnity from the federal
treasury, and the farmer
gets whatever salvage value
the animal is worth. The
average indemnity from the
state is about $3OO per cow,
but the total indemnity
cannot exceed $lOO,OOO for
any one herd.
Dick said the disease is
transmitted from cow to cow
County Agent Contest
Is Held in Lancaster
County agents from
Southeastern Pennsylvania
captured nearly a fourth of
the prizes in this year’s
Northeast Public In
formation Awards Program
sponsored annually by the
National Association of
County Agricultural Agents.
Another Pennsylvanian,
from McKean County in the
northwestern part of the
state, also took a prize.
Entries in seven
categories from the 11-state
Northeast region were
judged on Thursday af
ternoon at the Lancaster
Farm and Home Center.
Winning entries, the top
three in each category, will
be sent onto the national
judges, whose decisions will
be announced during the
NACAA annual meeting
scheduled for October in
Milwaukee.
Area winners included
Paul Reber, Norristown,
with a second place in the
slide feature story and a
third place in the news photo
story; Max Smith, Lan
caster, third place feature
Dairy Issue June 7
On June 7, Lancaster Fanning will recognize this
dynamic dairy industry with our Annual Dairy Issue.
We extend a special invitation to dairy groups and
organizations, as well as individuals, to submit articles
and news on dairying for the Dairy Issue.
To be sure you make the Dairy Issue, please submit
all advertising and editorial material by Tuesday,
June 3. Call us at 717-394-3047 or 717-026-2191. Or write
to Lancaster Fanning, P.O. Box 266, lititz, PA 17543.
$3.00 Per Year
through uterine secretions.
The human form of the
disease - undulant fever - can
be contracted from raw milk
or by contact with infectious
secretions from the cow.
Pasteurization kills the
disease organism, so there is
no danger of people con
tracting undulant fever from
pasteurized milk.
Farms which are down
stream from infected herds
may have a legitimate
concern about the disease
being transmitted from herd
to herd by water-borne
disease organisms,
especially if an infected cow
were to abort in the stream.
“I’ve been doing this kind of
work for 30 years, though,
and I never heard of
brucellosis being spread by a
stream,” Dick said.
“I’m sure that dairymen
downstream, particularly
from that bad herd in
[Continued on Page 21]
story; Jay W. Irwin, Lan
caster, third place direct
mail piece; Jered K. Tyson,
third place newsletter. C.E.
Graver, Smethport, in
McKean County, had the
first place radio entry.
The winners in the seven
categories were:
Radio: 1 - C.E. Graver,
Smethport, Pa.; 2 - Fred
Giebel, Worcester, Mass.; 3 -
Bruce Mariott, Laconia,
N.H.
, Colored Slide Feature: 1 -
Reginald Treband, Belair,
Md.; 2 - Paul Reber,
Norristown, Pa.; 3 - Arthur
Poole, Moundsville, W. Va.
News Photo Story: 1 -
David Sorensen, Conway,
N.H.; 2 - Arthur Poole,
Moundsville, W. Va.; 3 - Paul
Reber, Norristown, Pa.
Direct Mail Piece: 1 -
William Quinn, Syracuse,
N.Y.; 2 - Herbert Zeichick,
Bangor, Me.; 3 - Jay W.
Irwin, Lancaster, Pa.
Personal News Column; 1 -
Ancil B. Cutlip, St. Marys,
W. Va.; 2 - Reginald
Treband, Belair, Md.; 3 -
[Continued on Page 20)