V 01.21 N0.«2>5
Some milk juggers
in violation of rules
I By DIETER KRIEG
I ARLINGTON, Va.-A few
[members of the Penn
sylvania Milk Juggers
[Association, Inc. are taking
powdered milk, mixing it
with water, and selling it as
reconstituted skim milk. The
value of the product is
calculated to be between 47
and 51 cents per gallon,
although it has been
marketed for more than
twice that amount of money.
There is nothing wrong
with that practice.
There is a regulation,
however, that does not allow
producer-handlers (juggers)
to purchase Class II dairy
stocks (powder) and then
turn around and sell it as a
□ass I product (fluid milk)
without forwarding an
equalization payment to the
Federal Milk Marketing
Order. That equalization
payment is to make up the
iifference between the Class
dl purchase price and the
Timform producer price
(blend price) which juggers
are ordinarily not involved
with.
Failure by some juggers to
comply to the regulation has
caused them to be assessed
for the price difference, and
a few are now taking their
case before consumers,
legislators and the news
media in order to arouse
some sympathy and .public
Wheat still looks good
By DIETER KRIEG
LANCASTER Combines
are continuing to dodge in
and out of the rain m trying
purnedly to harvest the last
acres of wheat which remain
standing in southern Penn
sylvania counties. Now
nearing the three-quarter
completion mark, the har
vest continues to be
satisfactory and a few sighs
of relief are being heard
from those who have finished
combining. Their worries
about having a harvest like
last year’s soaking ex
perience are over.
The quality of the wheat
coming in now is going down,
while moisture percentages
are up, report most growers
and millers in the area.
A spokesman at Sander’s
mill in New Holland
repeated words which were
heard in many parts of the
area - “some of the wheat is
sprouting” - but in his case
the remark was more ap
plicable than in some other
localities because of the
number of Amish farms
surrounding him. While
some wheat is sprouting on
the stalk in the field in a very
few cases, the situation is
support. Earlier this month,
for example, leaders within
the Pennsylvania jugging
association went to
Washington to present the
state’s two senators with
100,000 consumer signatures
who allegedly support their
claim that they are being
treated unfairly by the
federal government.
An investigation by this
reporter has revealed that if
the consumers had details on
what they were signing, they
would not have done so, since
paying $1.20 for a recon
stituted skim milk product
made from powder and
water would probably not be
much to their liking. Also,
the juggers involved failed to
explain the facts involved
which is essentially one of
attempting to treat all
dairymen under the Federal
Order in a like manner. Most
juggers are in fact exempt
from the Federal Order
regulations as long as they
are in compliance with a few
key points.
The Federal Milk Market
Administrator for Order 4
told Lancaster Farming that
his office has no jurisdiction
over what is sold by juggers.
They may, therefore, sell
reconstituted milk. But they
should make a payment to
equalize the difference in
[Continued on Page 16]
much more pronounced
where the crop is shocked, as
it is on many Lancaster
County farms. Sauder noted
that wheat coming into his
mill is weighing between 56
and 57 pounds per bushel, a
statistic which was con
firmed by all -others in the
area. Earlier in the season
he had received wheat which
had weighed in at 61 to 62
pounds per bushel.
Overall the quality of the
wheat is still good, everyone
agreed, even though it is
slipping some. Moisture
reading during the last few
days have been up as high as
17 percent. A number of
fanners, in an effort to get
done, are combining
relatively tough stands of
wheat and are having it
dried. Some, it was reported,
are simply letting bags of
wheat stand in the bam but
the results have not been
anything to brag about.
Yields are averaging only
30 to 35 bushels per acre in
northern sections of Lan
caster County, while
growers in southern areas
and over in southern Chester
County claim yields of 40 to
45 bushels per acre.
Serving The Central and Southeastern Pennsylvania Areas
1 Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 17,1976
Whether beneath cloudy or sunny
skies, crops in most parts of Penn
sylvania look very good so far.
i
In this issue
Farm Calendar 10
Editorials 10
Classifieds 33
Homestead Notes 50
My Thoughts 50
Jr. Cooking Edition 52
Ida’s Notebook 53
Pullet Housing Story 54
Home on the Range 56
Crafts Feature 60
Youth Features 26,64,68
Women’s Calendar 65
Pa. Young Farmers 70
Lancaster DHIA 74
Life on the Farm 78
Women’s Feature 82
Berks DHIA 86
Heifer Project 87
Public Sales Register 90
Sale Reports 94
Manure handling system
is one of first in state
By DIETER KRIEG
GAP A new kind of
manure management
systems - one of the first in
the state - was recently in
stalled near here on the
Calvin Beiler farm. The
unique system incorporates
a hydraulic ram which
squeezes manure through an
underground pipe and into a
storage area.
Beiler, who has been using
the new facilities for only a
few weeks, expressing
nothing but satisfaction with
it so far, and he figures that
he “really has something” if
things continue to go as
smoothly as they have been.
The Lancaster County
dairyman first encountered
the relatively new product at
the Pennsylvania Farm
Show in January. Intrigued
by the contraption, and not
at all satisfied with his
conventional way of han
dling manure, he decided to
look into the possibilities of
having one installed on his
farm. It wasn’t the easiest
step for him to take, since he
admits to being a bit uneasy
about being the first one in
an area to try something
Many crops are super
By DIETER KRIEG
LANCASTER - It’s a
really good year so far for
growing crops, in
southeastern Pennsylvania,
although some farmers are
experiencing a few minor
difficulties.
Most crops are ahead of
schedule in their stages of
growing and it could be that
some earlier than usual
harvests will be encountered
as a result of it. That’s the
acclamation of a number of
knowledgeable observers,
including Lancaster County
Extension Agent, Arnold
Lueck.
Reports from all across
the area indicate that com is
doing exceptionally well. A
number of fields have been
in tassle since last week, and
they surpassed the six-foot
mark long ago.
The Pennsylvania Crop
Reporting Service recently
issued a report which points
to an eight per cent increase
in com yields over last year
if good conditions hold out.
Grain com production, as of
July 1, is being forecast at
95,760,000 bushels. It’s the
same story across the U.S.
as USDA reports on July 12
indicated strong possibilities
for another bumper crop.
TOBACCO
Like com, tobacco has
been responding very well to
the hot and humid weather
$4.00 Per Year
new. The whole deal cost him
more than $lO,OOO.
According to Beiler, as
many as 150 similar systems
have been in existence in
Canada, for several years
and they are well ap
preciated up there. He went
to see one at the Agway
Research Farm in New York
State and was satisfied with
what he saw.
The hydraulic ram, which
pushes the manure through a
12-inch pipe, is run by a 10-
horsepower electric motor.
Manure ends up in a storage
area behind the bam which
measures 48 feet square and
10 feet high. The rain pushes
manure into it and the
accumulation is expected to
level off on its own, up to 10
feet high. According to the
manufacturer, such a
storage method will improve
the value of the manure and
it will not separate. A hard
crust forms at the top, thus
keeping in the gases and
creating J conditions for
bacteria to work on the
manure and “manufacture”
a more valuable fertilization
product.
(Continued on Page 20J
which has favored the area
for the past several weeks.
According to Lueck, the crop
is 10 to 14 days ahead of
schedule now and an earlier
than ever before harvest is
possible.
Lueck expressed a bit of
concern, however, about the
way Lancaster County’s
prized cash crop is stret
ching towards the sky. “It’s
growing a little too fast,” he
explained, “and it’s a soft
kind of growth which doesn’t
cause the leaves to get
bigger ... the plant is just
adding more leaves.” A bit
of dry weather would help
that situation, he com
mented.
The veteran Extension
specialist does not look
forward to big tobacco yields
this year if the weather
continues to stay in the same
patterns. But he is predicting
the cutting of early plantings
by possibly the first week of
August.
Lueck explained further
that dry weather would help
to put some weight on the
tobacco plants. “There is
more photosynthetic activity
going on when it’s a dry,” he
said, “now the plants are
only thinking of stretching
upward.”
Another problem being
encountered by some
(Continued on Page 16)