18—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 5, 1977
Elwood Houser
[Continued from Page 1]
Tri-County Pork Producers
organization; has served as
director and vice president
of the Pennsylvania
Yorkshire Coop Association;
is on the executive com
mittee of the Pennsylvania
Swine Coop; is a board
member of the Pennsylvania
Pork Producers Council;
was a director of the
Lebanon County Farmers
Association for two years;
and has served as secretary,
vice president, and president
of the Cedar Crest Young
Farmers Association of
which he is a charter
member and now serves on
various committees.
Other organizations to
which he belongs include:
American Yorkshire Club,
Lancaster County Swine
Producers, National Pork
Pickings were
slim in 1926
WASHINGTON, D.C. -
Those so - called “good old
days.” Were they really that
good? Maybe not - at least
for fanners. Fifty years ago,
for example, farmers
harvested 99.7 million acres
of com, got an average of 27
bushels per acre, produced
2.7 billion bussels of com
over - all. They got less than
74 cents a bushel for it on the
average.
Last year, they harvested
71.1 million acres of com,
averaged 87.4 bushel per
acre, produced a total of 6.2
billion bushels over - all, and
got an average of $2.37 per
bushel.
Back in 1926, oats was our
Number Two grain (there
were, after all, 5,740,000
horses and mules on farms to
feed). Thus, the farmers of
1926 harvested 44.2 million
acres of oats, got an average
of 28.3 bushels per acre,
wound up with IV< billion
bushels over - all. They got
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Council, Pennsylvania Farm
Show Committee, American
Holstein Assn. Lebanon
County Holstein Assn.
Pennsylvania Young Aimers
Assn., Pennsylvania Far
mers Assn., and 4-H, in
which he is a club leader. He
is also active in his church,
the Midway Church of the
Brethren.
In defense of his activities,
Houser says, “Pve always
enjoyed being active and I
feel it’s beneficial to get
involved, because there’s
always something new to be
learned.” He also admits
that his activities keep his so
busy he can have meetings
scheduled every night for
two weeks straight during
the height of organizational
meeting season.
Houser, at age 38, has been
in farming for 29 years now,
an average of 39.8 cents a
bushel for it.
Last year, U.S. farmers
harvested 12.4 million acres
of oats, averaged 45.4
bushels per acre, produced
562 million bushel over -all.
They averaged $1.53 per
bushel for it.
Fanners harvested l.w®
million acres of tobacco i
1926. They got an average of
783 pounds per acre. Total
production was 1.23 billion
pounds. Prices averaged 18.2
cents per pound. Last year,
they harvested 1.0 million
acres, averaged 2,032 pounds
per acre. Total production
was 2.1 billion pounds.
Prices averaged $1.12 cents
per pound.
Now, on net income per
farm. Back in 1926, just 2.29
pounds of the farmers had
$5,000 or more; s^per cent
received $3,000 to $4,999 per
farm; 62 pounds netted
under $1,500; nearly three
pounds showed losses of $5OO
to $l,OOO for the year.
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Eiwood Houser injects this pig with an iron shot.
Houser has been a purebred Yorkshire breeder for
25 years, and last Thursday won national
recognition as one of 34 Pork All Americans from
across the United States.
although he has only been in
business for himself since
January of 1976 when his
father retired and dissolved
the partnership they had had
for 10 years.
“I'm always learning
he says. “You never stop
learning in this business,” he
continues when explaining
some of the management
practices he employs with
his animals. He believes that
a good feeding practice is a
must and he has learned
through a trial and error
basis that it is best for him to
feed his animals four pounds
a day when they are on
pasture.
His housing and equipment
facilities include a concrete
block farrowing house which
contains 14 pens, 6 x 12 feet.
The pigs are then finished in
an open front building, and
are also fed out in the bottom
of a barn and in an old hog
shed.
Houser likes to market his
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animals between 210 and 230
pounds, which is generally at
six months of age. Most of
his animals go straight to the
New Holland Auction where
he has his dimes taken off for
use in promotion.
He also raises 70 head of
steers, and has 133 acres of
com, 15 acres of alfalfa, and
25 acres of barley and wheat.
The remainder of the 230
acres which he rents from
his father is in pasture.
Prior to the dissolution of
the partnership, Houser and
his father had also run a
purebred registered Holstein
dairy. After the dispersal
sale, however, Houser bade
that part of the business
goodbye for a while,
although he has all the
facilities available should he
choose to start the business
up again. He prefers raising
livestock because he says it
gives him more time to work
out in the fields.
While Houser has been
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raising Yorks for 25 of his 29
farming years, he first
began with beef and dairy.
His “start” came at the age
of nine when he took a 4-H
baby beef project.
He was active in three
other clubs at the time, but
his main emphasis was the
beef, which he was involved
with for six years. His first
real interest in swine began
in high school, however,
when he joined the Future
Farmers of America.
Starting out in dairy with a
Sears chain calf, he got his
first Yorkshires during his
second year of FFA. “And,
I’ve been gomg with Yorks
ever since,” he says with a
smile.
During his years with the
Future Farmers of America,
he earned “nearly every
award you could get,” and
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culminated his efforts with
the American Farmer
Degree in 1959. He also won
the Dekalb Award and was a
delegate to the American
Institute of Cooperatives
Convention in Raleigh, N.C.
At the time of the American
Farmer Degree, he was
mainly involved with dairy.
Asked about what he sees
in the future for the hog
market, Houser answered
that he predicts a better
market late in the year, and
especially in the beginning of
next year. At present,
disease problems are killing
off baby pigs; herds are
decreasing; and the tail end
of the heavy production from
last year’s high market price
is coming to slaughter, so
there is a definite production
cut back which should make
a good market in the coming
months.