VOL 22 No. 35
Farm Calendar 10
Letters 10
Homestead Notes 42
Home on the Range 45
My Thoughts 47
Plant lovers’corner 50
Rug hooking 52
Classifieds 54
Dauphin DHIA 82
Joyce Bupp 84
The first of its kind in the hog operation
Joel Habegger, is novr being corripieted.When In Ufll production, the facility Wilr
house 480 sows, their litters, 24 boars, and 2400 leeder/pi^
Hog factcw^t©^^
ByDDETER KRIEG
FRYSTOWN, Pa. - A hog-raising system which is the
first of its kind in the East goes into production later this
month near this western Berios County community.
Owned by Joel C. Habegger, the unique facility-features
total confinement from farrowing to finishing' and
Orchardists look to good harvest
ByKENDACEBORRY
LANCASTER, Pa. - The
k apple, peach, pear, and plum
harvest should be better than
-average this year, according
to Lancaster County orchard
fanners. Estimates ranging
Organic farming is a way of life
By DIETER KRIEG
EDITOR’S NOTE: This begins a series of stories on the
organic farming concept '
PENNS CREEK, Pa.—The organic fanner looks at the
soil and his livelihood in a different way from the more
conventional tiller of the soil. f
In short, he believes that productivity is optimized if all
of the complex concepts of Nature are kept in balance. A
Pasture-stretching grasses assessed
By JOYCE BUPP
York Co. Reporter
WELLSVILLE, Pa. - “The
cows seem to eat the Big
“Blue Grass like it’s candy,’’
assesses Penn State
Livestock Specialist Dr.
Serving The Central and Southeastern Pennsylvania Areas - Also Maryland, NewMSlnffirand Delaware
In this issue
YorkDHIA 86
POFCO convention 89
Holstein sire summaries 94
Lifeonthefarm .100
Ladies have you heard 103
How farm was saved 106
South Afraaui viators 107
Tourists kpefarms 111
Sale Reports 113
Public Saipsßegister 114'
from slightly above average
to very good were given out
this week as the harvest
forcast of the orchard crops.
Earlier this summer, the
cherry crop in Lancaster
with agronomists in finding
pasture-stretching grasses
for beef cattle.
While in York County on a
livestock judging-teacfaing
visit, Burdette checked a
research plot of midwest
Ul ikat
Lancaster Farming, Saturday. July 16,1977
demands a hospital-like attitude on cleanliness. Built at a
reported cost of over |BOO,OOO, the 32,790 square foot barns
are now being completed and will eventually raise 8490
market hogs per year.
Habegger, in conjunction with Pennfleld Corporation,
sponsored Open House activities yesterday to introduce
County was only about 50 per
cent of its potential. The
main reason for this was due
to a sudden cold snap in the
weather after an early
blossoming of the cherry
trees in April. The freezing
most exemplary illustration of this is the organic fanner’s
attitude towards insects, or pests. Most fanners haven’t
an ounce of sympathy towards the little critters which
chew up their crops and profits. But organic farmers don’t
believe in declaring war against the insect world. To
them, the insect has a place in Nature’s scheme, and
they’re willing to accept that as is.
Paul Keene, one of the country’s larger organic farmers
Warrington Green livestock
farm. .
Included in the blend of
warm-season grasses is the'
Big Blue species and a
variety of Switchgrass.
Hie University specialist
(Miration isld&ed and envirohmehtally contflHrigfcginn of hogs* rather than
a breed* will Mused toproduce pork, with replacemmt animals coming from
mifhtri -ika . ..nmlaif * - - ~ w^
cold greatly. attected the
cherry season and . harvest.
~ *’ f“ > -t*- * i
However, that' cold
weather seems to have had
little effect on the later-fruit
harvests. Apples, peaches.
test plots of the grasses have
beeq established since 1973.
. “It’s aa tall as the cows.”
noted Burdette. “But they’ll
graze it down prettywell.”
Tests have shown a yield
from the midwest varieties
the new system to other interested farmers in the area.
Pennfield wpl use a portion of the facilities for research.
Other companies took part in the Open House ax well.
_ Totally environmentally controlled, the system was
built by Swine Service Specialists, Inc. of Lyons, Neb.
pears, and p\umx all look to
have good crops. - £
' According' to Richard
i Haas, Mew’ Danville, who
1 farms 175 acres* A full crop
will be expected f from his
, apples and other fruit “The
who operates 500 acres near this northern Snyder County
community and markets his produce all over the world,
explains 91c theory. He first came across it in India,
where Sir, Albert Howard, a British agriculturalist, was
working gt thetime to improve farm productivity.
“If youhave a plant which is infested with bugs, you
have two ways of looking at it,” Keene explained,
IConinMd on Put 22]
to production of local cool
wepther grasses. Nutritive
value Jaeaual to that of cool
weather typer during the
same Summerperiod.
Coarser; in stem and leaf
than trad|tional pasture blue
ydkDO Per Year
{Confimed on Page 38)
only problem with the
weather now Is that it’s a
little dry and even that
seems to have eased in the
last week or so,” be stated.
The dryness seemed to be
[Continued on Pam 291
the East, help fill the
Summer grazing void left
when hot weather slows the
growth of established
varieties.
Burdette emphasizes that
the warm-season perennials