—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 15,1977
38
Dairymen feel straw shortage HARRISBURG - Produc-
J ” tion of com for grain in the
commonwealth during 1977
is expected to total 101.2
million bushels, announced
the Pennsylvania Crop
Reporting Service. This
forecast, unchanged from a
month ago and two per cent
below 1976, is based on
conditions as of October 1.
LANCASTER, Pa. - The
low prices farmers are
receiving for wheat may
bring joy to consumers m
coming months, but dairy
farmers in the Northeast
aren’t smiling much about it
right now. Dairymen need
straw for bedding for their
cows and the low price for
wheat has caused less gram
to be planted m this area,
area.
Many farmers have
switched usual grain
acreage to corn for silage.
An early winter and dry
spring have meant a lighter
crop on the acreage that was
planted. In the heavily dairy
onented areas, like Lan
caster County, farmers are
looking for alternatives to
straw. In many cases corn
stalks are being used for
bedding
“With straw bringing as
much as $95 a ton, there’s no
wonder farmers are looking
for alternatives,” says Paul
Martin, owner of a Leola
auction where hay and straw
are sold. Local farmers say
buyers are coming from
hundreds of miles searching
for good straw. Many of the
buyers represent race tracks
in Delaware, Maryland and
New Jersey, as well as local
f roplrc
“We can’t afford to
compete with prices like the
race track people pay,” said
a young farmer watching the
auctioneer and crowd
moving from truck to truck
in the huge lot.
Max Smith, the county
extension agent in Lancaster
County, says the central
Pennsylvania area has
suffered from a straw
shortage for the last several
years and this year’s dry
weather and reduced wheat
tonnage has compounded the
problem. He says in some
cases straw for bedding is
bringing a higher price than
hay for feeding cows.
Announcing the Winner
of Door Prizes
from the Open House of
R. K. VOGT GRAIN
& GENERAL HAULING
Which was held October 8,1977
JOHN TODD LeROY MARTIN
3 Hour Airplane Ride
Stoney Battery Road
Lancaster, PA
MRS. STANLEY METZLER
Dinner For Two
RD2
Mantieim, PA
KEN SENSENIG
Airplane Ride
RD3
Ml Joy. PA
CUSTOM STORAGE AND DRYING
AVAILABLE
BUYING AND SELLING
GRAIN AND EAR CORN
R. K. VOGT GRAIN &
GENERAL HAULING
RD #l, Marietta, PA
“Chopped corn fodder
makes a good substitute
where the farmer doesn’t
have a liquid manure
system,” Smith said.
Again, the self-sufficient
Amish farmers may have an
edge on their mechanized
neighbors. The Amish still
use old reapers and binders
and thresh their gram with
steam-powered threshing
machines. They save
vitually every piece of straw
blown into a huge stack
during the threshing
process.
But, this year’s lighter
grain straw harvest will
probably affect the Anush as
well. They will be baling
even more corn fodder for
bedding. Horse-drawn
balers, rigged with engines
for powering the baler
mechanism, are being
readied for the difficult job
of baling fodder.
At the New Holland Sales
Stable, a dairyman with 50
milking cows on his farm
south of Blue Ball, was
successful bidder on a 9,000
pound load of straw that had
been shipped m from more
than 90 miles away.
Fall clean-up saves Spring flowers
MEDIA - A thorough garden clean-up this Fall may
save your flowers and vegetables from insect problems
next Summer, reminds McKeehen. The iris borer, for
example, is one of the most destructive msect pests of iris.
Females lay their eggs on old ms leaves and other plant
material in the Fall. These eggs spend the Winter on ins
leaves and hatch in April or May.
The ins borer has only a single brood each year, so
cuttmg the iris leaves and other garden refuse during the
fall may save your ins plants from serious damage next
Summer. Another insect which can attack many
vegetables and flowers in the home garden is the common
stalk borer. Female moths lay their eggs in the late
Summer and Fall on grass, weeds and nlant refuse. A
smgle female moth may lay up to 2000 eggs, each of
which will hatch into a borer the following Spring. A Fall
clean-up of weeds and garden refuse will aid considerably
in lessening the number of stalk borers present in your
garden next Spring.
Hammer
RDI
Elizabethtown, PA
STEVE HERSHEY
15” Adjustable Wrench
RD 1
Ml Joy, PA
LLOYD LEED
Vice Grip
Landisville, PA
“My brother in Ohio has
all the straw I could ever use
just going to waste. But it
would cost me more than
that to have it shipped m
from his place. My straw
mow looks pitiful. I just have
to have it and I have to pay
the price to get it,” he said.
An Amish farmer,
drawing a map to his farm
near Intercourse, so the
truck driver could deliver a
load of straw, summed up
the situation in a few words.
“I need straw and these folks
have it. I have to pay $1 more
than what the man I’m
bidding against thinks it’s
worth to him.”
Again, the old story of
American agriculture’s
dependency on weather is
pomted up m what may
happen to consumer prices.
Wheat, in abundance m the
Midwest, could bring lower
consumer prices for wheat
products. On the other hand,
in the Northeast, the shor
tage of straw from wheat is
forcing dairy farmers to pay
more for one of their im
portant inputs.
ATTENTION
GRAIN FARMERS
The Chesapeake and Delaware Grain Corporation, a
grain business owned and operated by a group of farmers,
is ready to handle your grain.
Chesapeake and Delaware Gram Corporation’s facilities include
a 500,000 bushel house, a 10,000 bushel receiving elevator, a 60
foot truck lift, a 60 foot scale, a 3000 bushel per hour dryer, and wet
storage capacity of 52,000 bushels.
Chesapeake & Delaware
Grain Corporation
Crops production forecast
Potato production is
forecast at 6.5 million
hundredweight. A function of
27,000 acres for harvest and
yield at 240 cwt., this
production would be nine per
cent below last year. Acres
for harvest are down 1,000
with yield off 15 cwt.
Pennsylvania tobacco
production is now forecast at
23.5 million pounds as yield
prospects fell during the last
month. This is still less than
one-half per cent below last
year as yield as now forecast
at 1,810 pounds is still 60
pounds higher than in 1976.
Alfalfa hay production is
estimated at 2.1 billion tons
while other hay production
should add another 1.8
billion. The alfalfa
production would be nine per
cent below 1976. Although
acres for harvest are up
20,000 to 840,000, yield
prospects are off nearly a
third of a ton to 2.45. The
other hay acres are un
changed while yield is a fifth
of a ton below 1976 at 1.6 tons
per acre. These put the
state’s all hay estimated
production at 3.9 billion tons,
ten per cent below 1976.
Grape production in
Pennsylvania is expected to
have a
nice weekend...
Your business is cordially invited.
Box 505, Mechanics Valley Road,
off of Route 40
North East, Md. 20901
Phone 301-398-2111
total 30,000 tons based on
October 1 conditions. This is
48 per cent below the 1976
record crop of 58,000 tons.
Apple production is
estimated at 430 million
pounds, 19 per cent above the
1976 crop of 360 million
pounds.
U.S. corn production is
forecast at a record 6,303
million bushels based on
conditions as of October 1, up
one per cent from the Sep
tember 1 forecast and one
per cent above 1976.
Soybean production,
forecast at a record 1,647
million bushels, is up
fractionally (3 million
bushels) from a month
earlier and 30 per cent above
last year.
All tobacco production is
forecast at 1,892 million
pounds, 11 per cent below
last year, but three per cent
above last month.
Fall potato production is
estimated at 304 million cwt.
in the 25 fall producing
states, down one per cent
from the record 1976 crop.
U.S. production of all hay
as forecast at 128.4 billion
tons is six per cent above
1976. Both acres for harvest
and prospective yield, at 61.7
million and 2.08 tons
respectively, are above a
year ago.
(TS\