f Home grown opinions on hog producing given
By JOANNE SPAHR
LANCASTER - A panel of
five swine producers and
specialists presented their
views on the hog industry,
Tuesday, as part of the
Lancaster County swine day.
On that panel were Henry
Gruber, head buyer for A &
B Packing, Allentown;
Franklin Feeser, purebred
Hampshire breeder for
Taneytown, Md.; Robert
Kimble, director of the meat
animal evaluation center at
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Penn State University;
Ronald Harrison, Lit
tlestown; and Dwight
Yopnkin, Extension swine
specialist at Penn State.
Gruber spoke to the
assembled group of swine
producers on how'to market
livestock effectively in
Lancaster County.
“Within a 150 mile area of
Lancaster County 50,000
hogs are slaughtered per
week,” Gruber informed the
industrymen. “Ten to 15 per
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Around Lancaster County
there are 10 to 12 major
markets for swine including
Ronald Harrison
packers, stockyards, auc
tions, and some dealers. So,
says Gruber, “there is
probably no place in the
state with a better
marketing set up than you
have.”
According to Gruber, the
best method of producing
hogs for marketing in this
area, as in any given area, is
for the grower to develop
hogs the market desires.
“You, as a producer, also
need to get to know your
buyer,” advised Gruber.
“Let him know how many
hogs you have to sell each
week or each month. If he
knows your system, he can
better fit your hogs into his
buying channel. He won’t
take you over the coals-we
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Henry Gruber
all know the market, and if
that happens too often, there
would be plenty of other
buyers to take your hogs. ’ ’
Purebred producer Ronnie
Harrison answered the
question, “What criteria do
you use for choosing herd
boars, and what type of
animal does best in your
confinement operation?”
Harrison, who runs a
complete confinement
operation, says that right
now he is buying his boars
for next Summer, and that
by July and August he likes
to have boars that are 10 to
14 months of age rather than
those that are two years old.
According to this breeder,
the younger boars are more
aggressive and more active
than the 2-year-olds.
He also pointed out that he
does keep some “good, old
sows” which he breeds to top
boars with a well tested
background, because “we
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 4,1978-
intend to keep the gilts out of
these good old sows.”
Frank Feeser, a breeder
from Taneytown, Md., feels
that each producer must
know what he wants in his
Robert Kimble
herd as well as “where he’s
going and why he’s going
there.”
“What I hear is that the
commercial man wants a
healthy hog, a sure breeder,
a sound hog, but most of all -
an honest breeder,” stated
Feeser.
In his herd, the Maryland
breeder strives for a long
necked sow, with a flat top
and high tail setting. He also
wants them tall at the
shoulders with good length of
body.
Feeser also believes in
breeding with big framed,
long-sided, deep rib caged
boars.
“If you want something,
you have to go out and get
it,” states Feeser. “You
should get a boar that’s a
little longer than your
breeding stock,” he noted.
During a question and
answer period, Henry
Gruber was called upon to
give his opinions on how
much room for swine ex
pansion remains in Penn
sylvania.
“I’m always concerned
with a bull market,” ad
mitted Gruber, “but, I think
Franklin Feeser
there’s still room for ex
pansion in the state.” The
hog buyer gestimated that
perhaps 20 to 25 per cent of
all hogs slaughtered are
killed in Pennsylvania.
’ln a later discussion
Harrison expressed his
concern that the purebred
industry is going to extremes
in one direction.
“Extremes can be taken
too far,” he stated.
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