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If you feel we may be of service, please call usiat
768-3301 or 1-442-4183. We can only help.
JOHN J. HESS 11, INC.
SO. VINTAGE RD. -
PARADISE, PA 17562
PURINA CHOWS
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, iuly 8,1978—13
At the USDA Animal Genetics and Man
agement Laboratory, Beltsvilie, Md , scientists are
heating the wash water and the milking parlor with
energy from the sun Four different types of solar
collectors, operated simultaneously, are being
compared for efficiency and durability
Solar energy harnessed
Farmers, more than most people, have always
had to rely on the sun, as well as the other
forces of nature
Not too many years ago, crops stood m the
field, were stacked or wmdrowed, or put in a
crib to be dried by the sun and wind But with
today’s more efficient machinery, more acres
can be harvested in less time, with less
losses to pests and adverse weather By doing
this, grains are often* harvested with a high
moisture content, so they must be artificially
dried before storage
More fossil fuel is now required to dry corn
than is used to produce the crop In 1956,
only 14 percent of the corn crop in Illinois, In
diana, and lowa was artificially dried Today,
that figure is around 70 percent
As the supply of fossil fuel continues to
dimmish, the cost for many agricultural uses
may become prohibitive We must turn again
to such alternate energy sources as the sun
for at least part of oar agricultural energy Re
search programs, financed by the Energy Re
search and Development Administration and
coordinated by USDA’s Agricultural Research
Service and Cooperative State Research Ser
vice, are doing this
Scientists in ARS and State Agricultural Ex
periment Station laboratories are experimen
tally collecting and using solar energy to dry
corn, rice, gram sorghum, wheat, soybeans,
peanuts and tobacco They are also exploring
more efficient ways to dry hay m the field and
m barns.
Animals, too, will benefit from the solar
energy research Solar energy is being tested
to heat and cool milking parlors and to heat
poultry and swine houses, along with drying
poultry manure to facilitate handling
Other scientists are studying how to heat and
cool greenhouses and rural homes with
energy from the sun
Soon, because of this research, solar collec
tors in many forms will trap the sun’s energy
to benefit not only farmers, but all the earth’s
inhabitants
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