22
—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 8,1978
Rural
(Continued from Page 19)
Vh hours of testimony, the
zoning hearing board voted
unanimously to allow con
struction of the poultry bam.
Gerhart notes with con
siderable satisfaction that
his closest neighbors weren’t
among those who com
plained. His nearest
neighbor resides in a home
about 200 feet north of where
the egg production facility
will be. Gerhart will process
and retail most of his eggs
right off the farm.
Just how important it is,
economically, for a fanner
to do all he can for a
favorable environment nr
and around the chicken
house is illustrated by one of
Jordan’s studies at Penn
State. The poultry specialist
determined that “birds kept
in a well-insulated, well
ventilated and well managed
poultry houses can earn two
to five times more net in
come or profit than birds
housed improperly.” The
Penn Stater notes further
that “many poultrymen get
a large flock of layers to lay
20 dozen or 240 eggs per hen
housed per year. With
proper management all
around, he claims produc
tion per hen per year can
approach 300 eggs. But that
requires paying attention to
every detail, including
manure handling and odor
control.
There is another economic
factor mvolvd which en-
growth
courages the farmer to
handle his poultry manure
properly. Says Jordan:
“Poultry manure left in the
house wet past seven days
costs the poultryman about
$lOO per 10,000 birds per
day.” To men like Weaver
and Gerhart that could mean
a loss of $4OO to $5OO per day.
It’s a loss which farmers
can’t afford.
The poultry specialist
notes the values of poultry
manure as fertilizer,
claiming that it can be “one
of the most profitable of all
farm chemicals to sell.”
Neither Weaver nor
Gerhart have enough
acreage of their own to be
able to take care of the
manure from their
respective 50,000 and 45,000
bird houses. Neighboring
farmers will buy the organic
fertilizer from them.
According to a consensus
of researchers’ and poultry
specialists opinions, the
public has nothing to worry
about when a poultry house
goes up near a residential
area. The farmers have too.
much invested and too much
to lose to allow sloppy
management to spoil their
livelihood. It isn’t just public
pressures that keep their
environmental programs up
to date; strong financial
reasons are involved as well.
Their bottom line is that
poultry and people can live
in the same area if the
chicken houses are managed
properly.
State
(Continued from Page 1)
present system, when it is
discovered that a grower has
problems in his herd, and he
is given an indemnity for an
animal, the price of all his
hogs is lowered. But, with
the indemnity money going
to the packer, this problem
should be alleviated because
the -packer has assurance
that he will be fully
protected.
Dr. Ingraham is quick to
point out, however, that the
indemnity will only be paid
for hogs bom or fed in
Pennsylvania, and not for
those trucked in from out of
state for slaughter.
“The indemnity will
depend upon the ability to go
back to the farm,” he says.
“This will require that the
animal is tatooed.” A slap
tatoo is thought to be the
most effective and fastest
method.
Therefore, markets will be
indirectly required to tatoo
their hogs, since packers will
most likely refuse to buy
anything but a tatooed
animal.
When an animal is found to
have TB, the state will use
the tatoo as a trace to check
out the problem. The packer
will also be paid 67 per cent
of market value for the
animal.
Both packers and
producers support the
change, at this point.
“Packers are the total
losers with TB hogs,” says
one involved individual.
According to Dr. Ingraham,
when a'hog is passed for
cooking, the meat has to be
cooked at 170 degrees F. for
30 minutes which “turns the
meat to mush.” Because of
this, the paqker has little
choice but to perhaps make
scrapple from the meat.
“That’s why he gets paid
an indemnity for this type of
animal,” says Ingraham.
According to John Henkel,
Strasburg, who is on the
board of directors for both
the Lancaster County and
state swine producers
organizations, the pork
producers support the
change.
“We feel we agree with
this method,” he says. “With
the way they had it before
(paying the indemnity to
. farmers), it got all messed
up. And, with this method
there will probably be a
truer picture of what the
problem is.”
The hog producers are
concerned about one aspect
of the change.
“Our basic concern,”
states Henkel, “is that when
pigs are tatooed, if the
government wants to, it can
put more pressure on sulfa
residues because it’s a better
traceback. Although there
are some sloppy hog farmers
around who don’t handle the
drugs properly, I feel the
sulfa problem isn’t all the
farmer’s fault. There can be
problems with equipment
design or contaminated feed
from somebody else if a bulk
truck isn’t emptied com
pletely. Plus, the trucker can
cause a problem if he had a
load of hogs fed sulfa - just
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Modern
mo
from the manure the hogs
can pick up enough sulfa to
show up residues. It’s very
minute, but this is what
bothers us.”
Henkel,' nonetheless,
resigned to the idea
tatoomg.
“It’s going to come sooner
or later,” he contends. “The
federal government did say
it will do further study.”
At a meeting held last
Tuesday concerning the
proposed changes in in-
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from Washington did assure
the group present that the
tatooing won’t have that
great an affect on the sulfa
problem.
At this point, the in
demnity change is only in the
beginning stages of
becoming official - the
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Ingraham expects that it will
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