SMYRNA George P. Staats of “Imperial Farm,” a purebred swine operation just west of Smyrna, has become Delaware’s All- American Pork Producer for 1980. Besides supplying many commercial producers m Delaware with breeding stock, Staats has shipped hogs to growers in Virginia, North Carolina, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Penn sylvania, Maryland and New Jersey. He recently sent boars and gilts to Russia and Brazil. Staats’ pigs have done well in state boar trials as well as ■ at area fairs. A pen of Imperial Farm Hampshire boars led the 11 pens of boars from four states on test at the Delaware 1979 Boar Test Station run cooperatively by the Delaware Poik Producer’s Association and the Delaware Cooperative LIQUID rS PLANT FOOD 9-18-9 Starter ALPINE foliafFeed • Balanced formula of trace elements • Immediate availability of nutrients • A neutral chlorine free product will not rust or corrode equipment February Base Price $2.50 Delivered Volume Discounts MERVIN M. KREIDER Frystown, Pa. 717-933-8943 Del. picks Extension Service The pen indexed 136 He also produced the leading boar, a Hampshire with a 153 index, an average daily weight gam of 2.27, a feed efficiency rating of 247, and 5 inches of backfat. One of his Yorkshire boars led the test with a daily weight gam of 2.34 pounds. Last summer he had champion' Yorkshire and Hampshire gilts and reserve champion Hampshire and Yorkshire boars at the Delaware State Fair. He also exhibited the second place January Yorkshire boar at the 1979 Maryland State Fair. Staats’ herd includes 110 purebed sows-65 of them Yorkshires and 45 Hamp shires. Farrowing is done in crates on solid concrete floors, with pine shavings for ' bedding. Sows are turned out All American Pork George P. Staats of “Imperial Farm” near Smyrna has been named Delaware 1980 All- American Pork fjroducer. twice each day for feeding and watering. After 10 days to two weeks in the farrowing house, he moves sows and pigs to an open-fronted nursery, with two sows and their litters in each pen. Pens are bedded with a separate sleeping area for the young pigs. Weaning takes place at eight weeks. After weaning, sows are placed m outside lots until it is tune to breed them agam. All are hand mated. In order to make new bloodlines available, Staats buys purebred herd sires from type conference sales and other purebred producers’ farms. Young boars and gilts are developed on either pasture or concrete. His pasture system is a rotational one where animals go onto new grass-legume pasture each year. Staats and his 19-year-old son, Ray, are in partnership farming 1200 acres of corn and soybeans and 100 acres of vegetable crops. They hold a swme production sale m the spring and fall. - The new All-American winner is a director of the Delaware Pork Producers Association, member of the ASCS committee, chairman of the board of his local Southern States Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 26,1980—C31 Producer Cooperative, and a 4-H club leader Local presentation of his award was made January 15 at the annual banquet of the Delaware Pork Producers Association He will receive a special plaque from the National Pork Producers Council when the American Pork Congress meets in St. Louis in March. According to University of Delaware extension livestock specialist Dr. Dick Fowler, about 40 states now Carter’s gas rationing plan ignores farmers WASHINGTON, D.C. - The chairman and ranking minority member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry charged Wed nesday that the Carter Administration’s proposed standby gasoline rationing plan ignores the intent of Congress to give priority to agriculture if shortages occur. Senators Herman E. Talmadge (D-Ga.) and Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), in a joint letter to Energy Secretary Charles W. Duncan, Jr., asked that the proposed plan be amended “to assure adequate fuel supplies for the complete food chain.” “Unless the plan is amended, we will run the risk of seeing crops rotting in the fields while the public experiences grossly inflated food prices caused by shortages,” Talmadge and Helms said. participate in the All- American pork producer program. Winners are selected on the basis of production ef ficiency, leadership in their local swine industry, par ticipation in civic activities and general overall ex cellence in farming. Nominees must be under 40 and must have made an outstanding contribution to the pork industry in their state. The two Senators said that Congress, in its second effort last year to write legislation authorizing a Standby Gasoline Rationing Plan, clearly intended that agriculture is to be given priority treatment for gasoline supplies in time of shortages. “The proposed plan’s provision on agricultural priority, which is almost identical to the one congress rejected earher, fails to meet the requirements of the Emergency Energy Con servation Act of 1979 and is inconsistent with the President’s recent assurances of adequate fuel for agricultural operations,” Talmadge and Helms told Duncan. “In view of tins clear Congressional intent, you may understand our sur prise and concern! to find that the proposed Standby Gasoline Rationing Plan’s priority for agricultural operations is nothing more than a promise to supply ‘supplemental fuel rights’ for ‘off-highway welucles’ used in ‘farming’ in amounts sufficient to meet ‘productions goals approved by the President,’” the letter said. “Though fanning is the most important link, it is just one segment of the food for every American. Fuel must be available at every step of the food chain - or the whole system breaks down. In addition, to limit the priority to ‘off-highway vehicles’ does not recognize that one half of the gasoline con sumed on the farm for food production purposes is used by ‘on-highway vehicles.’” A Good Buy Chicken remains one of the best meat buys on the market these high-pnce food days. It provides ex cellent protein for fewer calories than most meats FARMER INDIVIDUAL SMALL BUSINESS • Tax Preparation • Bookkeeping Free Pickup & Delivery C. CHUCK HARRY Income Tax Co, mM.i 717-29'- J
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