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
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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
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Income Tax Co, mM.i
717-29'- J