• Here
HARRISBURG - It is
fairly certain SB 1287, the
Milk Security Fund bill, will
become law as it is now
written.
Provisions of the bill will
govern dairymens’ lives for
many years in much the
same way the $200,000
bonding requirement does
today.
The Senate bill actually
calls for establishment of
two separate security funds
in an effort to protect all of
the state’s dairymen.
One is to be built by
cooperatives. The
Cooperative Security Fund.
It is doubtful anything ever
will come of this fund.
Cooperatives are allowed
to opt out of the fund by vote
of their Board of Directors.
General membership ap
proval is not required.
It is a near certainty that
“all six Pennsylvania co-ops
will choose not to par
ticipate.
The second fund is the
Milk Producers’ Security
Fund. This fund will be
established by contributions
from handlers at the rate of
one cent per hundredweight
milk produced.
The fund will be built to a
$4 million dollar level.
are specifics of milk security proposal
Central to the fund
legislation is a plan to ac
, celerate the payment
schedule from handlers to
fanners.
, Because of jumbled
jurisdictions between states
and the Federal Order
system, no specific language
is included in SB 1287.
Prompt payment
provisions are complicated
by the slow payment from
government programs, like
school lunch, to handlers.
But the legislators made
clear they expect action to
shorten the present payment
interval will be taken once
the bill is passed. The Milk
Marketing Board is in
structed to hold hearings to
that end.
Title to milk, under SB
1287 is deemed to be tran
sferred from producer to
buyer at the point of first
shipment of the milk.
Therefore, milk produced
in the Commonwealth and
going to an out-of-state
buyer is intended to be
covered by the fund.
The buyer would be
required to obtain license to
buy milk in the Com
monwealth.
The out-of-state provision
may face a court test once
the bill becomes law.
Dealers can obtain
alternative bonding on their
own or are allowed to offer
collateral. The total
coverage must cover the
amount of milk purchased
during any consecutive two
month period of the current
year.
At the moment, fanners
have no lien on a milk
dealer’s assets and depend
on the milk dealer’s $200,000
bond to cover losses.
All too often, the $200,000
has fallen far short of the
total loss.
Under the new proposal.
Franklin County Rabbit
gets visit from Easter bunny
CHAMBERSBURG The
4-H Rabbit Club in Franklin
County got a head start on
the Easter Bunny at a recent
meeting.
Nancy Funk, Penn State,
was the guest speaker. She
was accompanied by an
assortment of her pet rab
bits, ranging from a smaller
claims will be allowed up to
75 percent of the loss. This is
to assure the fund is not
milked dry by a succession
of early failures before it can
be built to full strength.
Once the fund becomes
actuarially sound, farmers
could be fully reimbursed
via a hearing process. Such a
change also is indicated as
the intent of the lawmakers.
No claims at all will be
allowed against the fund for
sales to dealers not licensed
by the Pennsylvania Milk
Marketing Board.
Adjustments will be
allowed for sales of butter.
Dutch rabbit to one large
Flemish Giant rabbit named
“Porgy”.
The professor began her
talk by showing 4-H’ers
examples of a few breeds of
rabbits. She used her five- r
day-old rabbits to demon
strate how one can feed baby
rabbits with an eye dropper
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 29,1980—A31
cheese, and nonfat dry milk
manufactured by a dealer or
co-op participating in the
milk security fund and to the
Commodity Credit Cor
poration.
Dealers and participating
cooperatives would be
eligible to receive rebates
and credits for those
manufactured products sold
to the government.
The bill was given its
second reading by the State
Senate this week.
The bill, for the most part,
has the support of the state’s
fanner organizations, the
agricultural leaders of both
parties in both chambers of
if a doe should die. She ex
plained that it is possible to
save babies using a pur
chased formula, if one is
willing to feed the babies
every two hours around the
clock.
4-H members darted
questions at their guest and
laughed as “Porgy” and “B
-2” hopped around the room
or sat up to beg for cookies.
The speaker concluded her
talk by inviting the members
and their guests to pick out a
Wool pool
UNIVERSITY PARK -
Dates for the 1980 Wool Pool
schedule have been an
nounced for Pennsylvania.
The county schedule of
dates includes:
Northumberland, May 29;
Northampton, June 2;
the legislature, the
Agriculture Department,
dairy co-ops, and other
related groups.
' A number of its supporters
expressed hope the measure
could be passed and signed
by June Dairy Month,
although given the
legislative calendar and the
number of recesses
scheduled that may be a bit
ambitious.
But SB 1287 could easily
become law before cows
have to come in off pasture.
And that should help Penn
sylvania dairymen sleep
easier.—CH
Club
pet rabbit to take home. Ms.
Funk has introduced many
children to the happiness
and responsibility of owning
pet rabbits. So far, she has
given away 218 of the hop
pers to young people willing
to raise them as pets.
To show appreciation to
the professor for her
presentation, Mrs. Wayne
Snider of St. Thomas
presented to Nancy a cake
shaped like a large sitting
rabbit surrounded by
smaller rabbits.
dates listed
Bucks, June 3; Lawrence,
June 3 and 4; Berks, June 4.
Venango, June 9; Mercer,
June 9; Centre, June 9 and
10; Somerset, June 10f
Tioga, June 12 and 13.
Wayne, June 17;
Wyoming, June 17;
Crawford, June 17; Sullivan,
the morning of June 17;
Bradford, the afternon of
June 17 and June 18.
Susquehanna, June 18;
Indiana, June 18 and 19;
Franklin and Cumberland,
June 18 and 19; and
Washington, June 24 and 25.