DB—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 7,1981
*To farm successfully, know your limitations
NEWARK, Del It’s good to be
aware of your opportunities, but if
you want to farm successfully,
know your limitations as well This
is the advice of University of
Delaware extension economist
W T. McAllister
He describes the Delmarva
peninsula as a “land of economic
opportunity” for farmers.
Favorable growing conditions
and nearness to a vast potential
urban market along the Eastern
seaboard offer many profitable
alternatives in crop and livestock
production But success in any of
them requires knowledge, self
disciplme and a good business
sense
“When it comes to making the
most of opportunities, the greatest
limits are those that are self
imposed,” explains McAllister
“During my training as an
economist and farm management
specialist, I heard a lot about
maximizing income. The trouble
is, most people don’t want to
discipline themselves hard enough
and work hard enough to do this ”
Take dairy farming, for in
stance. This can- be one of the most
profitable farm enterprises in
Delaware. Yet the number of dairy
farms in the state has steadily
declined because dairying is a 12 to
14 hour a day job, seven days a
week Even with good help this can
get to be a drag
Besides tying you down, there
are all sorts of government
regulations to deal with when
you’re producing milk As a result,
unless a farmer really loves cows
and needs the income, he’s likely to
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sell his herd as soon as he gets the
mortgage paid off and raise
something else instead
Vegetable growers are another
group with a special set of
problems
Instead of manure disposal and
routine milk parlor inspections,
they’ve got to deal with seasonal
labor and all its attendant
regulations and frustrations
In both cases, how well a farmer
handles the limitations is basically
a matter of attitude, says
McAllister
“If you’re doing what you really
want to do, you can tolerate these
problems,” he says
Limited knowledge is another
self-imposed limitation
“There are some farmers who
already know so much that they
aren’t using, that they’ve never
bothered to find out that it’s out of
date,” he says “Farming is a fast
moving industry, a fast moving
science, and you can be out of date
in a year if you don’t keep up ’ ’
And then there’s the matter of
management ability.
“If you’re a poor manager,
heaven help you,” he says “But if
you’re a good one, you’ve got lots
of opportunities. Poor
management is the greatest self
imposed limitation on success m
farming.”
By management he means the
ability to plan, to organize
resources In other words, what
combination of resources will
enable you to take advantage of the
economic opportunities that exist
for you today 9
It doesn't matter what farm
enterprise you choose, so long as it
offers a good chance for profit It
could be a vegetable business or
corn and soybeans, it could be
dairying, growing broilers or hogs,
or almost any other type of local
farming
Whatever you do, it’s not going to
be worth anything unless you can
put it all together
ANNVILLE Members ot the
Annville-Cleona Little Dutchman
FFA scored big in the State
Project Book Contest this year
Medals won by all FFA members
from Lebanon County included 25
gold, 9 silver and 13 bronze tops tor
any county in the State
The Little Dutchman chapter
had won a total of 16 medals They
included gold medal winners
Melody Keller, Ist place with
sheep breeding, DawnDohner, 2nd
place with sheep breeder, Ed
Hostetter, Ist place with veal,
Robert Kreider, Ist place with
poultry meat and 2nd place with
Two Enterprises, Daiyl Balmer,
3rd place with on-farm work and
4th place with Two Enterprises,
Anything other than BAYMIX
Crumbles is only a one-cow
solution to a whole herd problem
THE LOGIC BEHIND WHOLE HERD DEWORMING
In an unwormed dairy herd, ail animals
deposit worm eggs on the farm and all
animals are subject to further
recontammation from infective
larvae as herd parasitism continues
unchecked.
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After whole herd dewormmg with
Baymix, egg depositions dramati
cally reduced, and as a result herd
recontamination is also signifi-
cantly reduced with herd produc
tive efficiency maintained. In fact,
a recent study shows a benefit of
4 8 lbs /milk/cow/day average when
cows are dewormed as late as 200
days into lactation despite the fact
they were dewormed at freshening.
©BAYMIX IS AVAILABLE AT
YOUR LOCAL NEW HOLLAND
SUPPLY DEALER
summing it all up, the economist
says that success in farming
depends largely on how you
combine and use the resources
available to you in a farm en
terprise with high profit potential
These resources land,
labor, capital and credit. They also
include farming knowledge and
skills, a high level of motivation
Dutchman FFA scores
Donald Baer, Ist place with tree
fruits, Gary Mase, Ist place with
Dairy herd, David Bomgardner,
2nd place with Dairy herd and
Henry Martin, 2nd place with
Home Improvements
Sliver medal winners were Brian
Sell, Ist place with veal; and Jeff
Reigel, Ist place with poultry
'■'W*
LANCASTER FARMING
FOR COMPLETE
AND UP-TO-DATE
MARKET REPORTS
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In a herd dewormed only at
freshening, an average of 10
out of 12 animals have not
been dewormed. Because egg
deposition has not been signifi
cantly reduced, and because of
infective larvae a Iready present
on the farm, ail animals are sub
ject to heavy further recontamination
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and personal discipline, and a good
business sense including a basic
understanding of economic
principles as they relate to
management decisions.
If you can put all these together,
ypu can succeed as a farmer
because the economic op
portunities for agriculture are
here
big
meat
Bronze medal winners were Sam
Howard, 4th place with on-tarm
work; Brian Sell, 9th place with on
farm work, Stuart Lemon, ist
place with skills & tasks and Ag
Machanics Gary Mase got 3rd
place in the Interstate Milk
producers
READ