ASS—Lancaster Faming, Saturday, February 27,1982 Berks Co. Crops Day sharpens farmers* management skills BY LAUREL SCHAEFFER Staff Correspondent LEESPOET Berks County fanners had the opportunity to update and sharpen their management skills for alfalfa and corn production as three Penn State Extension agronomists presented discussions during the annual Crops Days held at the Berks County Agricultural Center, here. Joe McGahen, Extension STATE COLLEGE - The first report cards have gone out from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture’s Meat Animal Evaluation Center grading the progress of those sheep entered in the 1982 Yearling Ram Test. Two Dorset rams from single births are tied for first and second place in their division with indexes of .33. This index represents the Pa. delegates attend NFU convention WASHINGTON, D.C. - Penn sylvania will be represented at this weekend’s National Farmers Union Convention in Washington, D.C., which continues through March 2 by Miriam Blankley of Hancock, Fulton County;, Samuel Reed of Avis, Clinton County; William Sturges of Wellsboro, Tioga County; and James Brown, PFU president of Jamestown, Mercer County. Farmers intend to plant more small grains HARRISBURG Pennsylvania farmers intend to plant more acres of oats, barley, soybeans and hay but fewer acres of corn and tobacco in the upcoming season, according to the Pennsylvania Crop Reporting Service. Farmers plan to sow 1,850,000 GERHARTS SANDBLASTING ft RESTORATION INC. Box 109 AA, R.D. 1 Abbottstown, Pa. 17301 717-259-9868 • Water Blasting • Chemical Cleaning • Brick & stone Re pointing & Water proofing w BOOKS SHOE SERVICE 107 E. STATE ST. OUARRYVIUE. PA 17566 717-786-2795 CLOSED WEDNESDAYS agronomist, emphasized the im portance of management decisions in producing higher crop yields and stressed the need for the current and timely cultural inputs to consistently attain higher yields. Farmers must do their homework and have the proper inputs in order for their crops to produce higher yields, he related. The Penn State agronomist also Report cards go out on tested rams rams’ starting weights divided by their day of age. Both rams are sired by Carolair D-66 and were lambed in November 1960. They belong to Carolair Farm and Brian Zerby. A ram from a set of twins is leading the multiple birth entries in the Dorset breed. Earn No. 53, a Penn State entry lambed January 1981, began the test at 170 pounds The National Farmers Union meets annually to set policy to guide the grassroots family farm organization throughout the coming year. Delegates to the National Farmers Union con vention are elected by delegates to state Farmers Union conventions. National Farmers Union President George W. Stone, an outspoken supporter ot family farming, will give his annual acres of corn, down one percent from last year; 400,000 acres of oats, down seven percent; 100,000 acres of barley, up It percent; 110,000 acres of soybeans, up five percent; 2,000,000 acres of hay, up three percent; and 13,500 acres of tobacco, down one percent. reminded the farmers that there has been an increase of 130 percent in costs per acre- for corn production from 1970 to 1981. This information was taken from the records of 109 corn club members’ records. The price received for the corn was up only 84 percent during the same time period, he stated. McGahen also estimated the costs per bushel of harvested corn for these corn club members swaged SI.SS - ' * mi* with an index ot .47. This ram is sired by Morehead 302, who is the sire of the third and fourth-place rams on test in the Dorset breed, too. A mixture of singles and twins make up the Hampshire junior rams on test at the Evaluation Center. Leading the pack of 11 rams is a February 1981 ram owned by David Lytle. This twin report tomorrow evening. Slone warned that the tarm bill recently passed by Congress and signed by the President is so weak that it has already begun to put tarmefs out of business. ■■That’s why we've chosen the theme •Family Far mers tor the Future’—we’re beginning to wonder it there’ll be any,” Stone said. After adopting policy today and tomorrow, the 1,500 delegates and members expected to attend the convention will exchange views with Congressional leaders. Monday’s speakers will include U.S. Sen. Nancy Kassebaum (Kan.;, U.S. Hep. Ed Jonesv (Term.), U.S. Hep. David Obey (Wis.), and U.S. Sen. Mark An drews (N. Dak.), Tuesday’s speakers include U.S. Sen. Howard M. Metzenbaum (Ohioj, U.S. Kep. James M. Jef fords vVt.j, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association Executive Vice President Robert D. Partridge, AFL-CIO Vice President Joyce Miller, and humorist Jerry Clower. and labor. He warned the area farmers that fixed costs such as tractors, equipment and land averaged between $65-870 per acre, if the com was planted or not. The agronomist urged the area farmers to do a good job of plan ting, attaining the proper seed depth and distribution. He em phasized that the seed should be planted uniformly in the row, not in small bunches and spaces. ram is sired by Mathews Heat Wave Tr and began the test at 215 pounds for a score of .62. The top two Shropshire rams on test belong to Warn Menhennett and are sired by two homebred rams. The top indexing ram, a March 1981 single, is sired by Menhennett 478. This ram began the test at 2U4 pounds for an index of .63. A February 1981 twin /am by Menhennett 617 started the test at a lower weight of 183 pounds tor a .52 index. Amanda Silverstem is leading the Southdown ram lest with a March 1901 ram sired by Tempel 70-42. This twin weighed 107 pounds at check-m for a .32 index. There is only one other Southdown ram on lest this year. The largest class on the ram test program is that of the Suffolk rams, with 20 twins ancj singles participating. At the head is Kam No. 23 owned by Elton Acton. This twin ram, lambed February 1901, is sired by Breezeview 163. With a starting weight of 254 pounds, the ram turned in the top index of .73. Another Acton entry and Breezeview 163 son has a second place ranking of .66. This February 1901 twin is tied with a George Bros 503 son entered.by Mrs. Paul Kelly, a,March 1901 twin who also in dexed out at .66. According to Robert Kimble, manager of the Evaluation Center, there will be a wide range of performance early in in the test due to a variety of conditions. And the test’s outcome by the June 5 sale, scheduled for 2 p.m. at the Allen town Fairgrounds, may be entirely different than the initial lineup. HfIRVESTORE SYSTEMS, INC. 99 Bridge St Tunkhannock, PA 18657 717-836-6787 • 20 x 50 Harvestore w/Hercules Unloader • 20 x 60 Harvestore w/Goliath Unioader • 20x 70 Harvestore w/Goliath Unloader • 20 x 70 Harvestore w/Goliath Unloader • 20 x 80 Harvestore w/new Goliath Unloader Call your local Harvestore salesman or our Tunkhannock office. We want to thank the over 200 peQple who attended our Dinner Meetings in February. Also, a special thanks to all who attended our many Open Houses and to our Hosts! Your opin ions, thoughts, ideas, and comments are always welcome. Joel A. Meyer, Sales Manager* NOTE: Open Houses scheduled for March 11 and March 18 are cancelled. Randy Bowen Tom Gooch Larry Morrow Mike Wasylkewicz . McGahen also cautioned that uxf high plant populations can result in barren plants, noting some varieties of corn are better suited fur high poulations than others. Starter fertilizers, the farmers were told, also increases per acre yields-an average of 9-10 bushels per acre. Yield responses to starter fertilizers were especially evident when com was planted early and temperatures ranged below 60 degrees Fahrenheit; when soil was of low fertility, especially in phosphorus; and when the soil was below 6.5 pH. McGahen explained the starter fertilizer was part of a planting program and not additional fer tilizer. He noted that corn grown with starter fertilizer was 2 Or 3 points dryer at harvest because the maturity of the com was speeded up with the application of starter. The agronomist also noted that starter, without urea should be used, especially if applying high amounts, because “urea can thin out a crop of corn m a hurry.” in order of importance apd in fluence on yields McGahen plant populations as the moil important in association with crop yields, number two in importance was weed control while third on McGahen’s list was planting dates. He also showed that higher yields were attained with higher populations and higher amounts of nitrogen. Also addressing the audience ot farmers was Clark Hess, a com modity account executive with Merrill Lynch. Hess briefly ex plained hedging and the futures market and noted that price trends have been running fairly even. He stated that hedging corn is for producers who are net sellers of 10,000 or more bushels. He also advised against joining in wit'm fellow producers to attain thl^ quantity. “You have enough partners m your lite already,” he warned. The commodity executive ex plained how brokerage- houses keep an active watch on world trends and usually have a meterologist tracking world weather. He noted that the subsoil moisture in the Midwest was good at the time and didn’t expect a government embargo. NOTICE USED STRUCTURES First Come, First Served! ★★★ ★ ★ 717-724-3974 Bob Dicks.... 814-274-9035 JeH Guillaume 607-687-4609 Wilson Quiggle 717-477-3020 Joel Meyer ... 717-473-3441 717-322-5970 717-265-6004 717-836-6787
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