ML 2811*. 13
F&H Foundation elects directors
New Directors fprthe Lancaster County Farm and Home Foundation were elected for
three-year terms,Thursday night during their 19th annual meeting* at the Farm and
Home Center. Elected, from left were Henry Reist. Mount Joy; Mary Martin,- R 2 New
Holland, re-elected; Ctarence JCeeoer, R 1 Manheim, re-elected; Elam Bollinger, R 7
: Manbeim, re-elected; J. Clayton Charles, R 2 Lancaster; Roy Brubaker, Lititz, re-elected;
Raymond F. Wrtmer, Widow Street
Moore predicts “feast” for beef farmers
BY SHEILA MILLER
LANCASTER Cheap grain
ind a diminished inventory of
attle are two reasons cited by
*enn State Extension Economist
jou Moore for a brighter outlook
or Pennsylvania’s cattle feeders
n 1983. Moore’s promising
redictions were heard here at the
’arm and Home Center Tuesday,
s roughly 200 beef feeders from
.ancaster and surrounding
Banker assures
“affordable” interest
LANCASTER - Hamilton
Bank’s Damn Boyd shared “good
news” with local beef farmers here
at the Farm and Home Center,
Tuesday. Looking at the money
situation, the Lancaster banker
predicted that the prime lending
rate could drop to 10 percent by
“late winter, early spring” this
year, and should only climb back
up to 11.5 percent by the end of
1983.
This relatively low interest rate
(compared to last year’s rates
which neared the 20 pecent mark)
will be based on supply and
demand, he explained.
While interest rates of 10 percent
[might seem like “cheap” money
for farmers to cash in on, Boyd
warned that this money is actually
“expensive relative to the inflation
cate.” He noted that while inflation
has dropped to 3.9 percent, interest
rates will remain at least 4-6 points
above the rate of inflation.' ,
Looking back over the past three
Four Sections
counties listened intently to any
glimmer of profit-making
forecasts.
Although the latest U.S.
Department of Agriculture
statistics were only announced late
this week, the ag economist based
his theories on USDA’s July 1,1962
inventory of cattle which showed
beef cow numbers down 4 percent,
replacement heifers down 2 per
cent, and last spring’s calf crop
years, Boyd explained how interest
rates in the United States were
directly affected by the country’s
monetary and fiscal policies. He
credited the Federal Reserve
Board for “getting inflation under
control.”
“Now we must stimulate the
economy and get production going
again, while constantly monitoring
inflation,” Boyd "said. Positive
signs of economic recovery, he
added, are at least 4-6 months
away, since unemployment con
tinues high, industrial production
remains low, and large cor
poration bankruptcies are at their
highest levels since the Great'
Depression. The nation’s rate of
recovery will hinge on the federal
government’s efforts to control
spending and taxation, he said.
Boyd told fanners that the U.S.
is now in its eighteenth month of
recession—previously, the longest
recession on record since World
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t. • «. V . ■. « « » • • X » •» X ■ 1. L I. «. t. I. (. C 1
Laaeasttr Fwiwfc SataNay, Jhhht
reduced by 3 percent. All pointing
to less available cattle for the
market.
Moore pointed out that the USDA
figures for cattle on feed were
somewhat misleading, showing a
constant increase over the past
five months: However he noted
that these figures correlated to the
fact that younger cattle were being
run into feedlots due to the
availability of cheap grain and a
Joining in a discussion on starting beef cattie on feed during Tuesday's Lancaster Co.
Cattle Feeders’ Day were: from left, cattle feeder Ken Rohrer; cattle jockey Jimmy Hoar
with Kreider Cattle Co.; cattle feeder Earl G. Martin; and veterinarian Dr. George
■ ’-Zimmerman; ’ v * 1 v • - -»-- ~«»«»•»«* > ■>«< *-' •• ,- -
PMMB explains
new accounting
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
HARRISBURG A hearing
scheduled by the Milk Marketing
Board last Friday to explain new
accounting procedures to reflect
unit casts br production and to
allow comments on the proposed
changes met with many questions
from dealers, but little opposition
to its implementation.
The only witness to present
formal testimony was James
Wagner, vice president of finances
for the Johnstown Sanitary Dairy.
Speaking as a member of a special
committee of the Pennsylvania
Milk Dealers Association which
studied the proposals, Wagner
said, “We congratulate the Milk
Marketing Board and its staff’ for
its attempt to update the existing
accounting procedures. The
committee recognized that they
are not perfecTbut it is believed
that the amendments, as
published, are a step in the right
direction.
Earl B. Fink, Jr., executive
director of the MOk Marketing
poor winter wheat stand in many
areas of the Midwest. Otherwise,
he said, these animals would have
stayed out on pasture, as grassfed
beef.
Any hints of a profitable year
came as good news to the local
cattle, feeders .who have realized
incomes in the red, for the most
part, over the past several years.
Only four months of 1982 gave
cattle feeders “plus-side” com-
$7.50 ptr year
Board, expressed surprise at the
bigger-than-expected turnout for
the hearing, but noted, “The milk
dealers were very receptive to the
proposed system. Other comments
were favorable.”
The system is being changed in
compliance with a directive by
Commonwealth Court Judge Craig
who reversed a price increase
ordered by PMMB. At that time
Judge Craig called unit cost an
essential part in determining
price.
The major portion of last week’s
hearing was devoted to a
presentation by the accounting
firm of Main Hurdman, who ex
plained the proposed system of
gaining unit cost of each kind of
product.
Roy Byers, Main Hurdman
representative, explained that the
system is based on the develop
ment of unit costs based on the size
of the container, the type of
product and the area in which it is
marketed.
Components of unit costs, ac-
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pensation for their hard work,
Moore noted.
Reviewing per capita con
sumption and red meat
availability, he pointed out that the
amount of beef Americans eat
each year has remained about the
same during the past two years,
whereas the amount of pork and
poultry has increased in most diets
due to price differences and the
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