A2B—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 19,1983 recommendations OH both PDCA By Robin Phillips Staff Correspondent HARRISBURG The future of the PDCA Judging School and an updating of the portion oi the State Farm Show was reviewed by the Pennsylvania Purebred Dairy Cattle Association on Friday, March 11. In its annual meeting at the Hanover Trails Restaurant, the PDCA reviewed the two dairy events, with views expressed by members, including represen tatives of the State Holstein Club, Jersey Club, Guernsey Association and the Brown Swiss organization. Paul King, Holstein breeder from York County, chaired the meeting, with Lee Yost, of the Guernsey Association, serving as secretary-treasurer. Also present were Don Ace, Extension dairy specialist from Penn State; and Charles Hie, of the Farm Show Commission. Foremost on the agenda was the planning of the 1963 PDCA spon sored judging school. “I was extremely pleased with the job done last year,” Don Ace said. The school was held in Washington County in 1982 and Ace commented on the fine Job done by several families in that area who contributed much time and effort in putting together the 12 to 15 classes of dairy animals needed for the instructional Judging. Although “last year was a very disappointing year of par ticipation,” Ace commented, the school will be “in good shape with normal participation.” It was decided that the fee of 125.00 will not be raised and that more breeders should be en couraged to participate. It was explained that still a need for the PDCA Judging School since none of the various breed associations (except the Holstein Association) conducts its own school. “If the school is not held, the breed representatives, other than Holstein, will not -be able to sharpen their eye and young breeders will not be able to develope their credence,’’ Ace commented. Dean Daubert, Brown Swiss breeder from Schuylkill County, commented that more young breeders should be invited as the list of invitations to participants was reviewed. Each breed organization was assigned a revised quota for participants which they could submit to the committee for invitations. Any individual wishing to participate in the school must contact his state breed association. The new quotas for the breeds are Ayrshires, 6; Brown Swiss, 10; Milking Shor thorn, 6; Guernsey, 15; Jerseys, 12; Holsteins, 35. It was stated that the purpose of the PDCA Judging School was to develope a criteria towards designating an official judges. The PDCA committee receives ap proximately 25 requests for official judges a year from Fair Boards, 4- H Leaders and Extension per sonnel. A motion was passed that in order to make the official list of judges, the individual “must be in the top third of the participants for three successive years.” There was no one recommended by the PDCA for the official list from the 1982 session of the school. Also, in order to monitor the judges already on the official list and keep them up to the desired quality of judging, the motion was passed that “all current judges must attend the PDCA Judging School every three years, with one option year in case of emergencies, in order to remain in the official list” It was also decided to restrict “walk-ins” at the Judging of the school in order to keep the crowd to reviews J a minimum so that all paid par ticipants are able to judge. All attending will need to be invited, pre-registeres, and pre-paid. A motion was also passed to prohibit talking or conferring on classes by the participants while the in structional judging was taking place. Judging cards will be tom up and the participant disqualified. The Judging school is scheduled to take place on July 14 and 15 this year and the host counties are Berks and SchuyHull counties. The official Judge for the school this year will be John Mortis, Brad dock Heights, Md., “one of the deans of judging”, who is' respected by every breed organization. Jim Shaw, Holstein breeder from Berks County, will select the classes for the school from area breeders and Clyde Myers, Berks County Extension Agent, will organize the event. The fact that machinery is displayed in the dairy barns at the Farm Show was also brought up for discussion. Charles I tie, Farm Show Commission, replied that when the new Fire corridors were installed in the exhibit areas, the income producing area (that of the advertisers display booths) was reduced and the Commission replaced these areas by taking some space out of each of the livestock bams. The areas of heaviest traffic were designated as display areas for the advertisers instead of being used for additional livestock. It was recognized that it was unhandy for animals to be quartered in these areas anyway due to the heavy traffic of spec tators. The question of reduced quotas for dairy animals was raised. Itle went on to explain, that the Farm Show commission offers all the space possible and all spaces are filled. If there is a breed that does not fill its quota, the spaces are then offered to the breed with Conference stresses conservation tillage need BY DEBBIE KOONTZ LANCASTER - “The Depart ment of Agriculture’s best estimates show that three, million acres per year are lost from production in the United States,” Jim Lake of the National Con servation Tillage Information Center in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, said, Tuesday, to a crowd of 115 farmers and agri-businessmen. Lake was speaking at the second annual Lancaster County Con servation Tillage Conference, held at the Farm and Home Center, here. i “Through the 70s, many of us used land as a commodity instead of a resource, working it to its maximum yield. I think con servation gives us the chance to turn land back into a resource,” Lake elaborated. Lake pointed to mental attitude as the chief culprit standing bet- mm .. . urn- The Farm and Home Center was flanked by conservation planters and drills Tuesday as nine equipment dealers joined in the conference. Participating were Landis Brothers, Stoltzfus Farm Service, M.M. Weaver, C.B. Hoover, Hamilton Equipment, Messkk Equipment, L.H. Brubaker, Heisey Equipment and Gideon Stoltzfus. ing school, farm show ud Don Ace, Penn State Dairy Specialist, left; Lee Yost, center, secretary of PDCA, and Paul King, Holstein breeder from York County, team up to conduct annual meeting. tiw highest number of entries. Itle stated that at the last Farm Show, the Holsteins and Brown Swiss breeds had the largest amount of entries and there was ap proximately 50 head of dairy cattle rejected. Junior animals (4-H and Vo-Ag) are given first priority with a quota of 184 head. The current quotas of Ayrshire, 51; Brown Swiss, 41; Guernsey, 87; Holstein, 129; Jersey, 51; and Milking Shorthorn, 46 were revised according to the attendance averages being shown in the last three years. A motion was passed to take SO spaces from the Milking Shorthorns and 10 spaces horn the Guernseys, and add 10 spaces to each of the other breeds. All representatives at the meeting were encouraged to bring altei> This panel of three farmers and one Penn State agronomist, right, addressed the audience gathered for the second annual tillage conference, Tuesday, at the Farm and Home Center. From left are John Wiker, Jere Swarr, Kenny Bleacher and H. Grant Troop. nate plans for revising the quotas and premiums to the next annual meeting. It was unanimously recommended to Itle by all the members present that the only fair solution to the space shortage would be a new dairy barn for the Farm Show. The question was asked as to whether it can be called a representative show of the breed if entries are limited. Itle ex plained that the plans for 1983 Include the new heating system and an improved parking area but that foremost in any additional plans would be the much-needed additional floor space and/or dairy barn. The PDCA committee also made a recommendation to abolish the role which “prohibits the ob struction of across the barn '■ c* - ween a farmer and conservation tillage. “The biggest problem is deciding ‘it won’t work,’ ” he remarked. Although the morning session was geared to those farmers who remain skeptical about con servation tillage featuring several speakers discussing the need for erosion control, fertilizing prac tices on no-dll com, and why conservation tillage has been successful, the remainder of the day was intended to help those farmers who already have made the change and are now interested in proper management. That afternoon, Arnold Lueck, Lancaster. County Extension agent, explained the four stages of insects and bow and when best to begin controlling them. vision." It was recognized that advertising plays a major role in the showing of a breeders herd and an attractive display will be an added attraction and of equal advantage to the Farm Show, as well as to the exhibitor. Tom Kelly, Blair County Holstein breeder, was chosen as the person to represent POCA and the state breed associations on the Pa. Junior Dairy Show Executive Committee. Judges for the 1964 Farm Show were discussed and breed organizations were asked to send in their choices by April 1. The 1984 annual meeting of the PDCA will be chaired by the President of the Pennsylvania Jersey Cattle Club, Robert Robinson, Washington County. Following Lueck, Dave Cote of Chevron Chemical, presented a slide presentation of the various problems he has encountered in soil erosion on his travels from Pennsylvania to Maine. Dick Neff, a Manor Township farmer, explained why he was ‘sold on conservation tillage,' to those gathered for the morning session. “1 started using it (con servation tillage) about 14 years ago primarily to save money on planting com. We very soon found out conservation was a key point in planting com. Our water run-off was unbelievably clean," he said. He reported that his yield averages about 150 bushels for every acre he grows. This year the conference (TumtoPaceMl) U J ' || *' V ■< 3» * ' V t \ f
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