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
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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
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