PERI HO I CAL S DIVISILN
*29 9 PATTEE LIBRARY
PENNSYLVANIA STATE J<IIVtRSIT
UNIVERSITY PARK P*_ 16802
VOL. 29 No. 6
Farmers dramatically
outline Avian plight
BY LAURA ENGLAND
LANCASTER - With over five
million chickens destroyed in
measures to wipe out avian flu,
poultrymen trying to survive the
epidemic met here Monday with
top state officials to find out what
financial aid is available
Meeting with state Secretary of
Agriculture Penrose Hallowed,
poultrymen said they can’t stay in
the business without financial
assistance. With flocks
depopulated by the USDA task
force sent to eradicate the disease,
farmers have no immediate in
come, and yet monthly bills must
be paid.
“I don’t have anything now,”
said Wilmer Yost, a Leola farmer
who lost 30,000 layers, “and I have
a monthly (loan) payment. I don’t
know how I’m going to make it. ”
Like Yost, other county
poultrymen have no means of
income during “down time” when
Larvadex gets
crisis exemption
HARRISBURG Pennsylvania
has received a “crisis exemption”
permitting poultry farmers in the
Avian Influenza quarantine area to
resume the use of Larvadex for the
control of flies.
The special crisis exemption for
the use of Larvadex, the feed
through larvacide manufactured
by Ciba-Geigy, applies only to
farmers in those counties in the
Avian quarantine zone, plus
contiguous counties.
The crisis exemption was
received by the Pennsylvania.
Department of Agriculture from
the Environmental Protection
Agency, which had previously
banned its use.
Spring-Belle Straight Arrow topped the Golden Harvest sale at $21,000. She was
purchased by Hurl Cattle Co. represented by Tom Murray, second from left. Also pic
tured are the sale staff, from left, Charles Backus, Horace Backus. Mike Weimer, and
Dotyßemsburg. See gtory on A 39
Four Sections
their houses must remain empty
Farmers will receive federal in
demnity payments for birds
depopulated by the task force, but
this money isn’t available until
after the task force approves the
(Turn to Page A2l)
York Co.
‘targets’
conservation
BY JOYCE BUPP
Staff Correspondent
YORK Some of York County’s
most productive farmland has
been deemed a “sub-target”
conservation area within a
“target” area, and represen
tatives of the farm and ag business
community are being asked to help
“sell” the concept of saving these
MU*.
JCort County's Conservation
organizing an
Agricultural Advisory committee
of farmers, ugri-business leaders
and related community groups to
examine the conservation needs of
the South and East Branches of the
Codorus Creek watershed.
“We want to get people ‘riled up’
about conservation,” says Linda
Houseal, district manager for the
York County Conservation
District.
That committee, as envisioned
by the District’s board, will advise
them on programs needed in the
Codorus Creek watershed to in
crease soil, water and nutrient
conservation, as well as support
and promote new and existing
progrankj.
An initial advisory committee
meeting is set for Thursday at the
county’s Extension offices.
(Turn to Page A 34)
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Docembor 10,1983
Lancaster County DHIA supervisors receiving a $3OO Red Rose Superior Service
Award are. from left, Wilbur Houser, Harold Probst, Harold Lidecamp and Tom Garrett.
Not pictured is Jay Risser.
Lancaster DHIA presents awards
BY TRISH WILLIAMS
AND LAURA ENGLAND
SMOKETOWN Improvements
and efficiency in the Lancaster
County Dairy Herd Improvement
Association for 1963 were two to
three times the normal county
growth rate, members were told at
the association’s annual meeting
Dec. 6 and 7.
Addressing the members, county
extension dairy agent Glenn Shirk
cited improvements in somatic cell
count numbers and increases in
county milk production. Shirk said
that 16 herds in Pennsylvania were
honored for having counts of
100,000 or less, and four of those
herds were in Lancaster County.
The county also noted a 300
pound increase in milk production
per cow. This increase. Shirk said,
shows that dairymen are getting
more efficient in their cattle
management.
Also addressing the group was
Donald Ace, Penn State Extension
dairy specialist. In presenting his
final scheduled speech as an ex
tension specialist, Ace, who at
tended the National Milk
Producers Federation meeting last
week, spoke on the recently-signed
dairy bill and its implications.
Ace reported on the reaction the
passage of the dairy bill brought
last week at the convention
of the National Milk Producers
Federation, in San Francisco.
NMPF is an association of milk
cooperatives, that represents 80
percent of all milk marketed in the
Farm Show Issue
LANCASTER The 1984 Farm Show issue of
LANCASTER FARMING is only about a month off. It
will be published on Jan. 7.
Farm Show opens the following day and closes on
Friday, Jan. 13. ' -
Advertising deadline for the Farm Show issue is
Wednesday, Dec. 28, and the news deadline is
Tuesday, Jan. 3.
Contact LANCASTER FARMING, P.O. Box 366,
Lititz, Pa. 17543 or call (717) 626-1164 or (717) 394-3047.
PFA seminar cites
’B4 market outlook
BY TRESH WILLIAMS
HARRISBURG Pennsylvania
farmers desiring a look into the
future of agriculture turned out
Wednesday to listen to predictions
and forecasts made by
agricultural marketing specialist
at the 1984 Market Outlook
seminar.
The seminar sponsored by the
Pennsylvania Agricultural
Cooperative Marketing
Association, a division of the
Pennsylvania Farmers
Association, included individual
morning seminars and a combined
afternoon market outlook for five
commodity groups. Highlighting
the day was the evening banquet
featuring special guest speaker
$7.50 per Year
United States.
“The objective of the new dairy
bill is to decrease CCC purchases
to a level of $5 to 6 billion dollars,”
Ace noted. “But the 15-month
period it is effective is really a
pretty short time by which we may
live.”
According to Ace, congressman
who worked to pass the dairy
compromise bill expressed the
feeling that they have done their
work President Reagan has done
(Turn to Page A2l)
John R. Block, U.S. secretary of
agriculture.
Keith Eckel, PFA president,
introduced Block as a strong ad
vocate of free trade. In his speech
Block brought out some of his
personal philosophy on
agricultural policies that earned
him that introduction.
Foreshadowing decisions that
must be made in drafting the 1965
farm bill, Block commented, “I
feel we are approaching a crossroads
in agriculture. We need
to be looking at this crossroads
carefully and be preparing to
address the problems that we face
in agriculture.”
Referring to decisions that must
(Turn to Paga A3O)