A24—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 14,1984
DO questions outnumber answers in York
BY JOYCE BUPP
Staff Correspondent
BAIR Dairymen still have
more questions than they have
answers about the Dairy Op
portunity program, the Com
promise Bill signed November 30
to scale down the mounting surplus
of milk.
That was the feeling of
frustration expressed by many of
the 50 dairy producers who at
tended the York County Dairy day,
held last week at the county’s 4-H
Center.
Jack Kirkland, Penn State’s
extension Milk Marketing
Specialist, briefed producers on
the basic points of the program,
which cuts support price initially
by 50 cents, levies a 15-cent ad
vertising assessment on every
hundred pounds of milk marketed
and pays producers ten dollars per
hundred for production cutbacks
from 5 to 30 percent of their
marketing volumes through 1981
and 1982.
But the details the dairymen
wanted to hear simply weren’t
available yet.
The intricate, fine-detail
regulations of the complicated
program, for which signup ends on
January 31, had still not been
released. A state ASCS meeting
was reportedly scheduled for Jan.
11, at which time those regulations
might be unveiled.
According to York ASCS
Milk marketing specialist at Penn State Jack Kirkland
reviews dairy program print out with Jim and Holly McCaffree
at York Dairy Day.
representative Andrea Mumford,
only three dairy producers had
visited the county’s offices to date
expressing an interest in
establishing a base of marketing
history.
An informal survey of some of
the producers attending the
meeting surfaced mixed feelings
about the reduction program.
Kathy King, Delta dairy farm
partner, summed up the opinion
expressed by a number of
producers.
“We still don’t know the rules;
how can you sign a contract when
you don’t have all the rules?” she
lamented.
Former dairy professor at
Delaware Valley College, now a
Delta dairyman, Jim McCaffree,
says he plans to cut back his
production because the reduction
program fits his present farm
situation.
Ellis Growl, president of the
York County Farmers Association
and an Airville area producer,
looks beyond the 15-month DO
legislation period toward the
future.
“If we don’t make this work,
we’ll get something worse,” was
his assessment. “I’ll check the
program from all angles and try to
use it.”
Also looking at what might
happen in April, 1985, George
Jordan expresses a hope that the
program will work, although his
recent increases in production
have him “leaning against” his
own farm signup.
“Everyone says they’ll put
heifers back on then,” Jordan
speculates.
Holding heifers for late
freshening beyond the 15-month
period is one way of cutting back
production, extension specialists
agree. But the specialists doubt
that a farmer will get back his old
base marketing level, before the
cutback, and will have td ship on
the marketing volumes established
during the cutback period.
A severe reduction in marketing
can possibly be made during
normal off-base setting periods,
then increased in base-setting
period, so long as the total
reduction contracted for over the
15-month period is not violated.
However, a dairyman could not
collect his quarterly cutback
payments if he doesn’t meet the
contract percentage reduction
during that quarter.
After over 40 years of milking
(Turn to Page A 35)
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Penn State Dairy science freshman Dave Krone and Jud
Heinrichs discuss possible use of university's computers at
York Dairy Day.