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VOL 29 No. 12
Milk diversion program signups begin
Farm Show weather snow followed by bitter cold arrives a week late.
Avian, milk fund getting legislative priority
HARRISBURG - Avian flu and
the Milk Security Fund are high on
the ag agenda when the Penn
sylvania State Legislature goes
back into session on Monday.
The Senate-passed bill in
troduced by Sen. Noah Wenger, of
Lancaster and Chester counties, to
provide $1.2 million for aid to
poultry farmers affected by Avian
is expected to be amended in the
PRV hanging on as eradication program continues
Summer is revised target date
for statewide disease-free status
EPHRATA Pseudorabies is
still hanging on in 1 Lancaster
County swine herds, but the state is
continuing efforts to get back to a
PRV-free status by next summer.
After an entire summer and
most of the autumn free of any new
outbreaks, pseudorabies was found
m two new herds - one in
November and one just about a
week ago.
“Up to that time things were
looking pretty good and we were
making real progress,” said Dr
John Cable, of the Swine Division,
of the PDA’s Bureau of Animal
Industry.
“We’re still hoping to get it
cleared up by next summer
“But if anything is going to
happen, this is the time of the year
that it does ”
Including the two new herds, a
total of eight operations are still
quarantined - all in the nor
theastern section of Lancaster
County
, Of these, five are breeding
operations and three are feedlots.
Depopulation - entirely at the
owner’s expense - is pretty well
•long in four of the five breeding
Four Sections
. .-V
House and the total increased to $2
million, as requested by the
Governor.
Wenger’s bill was passed by the
Senate but was not acted upon by
the House before the holiday
recess.
The amount of aid is being hiked
to $2 million because of the ever
expanding scope of the Avian
problem.
operations. PRV was just con
firmed about a week ago in the
fifth operation
Of the three feedlots, one is about
out of pigs and progress is con
tinuing on the other two.
The recent outbreaks in
November and about a week ago
were the first in quite a few months
in the state
Prior to that, it was found in
some feeder pigs in June, but may
have come in from out of state In
breeding herds, the most recent
previous outbreak had been way
back in last April.
On August 1, the PDA’s Bureau
of Animal Industry implemented a
mandatory cleanup plan for in
fected herds in a final effort to
eradicate pseudorabies from the
state.
Good progress had been noted in
that effort over the summer and
fall until the most recent setback
with the confirmation of the
disease in the two new herds
At the time the cleanup and
eradication plan was put into ef
fect, it had been hoped that the
state might be free of pseudorabies
(Turn to Page A 37)
Lancaster Famine, Saturday, lannary 21,1954
Funds are to be earmarked for
two main purposes. There would
be reimbursement to those far
mers who suffered flock losses
prior to the start of the federal
indemnification program. This is
estimated to cost about $200,000.
The bulk of the monies would go
toward aiding poultry farmers
with the extensive cleanup costs
(Turn to Page A 34)
40
30
20
10
Number of
new cases
A total of 87 swine premises have been quarantined during the past four years as the
state continues its battle to eradicate pseudorabies. During the initial year of the out
break in 1980, quarantines totaled 28. The number of new quarantines reached a peak
of 40 in 1981 more than half of which came during the PDA’s spring 50-square-mile
survey. The number of new premises dropped to 12 in 1982, five in 1983 and two thus
far this year. Of the 87, eight operations are still under quarantine.
LANCASTER Interest in the
government’s new Milk Diversion
Program is running high among
dairymen, according to
Agricultural Stabilization and
Conservation Service officials,
LANCASTER - A “poultry
watch” or surveillance program
was initiated by the Avian In
fluenza Task Force this week to
make earlier detection of infected
poultry flocks possible.
According to Wayne Baggott,
task force spokesman, the poultry
watch program will facilitate early
detection of avian flu and will
provide information to pinpoint
where the disease is.
Until now, task force personnel
relied on producers to report
suspicious flocks. Through the
poultry watch program, task force
members hope to sample the 700
poultry premises within the 5,100
square mile quarantine zone on a
weekly basis.
Pseudorabies quarantines
1980 ’Bl ’B2 ’B3 ’B4
But ASCS withholding figures
until enrollment period ends
BY TRISH WILLIAMS
Surveillance
of poultry
set to begin
BY LAURA ENGLAND
(Turn to Page A 32)
17.50 per Year
who are swamped with phone calls
and questions on the program.
But it’s anybody’s guess just how
many dairymen have established
bases or contracted to participate
in the program.
ASCS officials are prohibited
from releasing such figures until
all contracts have been submitted,
Jan. 31st. More than likely a final
tally will not become available to
the public until Feb. 15th, the last
date Secretary of Agriculture John
Block has to modify contracts
according to participation levels.
Ronald Hunt, a federal ASCS
official in Washington, D.C., said,
“We have decided not to release
any information on participation
levels until after Jan. 31st, when all
the contracts have been submitted,
because we don’t want the overall
participation level to affect an
individual’s decision to par
ticipate.”
At a meeting on the final
regulations of the program
Tuesday night at the Farm and
Home Center in Lancaster, Ray
Brubaker, hedged a farmer’s
question on the level of par
ticipation in the county. Brubaker,
director of the Lancaster ASCS
office said, “more farmers have
established bases than signed up
for the PIK program.” When
pressed for an exact figure
Brubaker responded, “more than
(Turn to Page A 3 7)