Farm and Home BY JACK HUBLEY LANCASTER Approximately 75 farmers took part in the Professional Pork Producer’s seminar at the Lancaster Farm and Home Center on Thursday. The theme for the five-hour seminar was improving finishing efficiency, with six speakers on hand to discuss topics ranging from nutrition to computerized swine farming. The morning’s first speaker was Michigan State University’s ex tension swine specialist, Dr. Maynard Hogberg, who discussed methods of identifying finishing inefficiencies. Hogberg urged farmers to carefully monitor their herd’s performance, stating that there was room for improvement if the farmer’s hogs were not reaching a marketable weight of 230 pounds within 174 days. The speaker warned against overcrowding, stating that housing more than 30 animals per pen can lead to behavioral problems and slow finishing. Hogberg’s recommended density figures are 5.5 square feet per animal in the 50 to 120 pound class, and 7.5 feet per animal when weights reach 120 to 220 pounds. On the subject of environmental control, Dr. Hogberg noted that most farmers don’t spend enough time in the herd’s environment to really know what problems might exist. He urged farmers to check ventilation controls monthly, and recommended sufficient insulation COUNTER Works BestPbr Conservation Tillage. For nine years, university tests have shown COUNTER® systemic insecticide-nemati cide to be the most effective corn insecticide there is— whether you apply it banded or remove your banders and apply it directly in the seed furrow. Now, with more and more growers going to some form of reduced or minimum tillage, field tests are also proving COUNTER to be the best insecticide for con servation tillage. CORN PESTS CONTROLUEO—IN-FURROW APPLICATION COUNTER 8 Lorsban' Dytonate 3 Furadan 3 Amaze* CORN PESTS CONTROLLED—BANDED APPLICATION COUNTER* Lorsban’ Dyfonate 3 Furadan 3 Amaze 4 b W essron I ilemj ■ U Oo«. (4 uorroir, 'I *oen» .at sllu«* Cn*n»£ll Comwn, >T aOerda atal> *lra«ma »Ol M->bay Corporal!®" ?*vo r %P__ > Center hosts pork seminar The speaker noted numerous factors responsible for the rising popularity of hedging, including high interest rates, low agricultural prices, past inflation problems and declining land prices. The morning’s final speaker was Penn State extension meat specialist, William H. Henning, with his presentation of a pork NORTH EAST, MD. - The 1984 annual membership meeting of the Maryland Dairy Herd Im provement Corporation will be held at 10:30 a.m. March 27, at Morning Cheer in Sandy Cove on Route 272 south of North East, Md. The business meeting will begin the day’s activities, and members votes are needed, according to secretary Eugene Long. The board of directors con sidered several options on developing a lab to do its DHI work and voted to establish its lab in conjunction with West Virginia. Safe for seed. Since 1975, tests by univer sities in all the major com states confirm that COUNTER won’t hurt your seed. Broadest spectrum control. COUNTER controls more com pests at one low rate than any other insecticide. Check the charts and compare. For all the facts about the best com insecticide available, come see us today about COUNTER. Read and follow label directions carefully fm* CYMMJUMO \J Agricultural Division Wayne Nj 0 a 7 O c 1904 value program. Following lunch, Dr. Hogberg took the podium again to discuss nutrition, and Dr Matthew J. Parsons, extension swine specialist, lectured on receiving programs for feeder pigs. Dr. Parson’s list of four critical factors for incoming pigs includes a healthy environment, the use of water medication, the use of feed Maryland DHI to meet March 27 The lab will be built in Hagerstown on land leased from that city for 50 years at |1 per day. It is hoped, Long said, that the lab will be in operation by July 1. Input is needed, Long said, concerning how to finance the lab. According to figures that were put together, the DHI will need about $lBO,OOO to build and equip the facility. Two options have been developed to finance this project. The first option is to increase the cost of butterfat-protein from 15 cents p**” 17 cents This Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 24,1984—A17 medication, and in some cases, the application of oats. Bill Geise from RBA Data Systems in State College, and Jim Landis from The Office Works in Lancaster, concluded the seminar with a look at computers and the new software packages available. Software demonstrations were available to interested farmers following the seminar. would involve obtaining a loan from the bank or some other source for 15 years for the lab building and five years for needed equipment and furniture. The second option is to self finance by charging all dairymen 23 cents per cow month for one year for the total of 2.76 percent per cow. This option would allow for the reduction of cost per sample to 13 cents because in one year, the building and equipment would be paid for.