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
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Dr. Maynard Hogberg
to hold daily temperature fluc
tuations to no more than 10 degrees
The speaker urged farmers to
monitor samples of their herds
each season in order to control
mange, internal parasites,
pneumonia, and to spot nutritional
problems.
Following Dr. Hogberg was
Penn State extension marketing
specialist, Louis Moore, speaking
on methods of minimizing risk in
the hog business.
Moore spoke at length on
commodity futures, showing how
the market can benefit farmers by
removing the risk of a price
decline from their shoulders.
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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.
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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.