A3o—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 12,1984
Ronningen to retire in Md.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Thomas S. Ronningen, 65,
associate director of The
University of Maryland
Agricultural Experiment Station
(UMAES), will retire July 1 after
35 years of academic, ad
ministrative and research work in
agriculture.
Ronningen, who also serves as
director-at-large of the Northeast
Regional Association of State
Agricultural Experiment Station
Directors, spent 23 of those years
with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture’s Cooperative State
Research Service (USDA-CSRS)
and 12 years with the University of
Maryland.
Ronningen was bom and raised
on a dairy farm near Hammond,
Wis. and received the B.S. in
agricultural education from the
University of Wisconsin-River
Falls, and the M.S. and Ph.D. in
agronomy from the University of
Wisconsin-Madison.
He came to the University of
Maryland’s department of
NW Pa. mystery
MEADVILLE The Northwest
Pa. Colored Breed Association met
May 2, at the Farm Credit Office,
Rt. 19, Meadville. The All-Breed
Calf Sale was felt to be a success
although suggestions were made
for improvements. The group was
well pleased with the results of the
$lOO.OO cash raffle and with money
in the treasury new ideas were
brought forth to promote the
association and dairy products.
No-till covers
NEWARK, Del. - Most no
tillage programs include a cover
crop on at least part of the
acreage. This is an excellent
pract’ce and should be continued,
says University of Delaware ex
tension county agent Dean Belt.
Yet every year he hears of a few
farmers who have had a bad ex
perience with a cover, and vow
never to use one again. After
seeing their situations, Belt says
he can understand why they feel
that way.
“Cover crops are planted to help
control soil erosion, add organic
matter and provide a mulch to
conserve moisture and aid weed
control,” the agent says. “But if
allowed to grow too long during a
dry spring, a cover will work
against you and actually dry out
the soil to the point where you may
have trouble planting into it.”
agronomy in 1949 and spent the
next seven years in forage
breeding and management
research.
He was the principal agronomist
for USDA-CSRS from 1956-63, and
spent the next 16 years moving
through the positions of assistant
administrator, administrator and
acting administrator.
In 1979, Ronningen retured to
Maryland as Northeast Regional
director-at-large and associate
director of UMAES.
As director-at-large, Ronningen
helped to develop national policy
for the State Agricultural Ex
periment Station system, which
conducts nearly 60 percent of the
publicly supported research in
agriculture in the United States.
He has served on several
national committees, including the
National Agricultural Pesst'cide
Impact Assessment Steering
Committee, the National Germ
plasm Committee, and the
National Steering Committee for
Forestry Research.
Paula Kunz will chair a com
mittee to organize a display for
Farm-City Day in Crawford
County on June 30. If approved,
there will be a calf of each dairy
breed as well as a table of
literature on the different breeds.
Cheese will be given out, also.
Dave Reusing brought up the
idea of starting a “Mystery Tip
per” in this area, much like others
Avian
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The
biennial conference of the National
Poultry Improvement Plan, set for
June 26-28 at the Radisson-St. Paul
hotel in St. Paul, Minn., will
feature a forum on avian influenza
prevention efforts on June 27.
According to Irvin Peterson,
coordinator for the plan, the forum
on avian influenza prevention will
be chaired by E.C. Sharman,
assistant deputy administrator of
USDA’s Animal and Plant Health
Inspection Service.
Problems encountered and
lessons learned during the recent
outbreak of avain influenza in
Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland
and New Jersey will be discussed
by experts representing federal
and state governments, the poultry
industry and research
laboratories.
Participants include Charles
Beard of USDA’s Agricultural
Research Service. William Buisch
OER regulations mandate that all sewage sludge to be used
as fertilizer must be incorporated into the soil within 24 hours
of application.
tipper planned
have initiated in the state. This
program will begin in May with
Reusing selecting the first “tip
per” and with the help of his
committee arranging for publicity
once the initial $5 tip is earned. The
NWCBA hopes to get waiters and
waitresses in restaurants in
Northwest Pa. to begin promoting
milk as often as they have coffee
and soft drinks.
influenza forum
of USDA’s Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service, Dr.
Robert Eckrode, poultry
pathologist at New Bolton Center,
University of Pennsylvania, David
Halverson of the University of
Minnesota, Dr. Max Van Buskirk
of the Bureau of Animal Industry,
Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture, Frank Craig of
Perdue Farms, Douglas Hoffer of
Creighton Brothers, William Chase
of Hyline International, Gary
Waters of Dekalb Agßesearch and
Carl Weston of Hubbard Farms.
Sharman said avian influenza
Pennfield Dairy Program Pluses:
“No Charge” for roughage testing.
Computer Calculated “Least Cost” Feeding Program.
Bulk Feed Delivered Within 24 Hours From Receipt Of Order.
Corn Merchandising Program
Dairy Terms: 2%% Cash Discount - Due 15th of Following Month
Well Trained “Dairy Specialists” Who Can Help Solve Problems
When They Occur.
Plans are also being made for a
social gathering of the association
to be incorporated with tours of
farming operations.
The next meeting of the NWCBA
is scheduled for June 6 at 8 p.m.
Extension agent Blaine Schlosser
of Crawford County will arrange
for the meeting place. All in
terested persons are invited to
attend. N.K.
does not affect humans and no
human health hazard has been
associated with the outbreak that
has caused the death or destruc
tion of more than 12.5 million birds
at a cost of more than $4O million.
The National Poultry Im
provement Plan is celebrating 50
years of service to the poultry
industry this year. The plan has
played a significant role in the
development of a healthy,
productive poultry industry, which
has done so much toward sup
plying needed food for our nation,
said Sharman.
Pennfield #514
$ lB3 U Net/Ton
(Includes Cash & Volume Discount)
CALL TOLL FREE
PA: 1-800-732-0467
MD: 1-800-233-0202
release dates
LANCASTER According to a
recent Pa. Poulty Federation
newsletter, the USDA during in
formal discussion tentatively set
June 1 as the date to release the
area west of the Susquehanna
River from avian flu quarantine
restriction.
The USDA is also aiming for a
September 1 lift of the quarantine
in all other areas east of the
Susquehanna. *
If the entire quarantine is lifted
by September 1,1984, surveillance
would continue through the end of
December 1984 or January 1985.
In other developments,
laryngotracheitis (LT) has been
diagnosed in a 70,000 bird layer
flock in Bethel Township, Lebanon
County. Dr. David Kradel of the
Pennsylvania Department of
Agriculture says that the outbreak
appears to be relatively mild
because mortality and morbidity
within the flock were very low.
PDA has sent out an LT alert to
all surrounding poultry companies
and organizations to make them
aware of this outbreak.
Gypsy moth
spraying to begin
POTTSTOWN - District
Forester Maurice Hobaugh today
announced that the 1984 gypsy
moth suppression program in
three area counties is scheduled to
get underway on Monday weather
permitting.
Counties in this initial area and
the acreage planned for treatment
include; Berks 10,500 acres,
Chester 1,792 acres and Lancaster
9,477 acres.
The overall program in the
Commonwealth involves 37
counties and 300,000 acres, down
from the 372,000 acres treated in
1983, and the record 495,000 acres
treated in 45 counties in 1982. About
half of the program consists of
county proposals, with the other
half consisting mostly of state
forest lands and state parks.
The amount of state-owned land
being treated has risen sharply
because of a growing tree mor
tality problem, mostly oaks. This
mortality is caused by two or more
consecutive years of defoliation.
14%
DAIRY
PELLETS
Quarantine