A3B—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 12,1984
The Milk
Cheek
TOM JURCHAK
County Agent
Signs of Spring
Most farmers in this area would
say that the signs of Spring have
not been good. In fact there have
been inquiries on procedures for
impeaching the weatherman but
milk market wise it hasn’t been all
that bad. True, you have to look
closely for improvements and I’ve
already been warned against
making the situation look better
than it is. But we’ve waited so long
for some of these signs during our
“winter of discontent’’ that any
good news, no matter how small, is
“as welcome as the flowers, ect”.
However, not all the news is good
and the weather is a problem
especially in a year when it will be
important to have high quality
forage to cut feed costs. And
whenever corn planting starts to
compete with hay cutting it’s
usually the hay quality that suf
fers. Also, lots of acres in corn,
whether here or in the mid west,
can help to keep feed prices down
for milk producers next winter.
Sign-ups for diverting feed grain
acres were about as disappointing
as the Milk Diversion Program
and early signs pointed to a near
record crop of corn this year.
Nationally, only 29 percent of the
farms participated in the corn
Under partly cloudy skies, Hess Mills’ first open house
in Unionville, Chester County, PA, on April 28th was
an overall success. Many steadfast customers of Hess
program with only 53 percent of
the total base acreage. The base
acreage represents less than 50
percent of the total corn acres and
only a 10 percent reduction was
needed to participate. There was
no charge from last year in the
$3.03 target price for corn or the
$2.55 loan rate so, evidently,
producers were willing to gamble
on the weather and the market.
Planting intentions now indicate
nearly 82 million acres in com next
year (compared to 60 million in
1983) so we could be looking at a
crop to break the 1982 record.
However, the future’s market tor
com is at $3.00 a bushel for
December deliveries and while
that’s a lot better than the $3.45 in
July it really doesn’t sound like
cheap feed next winter. The bot
tom line, of course, as we learned
last year, is that from planting to
harvest the weatherman takes
precedence over the Congressman.
More Signs
Closer to milk marketing, the
signs of Spring showed a decline in
production but not in all areas.
However, it was enough to start
moving milk away from
manufacturing plants to fluid
markets at a time of the year when
it should be going the other way.
Up to April 12 this year 143 loads
HESS MILLS OPEN HOUSE
"Porkly Speaking!
a success...
There were plenty of delicious roast pork sandwiches to go around The bunnies went like
hotcakes and the horse films were well attended all day And most of the Hess Mills folks
were there too, staffing the open house, answering questions, and generally socializing
At the end of the day, names were drawn for the door prize winners Thr
• Ist prize winner Robert Hicks, Meadow Springs Farms, Kennett '
10 bags of prime quality horse feed (or equivalei
• 2nd prize winner Robert Bohrer, Wayne, PA, who won 5 bags of hoi
• 3rd prize winner Pat Burnett, West Chester, PA, who won 3 bags of
Congratulations to all of you l
And to all those who came to the open house in support of Hess
would like to extend our warmest thanks and gratitude for allowi
serving your farm and animal needs Thank you from ALL of us at Hej;
were shipped out of Wisconsin
compared to 22 last year and 112 in
1982. January milk production
broke a 56 month record with no
increases over the same month a
year ago. February provided the
first drop of 1.8 percent below
February 1983 allowing for the
extra day in leap year. March
production nearly doubled that
drop with three percent less than
last March.
The big cuts, however, are
coming in the southeast and
southwest where the Milk
Diversion Program sign-ups were
the highest. Minnesota, Wisconsin
and Pennsylvania had cuts of five,
two and one percetn while
California and New York were up
two percent in March. All of this is
reflected in reduced Commodity
Credit Corporation purchases of
dairy products which have been
dropping every month this year so
far compared to a year ago. The
total purchases since October 1 to
April 25 were 7.5 billion pounds of
milk equivalent which was 26
percent less than the same period
last year. Most encouraging was
the flow of dairy products through
the marketing pipeline.
With processors confident of
stable support prices for the rest of
the year inventories were built up
and sales were increasing. Some of
that increase in sales was due to
improving economic conditions
giving consumers more spendable
income. Lower dairy product
prices made them a food bargain
again and consumers responded
with increased purchases. That
same increase in consumer
disposable income put a demand
pull on beef prices and kept cull
cow prices up at the farm.
As a result, dairymen have sent
93,000 more cows to market so far
this year than the Milk Diversion
Program participants indicated in
their diversion plans. Of course,
not all of these culls are coming
from participant herds. Total beef
xkssMus
Paradise Unionvi
Ph: 717-442-4183 Ph: 215-347
production had been up four
percent in January and February
over last year with pork up 10
percent; veal up 15 percent and
lamb up 11 percent so the better
prices must be due to increased
demand.
Future beef production is ex
pected to drop below last year
levels in the second quarter of this
year and average two percent less
for 1984. Hog numbers will be the
lowest since 1976. This should
mean continuing better prices for
cull cows and what many
producers view as the best cure for
iow milk prices. It might even get
some livestock producers out of the
dairy business and back in the
meat business.
The best sign of Spring was the
advertising and promotion
programs that should be in place
locally and nationally for June
Dairy Month. Pennsylvania sewed
it all up last week with the first
meeting on May 1 of the newly
appointed Advisory Board of the
knew that the Bickslers used to
have one.”
While restoring the milker,
Ressor was talking to Verna’s
grandson Gary who said that his
grandmother used to have one.
Checking around with others in
volved in the Farm Museum,
Ressor and Pete Horst, who serves
on the board of directors for
Historical Schaefferstown, con
cluded that the milker was indeed
the same one that Verna Deck used
years ago.
So the reunion took place, but
one question remained on
everyone’s mind, would the milker
still work?
Completing the restoration and
adding on some new parts, Ressor
took the milker to Clvde Deck’s
Mills turned out for the affair, as well as many new
comers. We were appreciative of all the support
from everyone involved.
Best Sign
Mehring
(Continued from Page A 26)
Milk Promotion and Marketing
Program. The Pennsylvania
program was certified by the
USDA to qualify for a 10-cent
credit of the 15 cent assessment
that will be made on all producers
starting with their May milk
shipments.
The State program provides an
opportunity for producers who are
not participating in advertising
and promotion programs in
Federal Order 2, 4 or 36 to con
tribute two-thrids of their
assessment to a Pennsylvania
program. Information and sign-up
cards will be mailed to abjmt 2,700
producers the week of Ma£ 14 and
responses should be made before
the end of May.
Nationally, an advisory board
has not been selected but
nominations have been made by
the states to USDA. The only thing
lacking to start the whole program
moving is the naming of the
national board of 36 producers
from the nominations made by the
states.
milker
farm where it would be tested. And
Verna went right along with them.
Bundled up in warm clothes,
Verna sat down on the milker’s
seat as she had done as a teenager
and started the pumping action
with her feet. Sure enough, milk
flowed from the milker and into the
bucket.
Verna said she was excited to see
that the milker still worked. The
whole incident brought back
memories of a time when
technology was making its mark in
the farming circles.
As for the Mehring milker, it will
be on display at the Schaeffer
Farm Museum along with other
items from the past - all in an at
tempt to preserve the culture of the
Pennsylvania Dutch country.