D6-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday November 24,1984
BUSINESS NE
Lehigh Valley
seeks more milk
Alfred Wanner Jr., district president, addresses Lehigh
Valley Farmers meeting attended by more than 150 dairy
farmers and family members from the Gap area. At left is
Richard Hess, member of Lehigh Valley board; and Wilmer
Martin, district vice president.
LANSDALE Members of the
Lehigh Valley Farmers dairy
cooperative shipped nearly 600
million pounds of milk in the first
eight months of the year, an in
crease of eight percent over the
same period last year. All the milk
was sold to Atlantic Processing,
Inc. for more than $79 million.
Officers of the Lansdale-based
organization announced these
results at a series of 10 district
meetings held throughout their
milkshed during the first two
weeks of November.
President Alpheus L. Ruth
commented favorably on the
growth, but acknowledged that it’s
not enough. “Our guaranteed
market - API - needs more milk.
They’re growing in sales and we '
need to grow with them. We’re
considering various ways to speed
up our membership growth and
attract new producers. One thing
we’re going to do for sure is
establish a fall bonus program
next August through November.
We will pay 30 cents per hun
dredweight for extra poundage
over the 1984 production for the
same period.
“The more milk we can put into
API, the more money we will get
Lebanon Agway holds meeting
LEBANON Members of the
Lebanon Agway held their local
annual meeting at Mt Zion
Lutheran Social Hall (recently)
and elected four farmers to the
store’s member committee.
Elected to three-year terms
were Galen Bollinger, Lloyd
Byers, Leßoy Geesaman, and
Harold Myer.
Elected to the petroleum com
mittee was Robert Oellia and
Robert Smith.
• ••
back in patronage dividends and
the larger share of equity our
cooperative will have in API.”
President Ruth and General
Manager Bill Stout asked for each
district to form a Growth Com
mittee among existing members,
who will solicit friends and
neighbors and describe the Lehigh
benefit programs.
Stout congratulated the
producers for their voluntary
support of branded advertising
programs. He cited the ef
fectiveness of television com
mercials for LITE milk, in which
Steve Carlton, famous pitcher of
the Phillies baseball team, is the
spokesman. President Ruth said
that Lehigh would continue to seek
matching funds for these
programs from the National Milk
Promotion Board. Presently, the
Board spends many millions of
dollars only on generic, no-name
advertising.
Other subjects covered during
the meeting included the com
pany’s bonus programs for quality
production.
Fieldmen at the meeting offered
tips on getting ready for winter and
discussed the importance of
keeping lances open for tank
trucks that pick up the milk.
Member committees are
responsible for guiding local
management, evaluating the
store’s service to members and
other customers, and nominating
candidates to the 18-member
Agway board of directors.
A report covering the 1983-84
store’s operations for the past
fiscal year was given by Jack
Reed, manager. Guest speaker
was Gen. Mgr. Bill Hiller.
First loads of ProTek
BY GLENN B. KNIGHT
CAMP HILL - Eight A.M., Nov.
19, 1984, two L.M. Sensenig, Inc.
feed trucks made history at the
Master Mix plant in Camp Hill.
The trucks pulled out with the
first loads of ProTek dairy feed.
Developed by Central Soya
research, the new dairy feed
manufacturing process allows
farmers to cut the amount of
protein in rations by 15 to 20 per
cent with no loss of production or
quality. According to Gordon S.
Bierman, sales manager, a typical
customer can cut protein
requirements by from three to
seven percentage points with no
effect on the herd.
ProTek is not simply a re
formulation of protein sources,
according to Master Mix officials,
it actually alters the chemical
properties of protein so that it is
more effectively used.
The company and university
tests have proven so conclusive
that the first deliveries of the
product are already sold. “These
trucks will go right to our
customers’ farms,” said Sam
Oberholtzer, a Sensenig driver,
who, along with Leroy Martin took
away the first loads of ProTek in
the region.
In the studies, cows fed ProTek
treated feeds averaged 44 lbs. of
milk per day while the control
animals averaged 43.4 lbs. per day.
both groups maintained 3.5 percent
butterfat. The ProTek feedings
required 3.3 lbs. of protein per cow
per day-untreated animals needed
0.7 lbs. more protein per day.
computer info network
DES MOINES, la. Managing
complex information to reduce
risks is becoming even more
important to farmers than
managing their crops and
livestock. Beginning Jan. 1,
however, farmers will have some
new help. Pioneer Hi-Bred In
ternational, Inc., has announced
that the company will begin
marketing and information
management system to farmers in
lowa, Minnesota and the Red
River Valley of North Dakota.
According to John James,
President of the Farm Information
Management Services Division of
Pioneer, this new product includes
everything a farmer needs to more
accurately organize and analyze
information.
“We intend to market a complete
package, not just computer
equipment and software,” James
says. Education is a major com
ponent of the Pioneer program.
Emphasis is given to collecting
appropriate data needed for
decision making, using the com
puter to analyze information and
interpreting and applying results
to the farm operation. Ongoing
service and support, which far
mers have come to expect from
Pioneer, also are important parts
of the product.”
Centered around the IBM
Personal Computer, the basic
Pioneer package comes complete
with color monitor, printer,
spreadsheet and word processing
programs, exclusive decision aid
programs and numerous supplies.
An educational semimar, training
materials and a variety of ad
ditional support services are in
cluded with the basic system.
An important feature of the
Pioneer basic system is the
popular Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet
and analysis program, complete
feed are delivered
Master Mix Plant Manager Dewayne Grafton discusses
ProTek feed with Sam Oberholtzer of L.M. Sensenig, Inc. as
Gordon S. Bierman, Master Mix sales manager, explains the
new product to Leroy Martin, also a Sensenig driver. Loading
of the first deliveries of the.new Central Soya product was
supervised by Plant Superintendent Mark Warren at the
firm's plant in Camp Hill.
“We are in business to help our
customers any way we‘ can,”
explained Bierman, “and with the
cost of protein supplements,
saving three to seven percent of
the protein required in ration we
can help dairy farmers make a
better return on investment.”
Pioneer launches
with exclusive decision aid
programs. These exclusively
developed decision aids are
designed to provide a wide range of
farm accounting and production
analysis procedures to the farmer.
For example, a farmer can project
return per acre for various
cropping options or determine best
crop selling opportunities based on
storage costs and interest rates.
Profits for feeder pigs or cattle can
be projected using different
feeding costs and selling prices,
too.
Additional software programs
are also available to farmers,
based upon their farming en
terprises. These include a Farm
Accounting program which keeps
track of the many financial details
needed for better buying, selling
and management decisions on the
farm. A Crop Production program
helps farmers record and analyze
crooning data. Swine Production
Educational support services, often taking the form of
classroom instruction, will receive major emphasis as Pioneer
Hi-Bred International Inc., introduces its new information
management system to farmers in lowa, Minnesota and the
Red River Valley of North Dakota in 1985. Expansion into
additional markets is planned as sales and support personnel
become available to provide necessary service and support.
ProTek is so unique that it has
already been granted foreign
patents and U.S. patents are
currently pending. Master Mix
dealers have more information on
the test results, which involved
2,200 cows in nine widely-scattered
states.
programs help swine producers
manage and analyze the details
associated with a swine production
operation.
Farmers who purchase the
Pioneer Information Management
System receive extensive training
on practical application of in
formation generated by the system
to their farming operation. Various
enterprise specific seminars and
workshops will also be offered.
Membership in the Pioneer
Information Network entitles
purchasers to other support ser
vices, as well, including a toll free,
customer service hotline and
reduced prices on additional
products.
Initially, a network of specially
trained, full-time sales
representatives will market the
information management system
to farmers in lowa, Minnesota and
the Red River Valley of North
Dakota.