Cattlemen’s chief addresses Polled Hereford Field Day
BY JACK RUBLE Y
SCHELLSBURG - More than
300 cattlemen traveled to
Falklands Farm on July 13 to listen
to National Cattlemen’s
Association president Jo Ann
Smith assess the beef industry’s
plight and offer Her organization’s
formula for a brighter future.
The keynote speaker’s address
highlighted the Pennsylvania
Polled Hereford Association’s
Field Day held at Falklands Farm
near Schellsburg, Bedford County.
Smith is no stranger to the cattle
business. She and her husband
Cedrick own a commercial
cow/calf operation near
Wacahoota, (a Seminole indian
word appropriately meaning “cow
house”) where they use primarily
English breeds in their three-way
crossing program.
A fifth generation Floridian,
Smith took office in January as the
first female president in NCA
history.
Smith traced the roots of the
country’s overproduction problem
to early in the century, when the
nation was fighting to keep its
people fed. “We were a nation that
did not have enough food after
World War I,” she said. “And we
have seen this nation go from a
lack of agricultural products to a
nation of overabundance. We have
produced ourselves to bankrup
tcy,” she said.
But turning to the beef industry’s
current economic woes, she put the
problem squarely in the federal
A beef panel discussion, moderated by APHA area coordinator Ernie Smith, (standing)
included, from left, Jerry Ballard, Big T Ranch; Monti Soules, Ace Farm, NY; Conrad
Stitline, Mohican Farm, Ohio; and James Bennett, Knoll Crest Farm, Va.
One of Falklands' sociable Hotline bulls enjoys the attention of Sheri, Randy and Rusty
Petit.
government’s lap. In drafting farm
legislation for 1985, the number
one priority must be reducing the
deficit, she said.
“We feel that our biggest
competitor is the federal govern
ment, because of extreme over
spending,” Smith stressed. AH
facets of the economy, including
agriculture, must be ready to
endure further spending cuts, she
said. “Agriculture is going to have
to take its licks,” she said, pointing
to the high cost of commodity
programs.
Another area of special concern
to NCA is tax reform. “What
bothers me is that tax reform
proposals seem to pick out those
people that make a living in this
industry,” Smith said. The NCA
chief pointed specifically to
proposals that would eliminate the
investment tax credit and capital
gains sections of tax law. “I can
assure you that to lose these would
be very costly,” she emphasized.
Stressing the need for “more fair
treatment with respect to im
port/export ratios, Smith called
for the development of foreign
trade, and access to heretofore
restricted markets.
Concerning proposed set-aside
legislation that would take millions
of acres of marginal land out of
row crop production, Smith noted
that “we don’t need a lot of acres
we can turn into pasture overnight,
because we already have over
production.”
Turning to the subject of low
level use of tetracyu. _ . ..oier
growth promotants, “We have
asked our people to withdraw from
using them until we know more,”
Smith said. The NCA leader was
not ready to condemn the use of
growth promotants, however, and
emphasized that the association
has pressed FDA for a thorough
scientific evaluation of such
products before the axe is dropped.
“The reason that the issue won’t go
away is that this nation can now
afford to be concerned,” she said.
One bright spot in the beef in
dustry, Smith noted, is the ef
ficiency being bred into beef cattle.
“You can’t afford to have a big,
wastey animal anymore,” she
said. But though Smith lauded the
industry for its major strides in the
field of genetics in recent years,
she conceded that cattlemen were
not without blame for the current
state of the farm economy.
Though at one time beef con
sumption per capita averaged 100
pounds, on an annual basis,
present consumption is calculated
to be 74 pounds, “and it may drop
further,” she said. “We have
problems with demand today
because we have chosen to put the
product there and expected the
consumer to pick it up. We have to
put the product there that the
consumer wants,” she stressed,
pointing out that cattlemen could
take a lesson from the poultry
industry with respect to the
development of new products that
appeal to consumers. “We can
NO A president Jo Ann Smith was the keynote speaker at
PPHA’s Field Day hosted by Falklands Farm, Schelisburg.
produce it any way the consumer
wants it,’’she said.
And in an effort to bolster con
sumer demand, NCA is currently
pressing for a national checkoff
program. “We have a bill in the
works,” Smith said, noting that the
checkoff legislation has been voted
out of House committee and is
headed for the full House attached
to the farm bill. The proposal calls
for $1 per head to be divided
equally between the state beef
councils and the National Beef
Promotion Board.
USDA seeks roach repellant
WASHINGTON - Chemicals
that repel German cockroaches
100-percent of the time may
someday keep them out of places
where they live and breed,
providing a new way to control
these common household pests, a
U.S. Department of Agriculture
researcher said today.
Laboratory tests show that even
if the roaches are starving to
death, they will not enter a
repellent-treated area to get food
and water, said Richard S. Pat
terson, entomologist with USDA’s
Agricultural Research Service.
Patterson said the repellents
were selected from several hun
dred compounds tested over the
past few years at USDA’s Insects
Affecting Man and Animals
Research Laboratory in
Gainesville, Fla. All of the
repellents are amide compounds
belonging to the same structural
group of chemicals as the biting
insect repellent called “deet.”
“Exactly how the compounds
work to repel roaches is not
known,” Patterson said. “The
insects have to touch the chemical
-get a ‘hot foot,’ so to speak. They
are definitely not reacting to
odor.”
Patterson said that the most
effective of the compounds retain
their repelling ability for up to a
month after application.
“Repellents are a new concept in
roach control,” Patterson said. “It
is better to keep roaches out of
things rather than treat a general
area with insecticide.”
Patterson said the repellents
could have several commercial
% I
Smith’s presentation was
followed by a tour of the Falklands
Farm facilities and a junior heifer
preview show.
Well-known throughout the
purebred cattle industry Mr. and
Mrs. Leon Falk maintain a herd of
300 Polled Hereford brood cows on
their 1,850 acre farm. The farm
uses its own bulls, with Enforcer
107 H having the the greatest im
pact on the herd in recent years,
according to Falklands’ manager
Paul Slayton.
applications, including protection
of electronic equipment and ap
pliances against roach in
festations.
“Computers, microwave ovens,
and other electronic gear provide
the ideal warm, dark refuges in
which roaches live and breed,” he
said. “Cockroaches can cause such
machines to malfunction when
they invade the inner workings.”
Another possible use of chemical
roach repellents is treatment of
cardboard shipping containers
favorite hiding places for roaches.
Treating such containers with a
roach repellent could help prevent
the spread of roaches through
movement of infested containers.
Patterson said that in laboratory
tests the repellents have proved
completely effective against the
German cockroach (Blattella
germanica), and show promise of
controlling the larger American
cockroach (Periplaneta
amencana) and the smoky brown
cockroach (Periplaneta
fuligmosa).
Three patents are pending on a
large number of the USDA
synthesized repellents: five have
been selected for advanced testing.
Tests are now underway to
determine if the compounds
produce any adverse reactions.
Companies need a license to
develop a commercial product
covered by federal patents.
All of the chemical repellents are
experimental, and none is ex
pected to be on the market for at
least several years.