<> I I 11 a^H^H
VOL. 31 No. 20
Lancaster 4-H’er Ellen Lewis and her lamb Pee Wee are
getting ready to celebrate PennsykmidliiM I Week, March 16
to 23. For a story on Ellen's 4-H career turn to page 816.
Turn to pages B 2 and C 2 for other stonesteaturing 4-H’ers.
I&emment to replace
t ramm-Rudman cut
“ WASHINGTON - President
Reagan has indicated that he will
sign a package of revisions to the
1985 Farm Bill, including a
provision substituting a 12-cent
dairy assessment for a 55-cent
reduction in support price.
The measure, passed by the
Congress late last week, is the
dairy industry’s response to the
Gramm-Rudman-Hollings budget
cutting measure. The Gramm-
Rudman cuts, which went into
effect March 1, would have pared
55 cents per hundredweight from
the price the Commodity Credit
Corporation pays to purchase
surplus dairy products.
Guernsey breeders meet in Lebanon
Pennsylvania Guernsey breeders were meeting at week’s
end for their 55th Annual Meeting in Lebanon. For complete
coverage of the meeting, awards banquet, and sales see next
week’s Lancaster Farming. And for a feature on one in
teresting operation, turn to page A 24.
, Five Sections x ’
Those reductions would have
beeiv addition to a 40-cent
assessment to be levied on
producers beginning April 1, to
fund thfc new herd buyout
program.' 1
The dairy industry proposed the
assessment, since it would be
distributed across all the milk
produced in the country, not just
the of production sold ip
surplus to the CCC. The CCC
purchase price pays an important
rold in setting dairy prices across
the country, and the reductions
required by Gramm-Rudman
eventually would have reduced
(Turn to Page A 26)
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 15,1986
Herd buyout participation
greater than anticipated
BY JAMES H. EVERHART
WASHINGTON Reports from
throughout the country indicate
dairy farmers participated in the
controversial herd buyout plan in a
varied and vigorous fashion.
Although formal reports will not
be available for several weeks,
USOA officials indicated bidding
activity was greater than they
expected and the range of bids
was “staggering.”
“Participation was much higher
than anticipated,” indicated one
ASCS official who asked not to be
identified. “It was twice what we
needed, from all reports.”
Bid totals, he said, ranged from
a low of $1.96 a hundredweight to
$350, with the greatest activity in
the $2O to $4O range.
“We’re just encouraged that
dairy farmers participated so
strongly,” the official said. He
indicated that the department felt
the positive response was a vote of
confidence for the program.
Reports from throughout the
Watching as the bids tire opened
BY JOYCE BUPP
Staff Correspondent
YORK - All that was missing
was the batch of little, white
ping-pong balls with numoers
on them, bouncing around in a
see-through container.
With that exception, the
Monday afternoon opening of
York County’s dairy herd
buyout bids assumed a sort of
lottery flavor. About half the
audience held potential
“winners,” or contract bids,
while the remainder were
merely on hand as interested
spectators.
When all the envelopes had'
been opened, contracts un
folded and second bids
overruled earlier ones in cases
where bidders had reassessed
figures before the deadline, a
total of 37 dairy families had
played their hand in the buyout
game.
Low bid in York County was
$lO, for participation in the first
buyout period, to begin April 1
and run through August 31.
High bid was $BO, and was for
the third period of the buyout,
March 1 through August 31 of
1987.
The 37 individual bidders put
in 96 separate bids, most bid
ding a figure for each of the
three buyout periods. A few,
however, bid into only one or
two of the three periods.
Of the total 96 bids, 25 were in
the range. Second high
group was in the $2O-$3O range,
with a total of 21 bids. Another
20 bids came in the $3O-$4O
range. And, there were IS bids
each in both the $lO-$2O range,
and for $5O and over.
There were a few cases of the
same bid price across the
region indicated that participation
was surprisingly high in many
areas approaching 20 percent in
some cases. ,
Statewide participation was 19.4
percent in New York, with bids
ranging from less than $lO to a high
of $225. And in Delaware, par
ticipation averaged about 13.4
percent.
In Pennsylvania, ASCS officials
declined to provide figures, but
indicated participation was higher
than in the dairy diversion
program which ended in March
1985. The Keystone State had 1,221
participants in the earlier
production-control program.
Bids will be submitted to the
Commodity Credit Corp. office in
Kansas City, where they will be
tabulated and evaluated.
Dairymen whose bids are being
accepted will be notified over the
next several weeks.
Producers had until March 7 to
enter a bid in the producer-fuaded
Presiding over York County's dairy buyout bid openings
were, from left, ASCS committeemen Wilson Nace, Geary
Huntsberger, chairman Richard Deardorff and office
manager Peggyann Carnill.
board, fdr all three buyout
periods. A few others ranged as
much as $2O difference from one
bid period to another. Most
however, ranged a few dollars
from one period to another,
apparently dependent on a
bidder’s personal preferred
time to exit the dairy business,
if selected.
A local accounting specialist
on hand to hear the price bids
privately ventured a guess that
perhaps five to nine of the bids
might win consideration.
The number of participants,
according to York ASCS office
head Peggyann Carnill, was
about what had been expected.
Most apparently pondered the
issue, and “crunched” numbers
right up until the Friday, March
7, deadline.
“We had 28 come in on
Friday,” she affirmed. “It was
really busy.”
17.50 per Year
Herd Termination Program, as the
buyout is formally titled.
Passed as a Farm Bill com
promise negotiated late last year
in the U.S. Congress, the buyout is
designed to permanently remove
up to 12 billion pounds of dairy
production capacity.
Funded by a 40-cent assessment
on producers, the program pays
participants to sell off their dairy
animals for export or slaughter
and keep their facilities out of
dairy production for five years.
The buyout purchases are to
occur in three separate time
periods over the next 18 months, to
lessen the impact of the program
on the meat industry.
Experts indicate that the length
of time involved effectively
discourages herd buyout par
ticipants from returning to the
industry in five years. Nothing
bars “buyout” dairymen from
in other non-dairy
agricultural enterprises, however.
Bidders will know March 28
how they can begin planning
their future.
According to Ms. Camill, the
bids opened Monday were
forwarded to Kansas City for
nationwide tabulation. From
there, numbers compilations go
to Washington, D.C. for final
consideration and selection by
newly-confirmed Secretary of
Agriculture Richard Lyng.
Announcement of selected bids
is to come March 27, with let
ters going out to producers the
following day.
One dairymen, on hand to
hear the bids, matter-of-factly
shrugged his shoulders and
grinned as ASCS chairman
Richard Deardorff announced
the final bid figure.
“Look’s like I’m still la
production; my )Ud whs toe
high. Now I’m going home and’
build a silo.”