VOL. 31 No. 25
Mrs. Scott (left, bottom photo) and her herdsman, Heinz
Meilke will be welcoming visitors from across the country
to Ardrossan Farms when the tilth National Convention
comes to Pennsylvania April 22 to 25.
This issue has features about Ardrossan Farms on A-20,
and Masonic Homes on A-22. Also included are interviews
with outstanding Ayrshire individuals Wesley Harding, Jr.
on A-26 and Milton Brubaker on A-31. Look for complete
coverage of this convention in next week’s issue.
Suspect turkey flock
does not have avian flu
BY JACK HUBLEY
HARRISBURG - Ac
cording to test results received
yesterday morning, a suspect
Lancaster County turkey flock
does not contain the deadly
HSN2 avian influenza virus.
Following a flu outbreak in a
gamebird flock near Ephrata
last week, surveillance efforts
uncovered a virus of unknown
type in a nearby turkey flock.
By press time yesterday PDA
spokesman Bob Bunty was able
to confirm that the first half of
the virus had been typed as
“HI”, which is definitely not
avian influenza, and may turn
out to be swine flu.
“There was a suspicion that it
was swine flu as we went into
the testing,” said Bunty, adding
that there are hogs being raised
on the premises. If further
testing does confirm the
presence of swine flu, no
depopulation will be necessary,
Bunty said. The tests are being
done by the National Veterinary
Services Lab in Ames, lowa.
The 1j test confirmed out
break of avian flu occurred in
an Ephrata-area gamebird’
QoCk containing 1,200 chukars
and 800 guinea fowl. The flock
was depopulated Wednesday.
Five Sections
Both the state’s Department
of Agriculture and Poultry
Federation consider it to be an
isolated incident posing no
major threat to the poultry
industry.
“It seems to be linked to a
trucker from New Jersey,” said
the Poultry Federation’s Tim
Allwein, adding that the poultry
hauler stopped to pick up a load
of birds at the Ephrata-area
farm sometime during late
March or early April. One
week later the trucker’s farm
was found to be infected with
the virus.
Only two weeks ago,
Agriculture Secretary Richard
Grubb declared the state to be
free of avian influenza and
called for an end to the em
bargoes on Pennsylvania
poultry and products imposed
by numerous states and a
number of foreign countries.
“We asked for an end to
embargoes because we believed
our state to be a safe one from
which to purchase poultry and
eggs,” said Grubb. “In view of
our effective surveillance
program and our industry’s
cooperation, we still believe
so.”
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 19,1986
A dairyman in buyout
c shares his thoughts
To get first-hand thoughts and
experiences of a dairyman who
made an accepted bid in the whole
herd buyout program, Lancaster
Farming’s Editor, Everett
Newswanger met with James F.
Myer, 170 W. Brubaker Valley
Road, Lititz, this week. The in
terview in Myer’s farm home
sought to answer such questions
as: Was enough information
available to make the decision on a
bid price?; Did the decision pose
any moral or ethical questions?;
What effect did mass media
reports have on personal
relationships in the farm com
munity? ; and Would this dairyman
do it again?
Here are the questions and the
answers given:
NEWSWANGER - How long
have you been in the dairy
business?
MYER - Since 1961, about 25
years.
NEWSWANGER - How many
animals from your herd are in the
buyout program 7
MYER - A total of 296. This in
cludes milking animals and all
young stock.
NEWSWANGER - What factors
went into your decision to enter the
program?
MYER - The amount of em
phasis recently on the milk surplus
New twist in tillage
Slit till system saves soil, water, time and money
BY JACK HUBLEY
LANCASTHR Any way you
slice it, tillage - is simply
manipulating the soil in
preparation for planting. The trick
is to keep the ground where it
belongs after heavy equipment has
jarred it loose from its moorings.
To modify his ihisel plow for slit tillage, Myer removed half the chisel shanks and
replaced standard chisel shovels with two-inch-wide teeth (see inset). Disks mounted in
front; of the unit help to guide the five chisel teeth, spaced 30 inches apart.
James Myer shares his thoughts about the whole herd
buyout program from his farm home north of Lititz.
probably got my attention as much
as anything. I was convinced there
was a m ilk surplus nationwide
even though locally there may not
be a real big surplus.
NEWSWANGER ■ Did you find
enough information available to
Today’s crop farmer has a brqad
range of techniques and equipment
at his disposal to get the job done,
from the traditional moldboard
plow to no-till systems, and pldhty
of imaginative variations in bet
ween.
One option that seems to iall
$8.50 per Year
make your bid decision?
MYER - The bidding information
from the government’s side was
very limited. Farmers were pretty
much in the dark about the
government’s thinking on what
(Torn to Page A 27)
smack in the middle of these two
extremes is the slit system em
ployed by Herbert Myer of Lan
caster County. Myer farms 110
acres of com near the town of
Lampeter and has been using what
he’s dubbed slit tillage on his com
(Turn to PageA24)