BYEDSHAMY
Northwest New Jersey
Correspondent
HACKETTSTOWN - The long
hayride may be over for farmers in
northwestern New Jersey and
northeastern Pennsylvania.
The North Jersey Livestock
Auction Market, long a respected
place to sell cattle, eggs, chickens,
and other commodities, will begin
to sell hay on Tuesday, September
23.
Buyers and sellers who take
advantage of the auction will be
spared the ride to the closest hay
markets in Ephrata and New
Holland, both of which are well
over an hour’s drive from this
region along the Delaware River.
Auction master A 1 Nunn, who
presides at the weekly auction in
eastern Warren County, said the
market’s executive board had been
considering the addition of hay to
its list of commodities for several
years.
The final decision came after
Duane Copley, the district
manager of the Warren County Soil
Conservation District, made a
convincing pitch to include hay.
Copley told the board that the
creation of a formal hay market
could help soil conservationists
convince area growers to stabilize
erosion-prone hillsides and would
reflect dramatic changes in the
agriculture of the region.
The auction market executive
board, already endowed with the
necessary space and the available
tune to undertake the hay auction,
agreed.
The sale was created primarily
for the common hay products
grown in the area alfalfa,
timothy, clover, orchard grass and
the mixed bales but Nunn said
that mulch hay, straw, ear com,
baled com fodder and other gram
related products would also be
sold.
The sale will be held in the open
air in a meadow across Stiger
Street from the auction market.
Vendors can sell their hay by the
ton or by the bale, said Nunn.
Those who have their forage
auctioned by weight will be
required to present to the auc
tioneers a certified weight slip. A
list of certified scales in the area is
being distributed to potential
sellers. ~
Nunn said th?4(vestock market’s
executive board waived a
suggestioiythat the hay auction be
held on a trial basis, convinced
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North Jersey Market To Now Sell Hay
that it will draw a market from
those producers and buyers who
have traditionally traveled to
southeastern Pennsylvania and
into New York State to swap hay.
Copley believes that many
growers will be interested in the
Hackettstown hay sales because,
for some, it costs as much as $3O
per ton to ship the bales of feed to
distant markets.
Sellers will also benefit because
they will be paid promptly for their
hay, according to Copley.
Nunn confirmed that the
payments for items sold at the
auction are issued on Thursdays.
The auction is held each Tuesday,
year-round,'’ ■
Copley said that when farmers
sell to other farmers, they often
agree upon the price of the hay, but
don’t receive payment for weeks,
or even months. The auction
market can improve cash flow for
financially pinched growers, he
said.
For Copley and the conservation
district, the new hay market
Northumberland Farmer Cited For Conservation Efforts
SUNBURY Barry Woodruff, a
Northumberland County farmer,
has been selected as Con
servationist of the Month for
August by the board of directors of
the Northumberland County
Conservation District. The an
nouncement was made by Robert
Pardoe, Jr., district chairman.
Woodruff, 24, is being honored
for his efforts in developing and
implementing a soil conservation
plan on a farm that ,he recently
purchased. He has installed 36
‘Clear Title’ Rules
WASHINGTON - The U.S.
Department of Agriculture has put
in place final clear title rules of the
1985 Food Security Act, which say,
beginning Dec. 24, purchasers will
be allowed to take clear title to
farm products unless they are
notified of an existing lien.
Each state decides for itself
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system. However, unless lenders
notify potential buyers or states
develop a central notification
system, buyers would take clear
title to farm products even though
a lien exists, just as with other
products under provisions of the
Uniform Commercial Code.
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comes as a victory that could make
the erosion-control argument more
effective.
Warren County is New Jersey’s
most concentrated dairy area.
Hunterdon County, to the south, is
ranked among the top producers of
milk. And immediately across the
Delaware River, dairy is a prime
agricultural industry in Nor
thampton County, Pennsylvania.
But increasingly, dairymen are
leaving the business and getting
into cash crops and more specialty
cropping. And perhaps the most
rapid growth has been in horse
industry. There are no fewer than
10 horse race tracks within 100
miles of the area, and breeders and
trainers have responded by
building their stables in the
mountainous area. New Jersey is
among the leaders of the states
with the most number of stan
dardbred and thoroughbred horses
in the country.
Many of the horse breeders,
however, don’t grow their own
feed, and depend on area farmers
to fill the void.
acres of contour stripcropping, a
1000-foot sod waterway, and 2800
feet of subsurface drainage.
Future conservation activities,
including the construction of a 800-
foot sod waterway next year, are
being planned.
‘ ‘When I bought the farm, I knew
it needed some work,” said
Woodruff. “I grew up on my dad’s
farm just down the road. I noticed
that when it rained hard the creek
at the bottom of the hill always ran
muddy. I knew it was topsoil from
USDA’s Packers and Stockyards
Administration, said one key
change in the final rules involves
the fees states may charge for
maintaining and publishing a list
of liens.
“We have concluded that the law
does not give the Secretary of
Agriculture authority with respect
to fees,” Jones said.
Questions should be addressed to
the Office of the Administrator,
Room 3039 Building, P&SA/USDA,
Washington, D.C. 20250.
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Dairy farmers, too, are slowly
converting their farms to cash
crops. More than 2,500 head were
accepted into the federal govern
ment’s dairy herd buyout
program, with more than 30 far
mers participating in the three
counties.
Copley said many of the par
ticipants have come to his office,
asking how to fill their fields now
that they don’t need silage and
other feed programs exclusive for
dairy cattle.
Most, said Copley, don’t want to
compete in the com, soybean and
wheat arenas because of severely
depressed prices. And the lag gives
a great opportunity to con
servationists who want to see hays
and legumes planted on erodible
land.
The crops are “a fantastic
reducer of erosion on farm
ground,” said Copley.
“It makes our selling con
servation a lot easier, if I can tell
somebody to strip crop with hay
and sell through the auction,” said
this farm because there aren’t any
other farms above it that drain this
way,” explained Woodruff.
Soil Conservation is a good in
vestment, according to Woodruff.
“We know it’s going to pay,” said
Woodruff. “Keeping the soil in
place is going to help our crop
yields. You have to control the
runoff or all your topsoil will be
gone.”
Woodruff has had to reshape his
new farm in other ways. Two
months after he purchased the
farm, the house where he and his
wife and two children lived was
completely destroyed by fire. “It
happened the Sunday before
Christmas,” said Woodruff. “We
lost everything in the fire but,
fortunately, we weren’t at home
when it happened. It isn’t so bad if
you lose everything, as long as
nobody gets hurt.” The Woodruffs
have recently completed the
construction of a new home.
Despite the setback, Woodruff
remains optimistic about his
future and the future of
agriculture. “My dad said that
when he started out, things were
real bad for about seven years,”
said Woodruff. “He made it, and I
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Copley. “Now we can point to a
market for them.”
The result could be financially
healthier farmers.
“A lot of these guys could do
better financially if they took some
of this ground they have now in
corn and started establishing some
hay,” said Copley.
Nunn said the livestock market
will test the hay market and will
determine how busy it gets and
how much time it demands.
Currently, it’s slated for 11 a.m.
on auction days, when there is
ordinarily a lull in activity and two
auctioneers are free.
If the hay draws many vendors,
it is conceivable that a special day
just for the forage could be
established at the market, Nunn
said.
There’s no way, yet, to predict if
that will be needed.
But those who have worked to
get the hay auction rolling are
enthusiastic enough that they don’t
have much trouble envisioning a
bustling market.
think we will too. Things are bad
right now but they have to get
better. People that manage their
farms right will make it.”
Woodruff is the first recipient of
the conservation district’s new
monthly award. The award will be
used to recognize the conservation
activities and accomplishments of
farmers, community leaders, and
ot
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