VOL 32 No. 21 Research May Spark Interest bi Burning Broiler Litter BY JACK HUBLEY EAST WATERFORD - Forest Muir likes his broiler litter well done. Shovel 100 pounds of litter into Muir’s converted wood fur nace, “bake” at 2,000 degrees, and presto, you have 12 pounds of ash. For years the scientific com Farmers met U.S. ag committee person in York County Thursday afternoon. Left to right: Charles Hess, Albert Bentz with John Conrad, staff assistant House Ag Committee. US Committeeperson Hears On-Farm Comments BY EVERETT NEWSWANGER Managing Editor DALLASTOWN - The United States House Agriculture Com mittee sent a staff assistant to York County Thursday afternoon to hear what local fanners had to say about farming as it relates to what’s going on m Washington, And on short notice in spite of lovely weather to get spring farm work done, 26 persons showed up in Charles Hess’s Dallastown R 3 machine shed to talk to John Conrad about the dairy herd A nice view of a Lancaster County farm taken from Scenic Road northwest of Intercourse. We take our pretty farm scenes for granted. But many people who have experienced urban development on their farm land lamentJheJoss_and^ munity, aided by the extension service, has been preaching the value of manure as fertilizer. So how can the Department of En vironmental Resources justify funding Penn State research aimed at sending valuable plant nutrients up in smoke? Two buyout, sod busting, tax laws and the general farm situation that buys products for farm use made with $2O labor while receiving $5 labor on the farm. Hess told Conrad that looking back, it’s obvious that a lot of people would have participated in the whole herd buyout if they could have done so. “As far as the beef people, if the cows would have been marketed more orderly, it would not have hurt them. Now beef is going up, and cull cows are from to PageA26) Sightseeing Lancaster County Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 28,1987 reasons. First, broiler manure is worth about twice as much as a fuel source as a fertilizer. Assuming than liquid propane gas is selling for 70 cents a gallon, Muir calculates that broiler litter is worth about $7O per ton as fuel. Second, some parts of the state, particularly Lancaster County, have too much of a good thing. According to Mitch Woodward, a regional manure management agent working out of the Lancaster Extension office, Lancaster County produces about 5 million tons of livestock manure a year. Woodward also points out that that amount of manure is enough to cover all four lanes of Interstate 81 to a depth of five feet from Harrisburg to Scranton. The county should actually be an ex porter of manure, since it happens to be about 70,000 acres short of being able to spread the wealth at recommended amounts. Assuming officials aren’t in terested in resurfacing interstates with the stuff, bummg may be a logical alternative. “We need to look at some way to get that manure out of Lancaster County,” Muir emphasizes. Although much of the livestock manure produced today is in slurry (Turn to Page A 33) Chester-Del• Co. Farmers Hear Morris BY MARJORIE KEEN Chester Co. Staff Correspondent Pennsylvania Representative Samuel Morns (D-155) of Potts town gave Chester-Delaware County Farmers Association members a rundown of pending agricultural legislation at Tuesday night's spring banquet. Morris urged farmers to write letters to Governor Robert Casey and House warn that we must do something now to keep our scenic views, or they will be lost forever. Editor Newswanger took the picture with a 70 to 250 telephoto lens- Penn State Poultry Science professor Forest Muir holds two pieces to the excess manure puzzle: a broiler chick and combustible broiler litter that may prove to be an economical heat source for broiler houses and other farm buildings. Speaker James J. Mandermo (D -58) in support of the bills Morris indicated that Representative Arthur Hershey (R-13), who was also in at tendance, favored agricultural security areas, shifting the tax base from land, establishing an Animal Health and Research Commission, licensing poultry truckers and allowing more Five Sections freedom in commodity ad vertising. “Help us help you,’’ said Morris. “Write some letters, call on the telephone. We’re always ready to be on the other end of the phone. Use this resource and get after us ” Morris especially pleaded for help for his bill, HB-442, whereby counties can buy conservation easements to “keep prime farm land from being turned into shopping centers " According to Morris, “The governor says it's a RCMA Needs Buyer Cooperation BY MARTHA J. GEHRINGER LANCASTER In order for the Regional Cooperative Marketing Agency to work in the long run, all Class 1 milk buyers must be charged the same price, a dairy economist explained Monday night. James Fraher of the Atlantic Dairy Cooperative pointed out several additional conditions which must be present for the program to work in the long run. At Monday’s informational meeting he noted the uniform price, which the current Federal Order system provides, is necessary to start all buyers on the same level for the system to work. Second, Fraher explained, the premium payments, which the milk handlers will pay if RCMA becomes effective, must be seen by the handlers as necessary to en sure an adequate milk supply. When RCMA achieves a 95 percent enrollment of dairymen in the (Turn to Page A 27) Pet apk ozm? !*k Um $8.50 Per Year (Turn to Page A3B)
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