A26-Uncast«r Fanning, Saturday, June 6,1987
Beef Is Popular Alternative
(Continued from Page A 24)
farming, and only 15 percent plan
on full retirement with no further
employment.
Nor was bankruptcy a major
factor for most farmers going the
buy-out route. “It appears that the
majority of these farmers were
fairly well off .financially,” says
Kirkland. Only 14 percent in
dicated they would need their
entire buy-out check to pay debts,
with 2 percent listing bankruptcy
as a major factor in choosing the
buy-out. Forty-two percent of the
respondents took the opportunity
to sell because they believed the
dairy business no longer had a
bright future. Other major con
tributing factors included the
health of the owner and labor
problems. Two percent said they
were simply burned out.
According to ASCS executive
director Gene Thompson, the
state’s dairy herd will be reduced
by 20,614 cows, 7,319 calves heifers
and 5,386 calves by the end of the
third buy-out period in August. He
points out, though, that the
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numbers will actually be higher,
since the official tally doesn’t
include calves dropped between
the time bidding took place and the
herds were dispersed.
Thompson says that the number
of cows entered in the buy-out
nationally represents 6 percent to 8
percent of the total milk
marketings. “But that doesn’t
necessarily mean you will get a 6-
percent ■drop in production,” he
says, noting that the program
probably culled a higher per
centage of the marginal herds than
the high producers. The ASCS chief
expects a net decrease in milk in
the 3- to 4-percent range.
Jim Pepple’s decision seems to
reinforce Thompson’s theory. “I
had purely grade, commercial
animals,” he says, pointing out
that his brother, Robert, who owns
a herd of purebred registered
Holsteins, did not opt to sell. “His
purebreds were worth five times
beef price,” says Jim. “They have
more sentimental value in them,
too.”
The total cost of the buy-out
raißiriiiii
comes to $42.5 million in Penn
sylvania, which is a good in
vestment, according to Jack
Kirkland, who points out that
Commodity Credit Corporation
purchases are running about 50
percent of what they were last year
at this time.
“I think this program is a good
tool for getting supply in line with
demand,” Kirkland says, adding
that the buy-out also encouraged
farmers to sit down and take a
hard look at the profitability of
their operations. Regulating milk
supply solely through support
prices results in too much lag time
between lower prices and a drop in
production, he says.
Judging from Penn State’s
survey, most buy-out participants
are leaving the business per
manently. Seventy-five percent
said it was unlikely they would get
back into dairying at the end of
their 5-year DTP contracts, while
only 5 percent said it was “very
likely” they would once again be
milking cows.
For his part, Jim Pepple says it’s
not his goal in life to be milking
cows 10 years from now. But if he
ever does decide to get into the
dairy business again, he’s con
vinced he’ll need better cows. “I
don’t think you can make money in
the dairy business anymore
milking average cows,” he says.
Like many former dairymen,
though, Pepple admits that there is
one aspect of the dairy business he
will miss-the monthly milk check.
rj23
225225
C3SCS
•sfe
feV
te
When Performance
Makes The Difference
Jim Pepple still has black and white cattle on his farm, but
he’s not milking any of these. With the help of the Dairy
Termination Program, the Chester County dairyman turned
his dairy operation into a beef herd. He says feeder cattle fit
well into free-stall facilities.
Cumberland has eliminated fha
grill to give birds batter access
to feed, and to heap them from
becoming hepped in the pen.
i Pans are easy to install,
dean and service. r
Adult
Turkey
Feeder
Its From
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139 A West Airport Rd. •
(717) 569-2702
>
v3^
Lititz, PA 17543