A2B-Uncast*r Farming, Saturday, March 26, 1988
Lancaster County
BY PAT PURCELL
LANCASTER “Lancaster
County has the highest number of
rabies cases in the state right now.
There isn’t much we can do about
it, but let it run its course,” said
Pennsylvania Wildlife Conserva
tion Officer Ted Fox,
The game commission is
encouraging the public to take
immediate precautions against the
exposure to rabies and is discour
aging people from taking animals
to area labs for testing.
“The Pennsylvania Department
of Agriculture, the Department of
Health and the Game Commission
has been monitoring the spread of
rabies. We already know we have a
rabies epidemic. We don’t need to
see the numbers and the labs don’t
need the added strain,” said Ed
Gosnell, Wildlife Conservation
Officer.
The bottom line in the rabies
epidemic according to Fox and
Gosnell, is making the public
aware of the danger. Human expo
sure to rabies is fatal if not treated.
There are precautions people
should be talcing.
“If you see a gun in the road you
don’t pick it up and spin the cham
ber around, put to your head and
puli the trigger. People are out
there playing Russian roulette with
rabies,” said Gosnell.
An animal infected with rabies
will exhibit abnormal behavior. It
| FARM FORUM our readers write j
Editor;
At a time like this, when area
dairy farmers are on the threshold
of receiving the lowest price for
their milk since 1978; one would
think that all elements of the dairy
industry would be uniting their
efforts in an attempt to correct the
adversaries facing dairy farmers.
The current skirmish between
Farmland Dairies and R.C.M.A. is
extremely unfortunate. Can you
imagine what we might be able to
accomplish for dairy farmers if all
the time, effort and money
involved in this skirmish could be
used to correct the real problems
facing all of our dairy farmers.
I’m sure the dairy farmers cur
rently shipping to Farmland Dair
ies are appreciative of the present
75 cent per cwt. premium being
paid to them.
However, isolation or special
premiums paid to a small sector of
dairy farmers has never solved or
come close to solving the over all
problems.
Dairy industry leaders and most
governmental officials have long
recognized the need of marketwide
pooling of milk within our federal
milk marketing orders. In other
words - give all dairy farmers with
in a marketing order an equal share
of the market
The philosophy of market wide
pooling of all milk is the exact phi
losophy of R.C.M.A. The only dif
ference with R.C.M.A. is
1. They pool several markets
together.
2. a) There is no premium on
manufacturing milk
b) However, if the inequities
facing dairy farmers are not cor
rected soon then attention must be
given to establish a national pre
mium on manufactured milk.
1 have worked with various
Farmland officials for nearly 20
years, and I must admit I am com
pletely mystified by the position
that Farmland Dairies has taken
towards R.C.M.A.
I am even more mystified by
, is unusual for animr.ls which are
usually out at night to be seen in
the daylight, such as raccoons and
skunks. Other signs are staggering,
dumbness, docileness, friendliness
or sickness.
Goznell cautions people to
refrain from hiking in the woods
and reminds the public to beware
of docile and friendly wild ani
mals. Aggressivness is character
istic of animal in the final stages of
rabies.
What To Do
Avoid all human contact with
the suspected animal. Do not touch
alive animal or a dead animal. If an
animal wanders into the barnyard
or yard and is a threat, Fox and
Gosnell advice is to shoot it, pick it
up with a shovel and bury it where
it cannot be dug up by other ani
mals.
“Don’t call me to pick them up.
If you find a dead animal in an area
where children or pets may come
in contact with it, bury it. Leave the
shovel in the sun for a few hours to
kill the virus,” explained Gosnell.
“But if an animal is acting sick and
is in a field, stay away from the
thing. This is not open season.”
Rabies is not something that
happens to someone else. In Lan
caster County for January, Febru
ary and March there is a total of 36
confirmed cases which include 4
dairy animals, 1 horse, 2 dogs, 25
raccoons, 1 ground hog, 1 fox, and
Farmland’s reasons for their
position.
Recently advertisements and
news releases issued by Farmland
attempt to indicate that R.C.M.A.
has done little - if anything - to
inform their members of R.C.M.A.
activities.
Actually, during the last several
months several letters have gone to
the independent producers belong
ing to R.C.M.A. Up to this point,
the larger dairy cooperatives have
assumed the responsibilities of
informing their own members
regarding R.C.M.A. If the
cooperatives have failed to do this
then R.C.M.A. is not directly
responsible.
Farmland claims they are unable
to obtain answers from R.C.M.A. I
know there have been at least one
or two meetings between
R.C.M.A. and Farmland. Surely
some answers must have been
obtained.
I remember calling Farmland
during 1985 and 1986 and was told
by their officials, “we will discuss
anything with you except
R.C.M.A.” (You can’t find out
answers that way.)
Farmland claims that dairy far
mers pay for the expenses of the
Board of Directors - organizers,
etc.
During 1985,1986 and 1987, no
Board member of R.C.M.A.
received any expense reimburse
ment. During 1988 a Board mem
ber can have his expenses reim
bursed for Board meetings.
Farmland claims that the army
of R.C.M.A. organizers hav6
received reimbursement for their
expenses. This is an insult to the
hundreds of independent dairy far
mers that have gone from farm to
farm all the way from Maine to the
southern part of Pennsylvania.
These farmers received nothing
from R.C.M.A. During 1988,
R.C.M.A. has finally been able to
pay some expenses to a limited
number of temporary part time
organizers.
Rabies Epidemic In Full
2 skunks. “People must realize
that a dog allowed to run lose,
although it has a vaccination can
transfer rabies to humans if if com
es into contact with a rabid animal
and then a human makes contact
with the dog’s saliva,” explained
Gosnell. “People are asking for
trouble. Feeding pets at night out
side only entices wild animals to
come in contact with pets.”
Any possibility of human con
tact with rabies the victim should
immediately contact the Game
Commission or the local police. It
is fatal if not treated immediately.
“There is nothing we can do to
stop the spread of rabies. What we
must do is make the public aware
of the danger and urge them to take
caution. No matter what we do, it
will take its course just like a flu
would,” explained Fox. “It is very,
very bad in our area and everyone
should be very careful not to get
themselves in precarious posi
tions.”
Dr. Gemmill, D.V.M. of the
West Lancaster Animal Hospital,
disagrees with the Game Commis
sion and finds the state monitoring
system lacking.
“The state monitoring of rabies
stinks. In effect they are doing
nothing. There is a very vigorous
discouragement by the game com
mission to have suspected animals
tested. There is a rabies epidemic
and at this point people should
It would be nice to eliminate the
need of public relation firms and
attorneys; however, they are just as
necessary for R.C.M.A. during a
skirmish as they are to Farmland.
Whatever these costs are - they
don’t come out of producers direct
milk check, but come from the pre
mium money.
The total cost of running
R.C.M.A. is not deducted from
producers milk check. The cost
comes from the premium money.
Editor, it would take all of your
paper to fully answer Farmland’s
accusations. Instead, I would like
to outline a typical R.C.M.A.,
meeting where the program was
explained to dairy farmers or any
one else present, (see explanation
of RCMA meeting).
)lanation of R.C.M.A. Meetim
The membership of R.C.M.A. will consist of
co-op members and independent dairy farmers
The Board of Directors of R C.M.A. will
consist of co-op directors and independent
directors.
Independent producers will be assigned to a
region.
The delegate bcdy of R.C.M.A. will consist of
independent and co-op delegates.
Monies from New England will be pooled with
Order #2.
Cost of running R.C.M.A. will cane from
negotiated premiums not from producers
milk checks.
Premium money will go to a special bank
account under the supervision of a major
accounting firm.
Premium money will be negotiated on fluid
milk and not imnufacturing milk for the
present tune.
If a milk handler fails to pay the premium,
then the R.C.M.A. member's milk will be
diverted.
example: negotiated premium
a) Supposing a $1 oer evt premium was
collected on all fluid milk,
b) Supposing the market had a 50% Class I
utilization, then the paid premium would be
50% fluid utilization
- 50 cent per cwt.
- 3 cent per cwt. (administration cost)
47 cents price to producer
These examples were used at all
meetings that I attended across
Pennsylvania.
I will not address Farmland’s
claims of their accomplishments in
the marketplace, except that I rec
ognize their importance of being
there.
However, when they make the
wild claim that they have not
assume that every animal has
rabies until proven otherwise.
“One of my technicians was
recently having a picnic in Central
Park when a skunk staggered out
of the bushes in the midst of their
picnic. Their solution was to shoot
it and bury it,”said Gemmill.’T
believe the state is doing a real dis
service by not doing more testing
for rabies and know what real
numbers are.”
Bruce Reimer of the Pennsylva
nia State Health Department, said
that any animal suspected of hav
ing rabies should be brought to a
lab for testing.
“Any suspected case should be
reported. We want an accurate
testing. We do not want to be
showing 33 reported cases in the
county when in effect there are
actually 83, and 50 have just not
been reported. We must make the
public aware of this very serious
problem and we need to constantly
re-emphasize the very real danger
of exposure to rabies,” said Reim
er.
However, Gosnell and Fox
agree, that whether there are 50
confirmed cases or 100 confirmed
cases in the county, the bottom line
is that there is a serious rabies
epidemic in Lancaster County and
that immediate precautions must
be taken by all residents.
turned away producers because of
oversupply, certainly someone has
a short memory down there.
I very well remember scores of
Farmland producers being given
their official notice between 1977
and 1980. Most of these producers
ended up with Eastern Milk
Producers.
I would like to have Marc Gold
man come out and talk to some of
his former producers that were
turned over to Scheps Cheese dur
ing 1983, and in many cases it was
done in one day’s time. Ask a pro
ducer who lost $40,000 by that
transition if he would call it a
“turning away.”
Conclusion:
I recognize that Farmland was
helpful in aiding farm organiza-
Did It
Happen?
Ves
Starting ii/1, 87
Yes'
This
form la stxll
exists.
tions to establish better bonding
laws in Pennsylvania.
They were also helpful with
Eastern - Leprino project in South
Waverly, PA. However, the farm
members of Eastern were very
helpful to Farmland with the
Leprino project, as they paid
Farmland a nice price for the plant
Swing
For fanners there is indemnity
money available for livestock due
to rabies, but it can only be cllected
if dogs and other pets have been
vaccinated against rabies. This
includes any animal kept in the
house, but it does not include farm
cats. Many people view this as a
major flaw in the law.
“I don’t have any explanation
for it except that it’s politics. Peo
ple are putting themselves, their
family and their animals at risk by
not having their animals vaccin
nated. And if they are not vacci
nated, such as the bam cats then
they shouldn’t be on the farm.
Right now it is too big a risk,” cau
tions Dr. Gemmill. “People who
have dairy cattle can vaccinate
their herd for less than five dollars
an animal. It is an expense, but it
will cost them much less than
replacing the animal or going
through treatment if exposed to it.”
Gemmill reported that three vet
erinarians in the Lancaster area
have been exposed to rabies and
have undergone the treatments.
According to the State Health
Department, there rabies spread to
a dairy animal in the Bainbridge
area, and one member of that fami
ly is under going treatment. The
most recent case confirmed by the
department of health was a dairy
cow in Peach Bottom.
in South Waverly. And in addition,
Eastern became responsible to
handle a large volume of Farm
lands spring surplus plus making
milk available to Farmland during
the “short season.”
I think it is high time for Farm
land to resolve their differences
with R.C.M. A. I think it is time we
work to improve milk prices to all
farmers. We must collect pre
miums on 100% of all fluid milk
and pool the receipts through
R.C.M.A.
In addition, many of us will be
working on the inequities that are
responsible for the failing prices
paid to all dairy farmers.
Arden Tewksbury
Meshoppen
Editor:
The discussion about RCMA is
heating up and some normally
levelheaded people are now saying
we are “at war” with the Farmland
Dairy and some other milk dealers
who are refusing to pay over-order
prermiums charged by RCMA.
We are NOT at war. War implies
that we will wreak havoc and
destroy our enemy. Milk dealers
are not our enemies.
RCMA is disciplining Farmland
Dairy and will proceed to do so
with any other processor who
refuses to pay a portion of the pro
fits they are making from the con
sumers since the wholesale price
of milk has declined. Retail prices
of fluid milk in most of the North
east US have remained strong,
changing very little in the past few
years. If some dealers do not wish
to share those profits, we dairy far
mers no longer wish to take what
ever price we are offered, and
therefore we are asking, through
RCMA, for a fair portion of the
difference between the widening
wholesale and retail prices.
We are asking all dealers to pay
the same fair premium, and they
can offer anything above that
amount in order to attract new sup
plies that they wish. We think it is
(Turn to Pag* A 32)
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