ared On Foreign Tour U.S. Skimmed milk powder is dis tributed among the European Community (EC) countries. The group touted Avonmore’s milk processing plant in Ballyrag get near Kilkenny which is the largest and most modem single processing plant in western Eur ope. It is owned by Avonmore cooperative’s 11,000 sharehol ders. There are about 4,800 sup pliers producing 140 million gal lons of milk (Imperial gallon » 10 lbs.) or 1.4 billion lbs. annually. Avonmore Foods, PLC (Public Limited Corp.) is a large multipur pose agribusiness with an annual turnover of 300 million pounds (S4SO million). The dairy process ing sector contributes about half of this annual figure. The remain der comes from its animal feed and fertilizer~they sell more fer tilizer than any other organization in Ireland. They also have 46 retail branches, are developing a meat business, and hold shares in many other businesses, from insurance to oil distribution. The milk pro cessing division now handles over 122 million gallons of milk and 80 million gallons of whey each year with a peak processing capacity in excess of 700,000 gallons of milk and 500,000 gallons of whey each day. The 10-acre plant manufac turers cheese; butter and dairy spreads; casein and caseinate; and milk powders. Because of the sea sonal unevenness of Irish milk production, the large Avonmore processing plant closes in Novem ber for about 12 weeks while channeling milk intake to a small er plant. This saves labor and other operating costs. The highest amount of milk is produced in May and June. Avon more has “peak week” about the 3rd week of May when deliveries are 550,000 gaUons/day. At this time about 300 additional seasonal workers are added to the usual 1400 employees; they are on three shifts. Surplus milk is sent by fer ry to Scotland for processing, all within 36 hours. Farmers are offered premiums for winter milk; but some farmers prefer to ease up around Christ mas, so they dry off their cows to avoid having to pay higher feed costs during these winter months before the grazing comes in around March. Because of the EC quota, the Ballyragget plant has had their input reduced over the past five LANCASTER The Lancas ter Conservation District has begun conducting nutrient management farm surveys in the Conestoga Watershed. The Con estoga Watershed area includes the north-east quarter of the coun ty, plus all townships surrounding , Lancaster City. The Conservation District already has subcontracted interviewers to collect informa tion in the 20 townships of the Conestoga Watershed in May when weather does > not permit corn planting, and throughout June. More than 600 fanners will be contacted for information related to water quality, and as to how they manage their manure and fertilizer applications. The purpose of the survey is to get a better picture of nutrient balances based on manure in the various townships. The same information was collected in the other watersheds of Lancaster County for the Chesapeake Bay Assessment Project In the Phase I report completed at the request of the Citizen’s Advisory Committee of the Lancafster County Solid Waste Authority, it was found that there are a number of townships which do not have serious manure problems when the nutrient balance is based solely on the available manure nitrogen. The District is interested is seeing whether manure is a serious prob lem in any of the townships within die Conestoga Watershed. In 1982 \ years by about 14 million gallons (10%), which is one of the major reasons why Avonmore recently wanted to purchase the smaller Westmeath Coop, with about 13.5 million gallons of (quota) milk production/year. But they faced a private competitor. Food Industries-a giant in the meat industry-who outbid Avonmore. When Westmeath Coop, members Nutrient Management Surveys Conducted the Lancaster Conservation Dis trict completed a “208 assess ment” study that gave an idea of the magnitude of agricultural non point source pollution. Unfortu nately, the questionnaire used at that time did not gather all the information needed to make the detailed nutrient management cal culations. With the increased emphasis on water quality, we can no longer generalize to come up with practical solutions. We need to know how various farmers manage their manure, and how the crops use the nutrients of the applied manure. Once we have the information and do the calcula tions for a representative sample of farms, we will have a better idea of whether a specific town ship has a serious problem with excess manure. Approximately 20 percent of the fanners will be contacted in each township. Manor Township feels this type of study is impor tant enough to justify having information collected for all farms in their township. The schedule shows that all field surveys are to be completed by the end of June, so the computer work can be done in time for the report to be released by the end of July. Any one interested in obtaining more information about this survey should contact Gerald Heistand of the Lancaster County Conserva tion District at 299-5361. In Conestoga Watershed voted, the results (55% to 45%) put the cooperative into private hands, which has put the future of the cooperative movement into question. One important change at Avon more is the reduction in making . butter and the partial conversion to dairyspread manufacture. In 1984, Avonmore was making 140 tons of butter per day; five years The Lancaster County Conservation District has begun interviewing farmers in the Conestoga Watershed on their nutrient management practices. This is the second phase In a project initiated by the Citizen’s Advisory Committee of the Lancaster County Solid Waste Authority. Thompson Bull Acquired By Landmark Genetics HUGHSON, CA Fountain- Farm Queens RALPH-et, Reg. #2047227, a young Holstein bull bred by Harry E, & Aliene Thompson, Carlisle, has been selected for sampling in the young Uncamr Farming, Saturday! May 20,19N<A21 later the plant is down to 90 tons of butter each day with these new products added: Avonmore Light Dairysprcad, low fat dairyspread, and Golden Spread, a blend of butter and dairyspread. Butter is manufactured in 1/2 and 1 lb. packages and bulk packages of 25 kg. (SS lbs.) Continued Next Week sire proving program of Landmark Genetics. His semen has just been released for use in herds on offi cial DHIA test throughout the United States. As a member of Landmark Genetics’ “GO” (Genetic Oppor tunity) program, RALPH is under going thorough testing. He has successfully passed his health tests and the goal now is to get a minimum of SO daughters milking in 40 herds across the U.S. for a high repeatability on his first proof. Kevin Carhart, Regional Sire Analyst for the International, arti ficial breeding company, said, “We’ve selected this youngster because of his outstanding blood lines.” RALPH is a son of Rotate, a sire known for big, rough, hard working, high testing daughters, with wide muzzles and rumps. RALPH’S Excellent 92 point 2E dam has two records over 28.000 M and two records over 1,000 Fat. RALPH’S two excep tionally fine uddered dams are both Excellent in the Mammary. RALPH’S grandam is a big, fine 93 point 3E daughter of Jet Stream with four records over and 800 F. Her dam is a really fine 89 point Elevation daughter with lifetime credits of 109.520 M 4.3% and 4.718 F. With the size, quality and udders of this maternal line you can expect RALPH to work hard to improve strength, stature, width and milk yield. Semen from RALPH, accord ing to Kevin Carhart, will be available for sampling in the
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