AlB-tancaster Faming, Saturday, June'24,1989 FARM FORUM our readers write livestock producers who continue to seek humane, yet profitable, methods of animal husbandry. Their practical, common sense approach to protecting their live stock investment will ultimately produce the best results for Penn sylvania agriculture. Farmers, both crop and live stock producers, should rally behind the veal industry in this matter and counteract the instruc tion of destructive forces into nor mal agricultural operations. (Continued (rom Page A 10) Wc arc on record in opposition to the high-handed and disruptive tactics of the animal rights suppor ters. It is difficult to understand how any employee of the Depart ment of Agriculture could take such an extreme position against his agency’s state purpose of promoting Pennsylvania’s number one industry. Mr. Malik’s criti cism of veal producers is certainly not a promotion of agriculture and compromises his position with the dairy farmers he supposedly serves. We commend, furthermore, the efforts of the AVA and other Editor I would like to know how we can enlighten the general public more about the health benefits of nature’s most perfect food - milk? People tell me that they cannot drink milk or use other dairy pro ducts because of the high choles terol, however, when Penn State did a double-blind study, I believe, on two groups of volun teers in the past year or so they proved without doubt that whole milk actually could lower choles terol very significantly. With new grandchildren in our family, and being a label reader anyway, I again looked at the commercial baby formulas and was shocked to find that in all except one, the third or fourth ingredient was coconut oil - the first two being skim milk and usu ally water. The different formula used palm kernel oil instead of coconut oil. Even the soy formula for milk-intolerant babies had coconut oil in it! Supposedly it is being removed from cereals, cookies, crackers. A tornado completely destroyed the Herr’s home In Lan caster County on June 15. The Herr’s wish to thank the farm ing community who aided the Herr family during clean-up. Editor: On Thursday evening, June 15, our home was destroyed by the tornado that touched down in Manor Township (Lancaster County). We would like to thank the many people from the farming community that came to our aid the morning after the tornado. To all of the people that helped to clear the debris, that brought trucks and other equipment, to the people who sifted through the rubble and searched the Helds to find anything that could be sal- CHOOSE IT OR LOSE IT! (Continued from Pago A 10) and consume you, after havirig God we will serve, and his voice done you good” (24:20). . we will obey” (24:24). Joshua gave the people of Israel , v And you— what will you ample opportunity unmake their’* choose? choices freely. But, despite his (Buod on copynfchMd Outline* produced by warnings agmnst insincerity, the • people replied: The Lord our mbuPm.) Sincerely, Representative John E. Barley 100th Legislative District Representative J. Scot Chadwick 110th Legislative District etc. but the most vulnerable of all, the newborn baby, if it is unlucky enough to not have its own mother’s milk, is prescribed one of these adulterated products for the first few months of life, exclu sively. I had assumed if coconut oil was being removed from our diets - and used for soap for which it is very good - that the baby for mulas would be cleaned up first. Not so! Not only is a much less saturated fat, milkfat, being taken out but a highly saturated fat is being put in, regardless of the health effect. Either the tropical oils cost less or they help with a longer shelf life or both. They certainly cannot claim to be healthier for all of us. Let’s all try to get the milk and dairy products health messages to the general public, not just in our great dairy magazines. In public our actions sometimes speak as loud as our words. Drink milk and use dairy pro ducts for your health! Doris Hough Peach Bottom vaged, to the people who donated food and drinks, to those of you that took the time to talk to us and offered shoulders to cry on, to our family, friends, relatives and the countless others that are nameless, we would like to say, God bless and thank you so very much. We may not know many of your names, but your faces will be etched in our minds forever. You not only tended us a hand, but gave us your hearts as well. Sincerely, Michael, Denise, Stephanie & Lauren Herr Centerville A R V* 1 MANAGEMENT BY ROLAND P. FREUND Regional Farm Management Agent Penn State Cooperative Ext. The farm labor situation. Recently farmers have exper ienced increasing difficulty in maintaining the labor supply needed for the efficient operation of the business. But the problem is very complex, so we shall be pre senting a series of articles in this column for the next several months to highlight some of die important aspects of farm labor management There are many fac tors which contribute to the pre sent situation, so we need to exa mine some of them in this intro duction to the series. The general economy Low unemployment is general ly regarded as a sign of a healthy economy. In southeastern Penn sylvania our economy appears to be very healthy on this count. But we have reached the point that there is such competition for the services of those who are willing to work, that they now have plenty of choices. Unfortunately many farm jobs arc less appealing than the alternatives which are offered. The farm economy In recent years the crop, swine and poultry industries have suf fered through very slim profit margins due to low prices. Then the drought of 1988 added to the difficulties. As a result, returns to labor and management for most f\ ' Broiler and wLJL Turkey Talk FEED WITHDRAWAL FOR BROILERS by Forest Muir Professor of Poultry Science Carcass contamination in the processing plant can be greatly reduced by ensuring that the diges tive tract of broilers is free of feed prior to slaughter. This is accom plished by withdrawing feed from the broilers 10-12 hours before processing. A recent research arti cle in the Poultry Science Journal reported* on the result from two experiments examining the effects of cooping and water deprivaton on contents of the digestive tract following feed withdrawal. For the first experiment, the broiler chicks were reared on litter in a windowless house. The man agement of the house included continuous light and free access to feed and water. At 48 days of age, feed was removed from the broil- enterprises have been very close to zero. This has made it difficult to pay farm wage and benefit packages which are competitive with those by commerce and industry. So labor problems may be one symptom of a deeper farm financial bind. While the short-term outlook for most of our enterprises looks a little better at the moment, there is still-a basic long-range profitabili ty question which will govern what is prudent for the individual farmer to do to improve the labor situation. There might be a temp tation to make more investments such as new buildings or equip ment for the sake of improving labor efficiency, but such action could lead to more problems than it avoids. There is no general “fix” that can be applied to every situation. Each operation has its own set of circumstances, and only with a detailed picture of the whole farm and its management, can a solu tion be tailored for the problem. However, the process that needs to be applied will fit most cir cumstances. Analyse the farm situation Any major farm decision, including labor management changes, will have a financial impact. This effect on profits can be measured with careful analysis and strategic planning. The farm goal needs to be to maintain or to improve farm profitability, and different labor strategies can be by Forest Muir Associate Professor of Poultry Science Penn State University ers and equal numbers of birds were assigned to the Mellowing treatments: 1) broilers placed and kept in coops, 2) broilers kept on litter without water, 3) broilers kept on litter with water provided free choice. Cooped broilers had significant ly more material in the coop than broilers left on litter 4 .hours after feed withdrawal and in the prove ntriculu and gizzard at 6 hours post feed withdrawal. No significant treatment differences were found for the quantity of material in the small intestine. Chicks for the second expert- j ment were reared similarly to those * in the first experiment, except at 48 days the broilers were plaed on a meat-feeding regimen of 1.5 hours access to feed and water and 4 hours without feed. This cycle was repeated 4 times per 24 hours. After 42 hours of the meal feeding evaluated by creating whole farm budgets or by partial budgets. Labor management should be just as much a component of a farm plan as crop rotations, feed ing programs, or machinery man agement. If this sounds like a time-consuming effort, it is. The problem is that in the absence of a clear plan and detailed job assign ments, along with objective and regularly scheduled employee evaluations, farm labor can become economically and emo tionally unproductive and unre warding for both management and labor. The time taken to organize labor is only a fraction of the time that will be lost through disorganization. Evaluate the family situation Any operation which involves more than one person, and this includes both family and hired workers, has a labor problem unless serious thought is given to the concerns and responsibilities of each person. Disputes within a family often arise because of lack of communication and negligence. Plan to avoid conflicts, because it may be impossible to resolve them once they arise. Develop a labor management plan The many aspects of labor man agement which need to be consid ered in a plan will be the subject of the series of articles which will appear over the next several months. These will include: Legal issues. Tax implications. Structur ing the labor force. Job descrip tions, Recruiting, Interview/ hiring. Training, Motivating workers. Communications and evaluation. Supervision and dele gation, Salary and other incentives. Do not despair! A long journey can be made one step at a time. Walkthrough this process with us, and do not hesitate to contact your equal opportunity county exten sion office for information and assistance on labor and other farm management issues. program, equal numbers of the broilers were assigned to the three treatments of Experiment 1. The quality of feed material in the crop was significantly greater for cooped broilers at 2,4, 6, and 8 hours after feed restriction than for the broiler on the two litter treat ments. The results showed that during both experiments water withdrawal did not significantly affect the quantity of feed in the digestive tract of broilers left on litter. The results from these two experiments demonstrated that fol lowing feed withdrawal, cooped broilers retained fed in the diges tive tract longer than broilers left on litter. Lack of water is not the factor that limits the movement of material through the digestive tract of cooped broilers. Because the objective is to make certain that the digestive tract is free of feed before processing, broiler processing companies must consider that cooping broilers delays clearance of the digestive tract in scheduling feed withdrawal time for a specific flock. Reference: May, J. D., and J'. W. Deato, 1989. Digestive tract clear ance of broilers cooped or deprived of water. Poultry Sci 68:627-i
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