Poultry Queens Hope To Unscramble Confusion (Continued from Page B 2) said. “Eggs are refrigerated at a 45 degree temperature on our farm immediately after gathering.” He sees big operations as having more chances of being involved in a salmonelle case because they dis tribute more eggs. He has a theory on why several large egg produc ers have been affiliated with sal monelle cases. “Each of these have their own processing operation where they wash and pack the eggs in insulated boxes before refrigera tion. The insulated boxes slow down cooling compared to eggs pack on flats and placed on carts in a cooler.” Both families maintain that the problem with salmonelle doesn’t stem from the farm but from the care of eggs during shipping, stor ing, and food preparation. They’d like to see the egg refrigeration law passed and everything possible done to prevent the growth of sal monelle, but they prefer to see industry control rather than gov While the public may have scrambled thoughts about eggs, these two ambassadors hope to give the public the straight facts that eggs are perfectly safe and nutritious' to eat. eminent control in production. Although concerned about reports of salmonella poisoning. Cinder is more concerned with sol ving the problem of disposing of excess manure, which many far mers face. “I think composting is the way to go with manure,” he said. Recently, he accompanied Dr. John Swartz, Lancaster Extension specialist, to observe a newly devised compost system that heats from the moisture produced from the sun that shines on a building similar to a greenhouse. The heat kills the germs, dries it and turns it into compost. “It’s clean, dried, and doesn’t smell,” he said. “I saw only three or four flies the whole time I was there. Cinder is looking into the cost of putting up a building to process the manure. “It’s a way to solve a lot of problems. After going through the process, the bulk is one-third less, and it does not return to manure even if water is added.” If the Cinders installed the com posting building, they would com bine it with the broiler litter that already has sawdust considered a necessary ingredient in composting. The Cinders raise chickens for Eggs are ‘eggsactly ’ what a body needs for good health. Eastern Ag, a division of Wenger’s Feeds, and subcontract them to Bucher Associates. The Cinders, who put up their first chicken house in 1976, basi cally enjoy the poultry operation. Four of their children are married: Larry, 32, who raises broilers on the family farm; Fred, 31; Sue, 27; and Ray, 25. Only Jeff, 9; remains at home with Bev. Jeff already has decided that he will be a poultry farmer. Every day he picks up dead chickens, checks the feeders and records how much water the chickens use. The Wolgemuth farm has been in the family for several generations. “Today it’s tough to start from scratch,” Wolgemuth said. “Profits are marginal and that forces many farmers to expand, but the family farm is part of the free enterprise system and I hope we can realize a decent profit to keep it that way.” Deb, the youngest child of John and Thelma Wolgemuth, finds that her two married brothers, Doug and Randy, and her sister Mrs. Kris Kauffman, take an active role in guiding their sister’s footsteps in the poultry industry. ‘They insisted I try out at the poultry queen pageant,” Deb said. Her brother Doug heads the poultry float committee and her brother Randy and his wife own Koser’s Jewelry and provided wristwatches for each of the nine poultry queen contestants A senior at Lancaster Menno nite High School, Debra has been selected as one of two students to take a course at Franklin and Mar shall College from 8 to 9 a.m. dur ing her senior year. “It’s great because it will give me a head start for college,” Deb said. Although Deb has not decided where she will attend college, she will major in business administration. As a right offense hockey player for her school"team. Deb antici pates a winning season since about 10 of the players have played together for four years. She writes yearbook and school newspaper articles, has been involved in student council and was a member of the 4-H baby beef club for six years. One of Deb’s main interest is scuba diving for which she is tak ing classes to become certified. “I just love seeing the underwater. It’s so tranquil and alive,” she said. Her interest in scuba diving was kindled when she spent a summer in Puerto Rico four years ago. That summer her parents helped to set up an herb fanning operation off the coast of Puerto Rico. The whole family enjoyed snorkeling, but only Deb pursued scuba diving. The Wolgemuths are taking a three-week tour of Europe where they will visit pig and chicken operations. Bev, who was also voted Miss Congeniality at the pageant, entered the pageant because she needs to earn money for college. A graduate of Manheim Central High School, Bev is taking a year off to accumulate money to earn a degree in special education at Millersville University. Deb waitresses at Country Table Restaurant and is active in her church youth group. This summer the youth group traveled to Connecticut to paint a house for refugees. Bev has worked as a camp counselor with mentally and phys ically handicapped for the past two summers. Recently, she taught the children how to make footprints on the macadam. They were fasci nated that Bev’s footprints show she has only four toes. One toe on her left foot is shorter and doesn’t touch the ground. The toes add to Bev’s humorous antics. She was voted most humor ous by her senior class at Manheim Central. She finds that her humor ous talents, which she says she If everyone ate as many eggs as the Cinder family, farmers would need to out uo more chicken houses to meet the demand. From left: Marlin, Bev, and Jean. Lancaster Poultry Queen Debra Wolgemuth learns most about the egg Industry dis cussing issues with her parents, John and Thelma who have 100,000 layer opperatlon on their Mount Joy farm. inherited from her dad, blend well with Poultry Queen Deb’s. Both women were good friends before the pageant, and wished, but thought it impossible, that they would be chosen from nine contes tants to represent the county. Now that working together to promote the poultry industry has become a reality, they plan to do all they can to break the news about eggs: Eggs are ‘eggsactly’ what a body needs for good health. Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 25,1990-B3 t Komes{cad t/l/otes
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