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VOL 36 No. 22
A Boyish Touch, But Pseudorabies Fear Continues On Hog Farms
Penn State To Disperse Colored Breed Dairy Herds
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Fanning Staff
STATE COLLEGE (Centre
Last Call For
Distinction
Now is your last
chance to apply for the
Dairy of Distinction
designation for your
farm. Your application
must be postmarked no
later than Monday, April
15. See Page A-30 for
details and an application
blank.
PDA’s Lancaster
Stockyard Office To Close
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
State Agriculture Secretary
Boyd E. Wolff today announced
that the department’s Lancaster
Stockyard field office will close
on May 17.
The department’s Summerdale
regional office, near Harrisburg in
Cumberland County, will offer
livestock certification services
previously provided by the Lan
caster office, Wolff said.
“The effective control of
brucellosis and tuberculosis in
Pennsylvania cattle herds has
reduced the need for a special
office in the Lancaster area,”
Wolff said. “Meanwhile, com
puterized records have greatly
Flve Sections
Co.) Penn State University’s
College of Agriculture is going to
disperse its colored breed herds,
probably within the next six
months.
According to Dr. Stanley Curtis,
head of the college’s Department
of Dairy and Animal Science, the
decision to disperse is final, but
specific details are yet to be settled
of when and how the 109 Guers
ney. Brown Swiss, Ayrshire and
Jersey cows and heifers will be
sold.
Curtis said that a number of
problems, aggravated by the
severe budgetary restrictions
diminished the need for clerical
support at the stockyard, and
today, private veterinarians are
authorized to certify livestock for
shipment”
Wolff said the Lancaster office,
a field branch of the department’s
Summerdale regional office, was
established more than 40 years
ago because of Lancaster Coun
ty’s large animal population and
livestock marketing and shipping
activity at the stockyard.
Livestock owners and dealers in
the Lancaster area can contact the
regional office (717) 787-3400 or
the Bureau of Animal Industry’s
Headquarters (717) 783-5301.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 13, 1991
placed on the entire college, have
led to the decision to eliminate the
small colored breed herds.
But colored breed dairy cattle
aren’t the only domestic animal
breed to be targeted for elimination
from the Penn State program.
According to Curtis, the Suffolk
sheep are also slated for dispersal.
The college is going to keep only
its polled Dorset flock, for some of
the same reasons.
Curtis said all animal popula-
David Martin helps brother-in-law John Molt get in a little spring plowing. With the
warmer than normal spring weather, farmers have taken advantage of the opportunity
to get in the fields to work the ground. Everett Newswanger, managing editor, found
this plowing picture between Lititz and Manheim in Lancaster County.
Warm weather, pussy willows, plowing, and baby piglets remind us of
spring. Eleven-year-old David Fahnestock from Lititz, Lancaster County, in
the sixth grade at White Oak Elementry School, adds a boyish touch to this
“Photo For Spring.”
But not everything has a nice subjective feeling on hog farms when you
consider the pseudorabies threat to the nation’s pork producers. David's
father, Robert Fahnestock, is the producer/coordinatorof the Pennsylvania
Pseudorabies Eradication Program. Fahnestock believes strongly that pro
ducers need to work together now to clean up the pseudorabies virus (PRV)
problem while they have the opportunity.
“Gene-deleted vaccine g ives producers opportunity to clean u p a herd at
much lower cost than depopulation if all producers work together at the
program at the same time,” Fahnestock said. “If producers do not work
together now to clean up PRV while we have the opportunity, the National
Eradication Program could, at some indefinite time in the future, bring
some type of depopulation back to clean up any remaining positive herds.”
Lancaster County ranks third in the nation for pork production (the first
two counties are in Iowa) and the problem has been reported especially in
the northern part of the county. But other counties are now working on the
problem, too. And overall, the various parties involved in the Pennsylvania
program have begun to work more closely together. The groups involved
include the Lancaster/Chester Pork Producers Council, the Pennsylvania
Pork Producers Council, area veterinarians, Penn State extension special
ists, and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture.
At the industry's request, Lancaster Farming has been running a series of
articles on the problem. The sixth article in the series along with a list of
contact persons can be found on Page D-3 of this issue.
In addition, Carolyn Burns, Extension assistant at Penn State,
announced this week the availability of a guide for swine producers,
entitled “Swine Health and Biosecurity Manual.” This reference notebook
includes a checklist or calendar of recommended management proce
dures. Burns said, with the help of a veterinarian, the guide can be custom
ized to meet the needs of any swine operation. The manual provides infor
mation from how to control traffic on the farm to a drug use guide to prevent
drug residues in the meat —information that every hog farmer can use. The
cost Is $B. Requests for the manual should be directed to the Publications
Distribution Center, Penn State University, 112 Agricultural Adminstration
Building, University Park, PA 16802. Or contact your local Extension office.
Photo by Evarmtt Nawawangar, managing adltor.
tions currently maintained by Penn
State are being scrutinized for need
and application to ongoing
projects.
The reasons for the elimination
of animals are several, but lack of
adequate funding from state and
federal sources is most immediate.
But Curtis said it also involves
attempts to increase efficiency at
the college.
“We are re-examining our farm
operations with regard to every
50t Per Copy
species,” Curtis said. “The situa
tion of course is different with each
of the species. We have decided to
disperse the Suffolk ... We are
looking at each species with the
same eye.
“Fiscal constraint is such that
we can’t continue as we have, and
we have to establish priorities and
continue with them.
“Those are the realities of state
19.00 Per Year
(Turn to Page A 22)