UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) Pennsylvania swine pro ducers should carefully watch their animals for signs of mange during cold winter months, said a special ist in Penn State’s College of Agri cultural Sciences. “Mange usually becomes more prevalent this time of year, perhaps because pigs huddle together to keep warm, enhancing transmis sion of the mange mite,” said Dr. Kenneth Kephart, associate pro fessor of animal science. Swine mange mites infest only pigs, burrowing and reproducing under their skin, causing itching and restlessness. “There aren’t many things that make pigs as mis erable as mange, and believe me, it costs money,” Kephart said. Studies show that pigs from mange-infested herds weigh about a pound less at weaning and take five to seven days longer to reach market weight Feed efficiency of a whole herd can drop as much as 10 percent. “Under field conditions, this can add up to an annual cost of nearly $BO per sow,” Kephart said. How can you tell if your herd is infested? “If you see pigs rubbing against a fence or wall, they probably have mange,” Kephart said. “If you look more closely, infested pigs will have small, pimple-like regions on KUBOTA GIVES YOU ROOM TO GROW. Mange Mites Bite Pigs the underside of the legs and belly. These areas look a lot like poison ivy. “In more advanced stages, the inside of the pigs’ ears become brown and crusty, and the pigs’ flanks may be bald from rubbing,” Kephart said. “The pigs* skin takes on a rough, leathery appearance.” Until recently, mange has been tough to control and nearly impos sible to eliminate. But new pro ducts have improved mange con trol dramatically. “Many safe and effective mange control sprays are available on the Ethanol South Of The Border? WASHINGTON, D.C.—From the air, Mexico City looks like it is perpetually fogged in. Although the city sits at more than 7,000 feet in elevation, the air is anything but crisp and clean. “The air pollution is significant ly worse than what I expected,” said Darrel Rammeyer, com pro ducer from the Illinois Com Board and member of a recent U.S. Feed Grains Council Fact-Finding Mis sion to Latin America. “There is certainly a need for some clean burning ethanol to run in the gas tanks down here,” said Rammeyer. Mexico is doing a number of things to address the air pollution market, including Permectrin. Ectiban, Prolate, and Taktic,” Kephart said. “However, some spray products have age restric tions and all require two applica tions 7 to 10 days apart—the first to kill live mites, the second to kill newly hatched baby mites. With drawal times for these sprays range from a day to a week.” Spray treatments may be mote difficult during winter than sum mer, however. “Wien you spray pigs during the winter, the weather might be too cold to risk getting them wet,” problem that plagues Mexico City. Among these are severe emissions restriction requirements placed on taxis, trucks and buses, a require ment that passengers cars must have an engine tune up at least once every six months, and a requirement that passenger vehi cles cannot be on the road more than six days a week. Each vehicle has a code on the license plate that indicates the day of the week that it may not be driven. ‘The most severe deterrent was a hike in the price of gas announced by the government while we were there,” said John Whipple, mission member from the lowa Com Promotion Board. Row crops need their space. Which is why there's a Kubota to fit right into your scheme of things. Like the 82150 HST you see just above. Its compact size keeps you out of tight spots by getting you easily into them. Rmr wheel drive, three cylinders, power steering, and hydrostatic trans mission will make light work of loading, tilling, and spraying. Or you could be working on the L26SODTW with Kubota's Ever Clutch, a wet clutch disc system that operates immersed in oil. Mechanical BF/8R shuttle shift and hydrhstatic power steering are standard and give smooth, dependable operation. The utility tractor M4O3OSU specializes in doing just about every thing. With a smooth powerful six cylinder diesel engine and 42 PTO HP, it can help with planting, cultivating, or bringing in the hay. And every Kubota lets you 3-point hitch up to a whole world of imple ments. Kubota-made or otherwise. Kubota Tractor Corporation markets a full line of tractors through a nationwide network of over 1,000 dealers. K'jbofo. Lancaster Farming. Saturday, January 4,1W2-F27 Kephart said. An alternative mange-control product is Ivermectin, an injection treatment that generally eliminates the mange mite as well as lice with one application and offers tempor ary control of most internal parasites. “Ivermectin is clearly the most effective mange-control product on the market, but it requires injec tion, has a withdrawal period of 18 days, and is more expensive than sprays.” Kephart said. “Many pro ducers use it to treat sows prior to farrowing, and it’s a good treat “Unleaded gas went up 25 per cent and leaded gas went up 55 percent,” said Whipple. The price of gas in Mexico now exceeds that in the United States. “We see a natural market here for ethanol,” said Rammeyer. “Yes, Mexico is an oil producer, but they are also a gasoline impor ter.” Mexico is importing as much as 10 percent of their gasoline because of a shortage of refining capacity, and that might as well be ethanol from the United States, according to Whipple. Ethanol would help solve their pollution problem and open up another market fd U.S. com growers, he said. PENNSYLVANIA Albums CANNS-BILCO 215-820-0222 Allenwood ALLENWOOD RENTAL & SUPPLY 717-538-2595 * Avondale THOMAS POWER EQUIP., INC. 215-268-2181 Chester Co HEITZMAN EQUIP., INC. Rte 100 - Glenmoore 215-458-8525 Cochranville STOLTZFUS FARM SERVICE, INC. 21S-593-2407 Remington t Clinton u ~ PONIATOWSKI Honesdale RRn . MARSHALL .... MACHINERY, INC. E go&ssS'tS 0 ' 717-729-7117 Lebanon KELLER BROS. TRACTOR CO. 717-949-2000 Lancaster KELLER BROS. TRACTOR CO. 717-569-2500 ment at that time. But if a mange outbreak is getting ahead of you, the labor and expense involved in treating a large group of pigs with Ivermectin can become a problem. “Producers whose herds have serious mange outbreaks need to weigh the cost of the disease against the cost of the treatment, and make the best decision for their operation,” Kephart said. Where trade names appear, no discrimination is intended, and no endorsement by Penn State Cooperative Extension is implied. Rammeyer and Whipple were part of a 14 member fact-finding mission to Latin America spon sored by the U.S. Feed Grains Council. The objective of the mis sion was to identify new market opportunities for feed grains and feed grains-based products such as ethanol. A full report of the mis sions findings and recommenda tions will be presented to the board of directors of the council in February. MHK. IT DOES A BODY GOOD. See Your Local Kubota Dealer Bloomsburo TRACTOR PARTS CO. 717-784-0250 a 'hambersbura STOUFFER BROS., INC. 717-263-8424 Jersey Shore THOMAS L DUNLAP 717-398-1391 Milllinbufa MIFFLINBURG FARM SUPPLY, INC. 717-966-3114 Reading NICARRY EQUIPMENT CO. 215-926-2441 Slioudsburg SEBRING’S POWER HOUSE 717-421-8980 York YORK TRACTOR, INC. 717-764-1094 MARYLAND Haoerslown ARNETT’S GARAGE 301-733-0515 Cheslerlown W.N. COOPER & SON, INC. 410-778-3464 Rising Sun AG IND. EQUIP. CO. INC. 301-658-5568 NEW JERSEY Hainesoort MATERIAL HANDLING SYSTEMS 609-267-6100 Shiloh ROBERT G. HAMPTON 609-451-9520
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