A3B»L»ncattef Farming, Saturday, March 7, 1992
Dairy Food
KARL BERGER
Special Correspondent
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Recent changes in the health reg
ulations governing milk produc
tion and a continuing focus on
residue prevention efforts reflect
continuing concern both valid
and unfounded—about the safety
of the nation’s milk supply,
according to dairy industry offi
cials who deal with this issue.
Local dairymen must cope with
a number of new rules derived
from changes to the Pasteurized
Milk Ordinance, a federal regula
tion governing the sale of milk.
They also are being encouraged to
embrace a voluntary residue pre
vention program, at least in part, as
a way of heading off further restr
ictions on the availability of anti
biotics and other drugs.
The prevention program, deve
loped jointly by the American Vet
erinary Medical Association and
the National Milk Producers Fed
eration, identifies 10 areas in.
which farmers should concentrate
their efforts, including herd health,
drug storage, and the use of screen
ing tests to verify lack of residues.
It was designed to be a cooperative
effort among farmers, their veter
inarians, and fleldmen for the milk
Expert System For Apple Growers
ALLENTOWN (Lehigh Co.) —
The Penn State Apple Orchard
Consultant, an expert system for
apple growers, has been updated
and will be available for sale in
mid-March.
The software, developed over
four years by Penn State research
ers, is one of the Erst expert sys
tems available to fruit growers. It
combines the knowledge of a wide
variety of specialists and simulates
the decision-making process they
would use to solve problems,
according to Jan McClure, coordi
nator of the Peml State expert sys
tems development group.
Growers who use the Penn State
Apple Orchard Consultant will
have the knowledge of plant patho
logists, entomologists, horticultur
ists, meteorologists and econom
ists at their fingertips. They can
bypass the phone and consult the
computer system for advice on
how to manage their orchards.
McClure says the system is
more than a collection of data. It’s
MARCH
SAT. MAR. 7 - 9AM, Very
Nice Antiques, Guns,
Household, Glassware,
Tools. To Be Held At Red
ding Auction Service
Located Taking Route 34,
'A Mile North Of Gettys
burg, Pa - Bear Right At Y
(At Car Wash) & Continue
2 Miles On Table Rock
Road To Auction Site. C.
David Redding, Auct.
SAT. MAR. 7 - 9AM, Small
Items, Tools, Misc. Office
Equip. Located: Newville,
Pa. Off 1-61, Exit 11, Route
233 North To Borough Of
Newville On Right. Sale
Signs Posted Days Of
Sale. By. Hefflefinger
Monuments. Gary L. Ment
zer, Aucts.
WED. MAR. 11 - 9AM,
Consignment Auction.
Located Cochran Auction
Complex, 7704 Mapleville
Rd., Md. Route 66, Boons
boro, Md. Cochran Aucts. &
Associates Ltd.
FRI. MAR. 13 - 9AM, Farm
Equipment Auction.
Safety Concerns Drive Regulatory,
handlers.
None of the recommended prac
tices are new and many of them
already were in use on most farms,
according to Dr. William Sischo,
an extension veterinarian at Penn
State University. Nevertheless, he
said, nearly every dairymen would
benefit from the exercise of going
over the details of the program.
“It won’t be effective as a regu
latory tool,” Sischo said. “But it is
a good program in general for peo
ple to sort out how they manage
herd health."
Farmers have other reasons to
participate in the program, accord
ing to Doug Carmel, an extension
veterinarian at the University of
Maryland.
Strong participation by fanners
will lessen the pressure on the fed
eral Food and Drug Administra
tion to take more drugs off the
market and to limit the use of the
so-called “extra label” policy, Car
mel said.
Such participation also will gain
points for the dairy industry in the
ongoing struggle for the trust of the
impressionable consumer.
“I think consumers are demand
ing a food supply that’s free of
residues,” Carmel said. “A lot of
that fear (concerning the presence
not just a computerized production
guide it actually helps growers
think through a problem.
The Apple Orchard Consultant
can evaluate information, diag
nose problems and symptoms and
recommend action. Using the soft
ware program, growers create a
profile of their own orchard. They
update that profile daily with infor
mation on weather conditions,
insects and diseases. When they
present a problem to the system, it
considers all the variables and uses
its storehouse of knowledge to
offer recommendations.
New features for 1992 include a
separate spray record-keeping sys
tem and easier-to-use weather
input screens. Growers -now can
print out weather information and
view infection periods for each
disease.
Also included this year are more
data on predator-pest interactions
and information on the European
apple sawfly and San Jose scale.
Public Auction Register
Closing Date Monday 5:00 P.M.
of each week’s publication
Located: A.&C. Diffenbach
Auction Inc., 100 W. Jack
son St., Box 186, New Hol
land. Pa. 17557. Alan Dif
fenbach Auct.
SAT. MAR. 14 - 9AM, Very
Nice Antiques & Collecti
bles, Very Nice Glassware
& China Items, Household.
Located At Redding Auc
tion Service Located Tak
ing Route 34. ’/, Mile North
Of Gettysburg, Pa. - Bear
Right At Y (At Car Wash) &
Continue 2 Miles On Table
Rock Road To Auction Site.
C. David Redding, Auct.
Regional
(Continued from Page AST)
mond Grange Hall, Hammond,
N.Y. Region 3, St. Lawrence,
Franklin, Clinton and Essex coun
ties. Jim Sullivan of Hammond is
regional director.
• March 23,8 p.m,, Jefferson
County Cooperative Extension
Center, Watertown, N.Y. Reg-
of animal drugs, hormones, pesti
cides. and other contaminants) is
unfounded, but we’re not dealing
with facts. We’re dealing with
emotion against fact.”
The safety of the nation’s milk
supply has been questioned in
front-page articles in the “Wall
Street Journal” and other promi
nent newspapers in recent years.
Recently, a television station in
northeastern Pennsylvania aired a
program that featured a short seg
ment on alleged problems with
residues and other contaminants,
according to Jan Carson, a Pen
nsylvania Farmers Association
spokesman.
Finally, there are some dairy
men who will norfaave a choice as
to whether or not to use the prog
ram. Changes in the Pasteurized
Milk Ordinance (PMO) will
require participation from fanners
found in violation of residue
standards.
The PMO changes represent
another side of the residue issue:
the big stick of rules and regula
tion, according to Sischo. Howev
er, like the quality assurance prog
ram, the regulatory changes
encompass many things that
already are common practice in the
industry.
The researchers worked with 27
apple growers in Pennsylvania to
test the system and to make it more
helpful and user friendly.
Although it was designed for
growers in Pennsylvania, produc
ers in states as far away as
Washington are finding the expert
system helpful.
The 1992 version of the Penn
State Apple Orchard Consultant is
available for $250 from the Expert
Systems Development Group, The
Pennsylvania State University,
SOI Agricultural Sciences and
Industries Building, University
Park, PA 16802. The software can
be used with Macintosh or MS/
DOS computers.
Other expert systems available
from Penn State include Bee
Aware (honey bee diseases and
pests), which sells for $35, and
PLGX (potato leafhopper on alfal
fa), which costs $75. MAIZE, a
system for field com, will be fin
ished this spring.
SAT. MAR. 14 - 9AM, Big
Machinery, 10AM, Fraley’s
Annual Spring Farm
Machinery Consignment
Sale. Located On Our Farm
3 Miles E Of Muncy, Pa.,
Along Kepner Hill Road.
Watch For Auction Arrows
At Junctions Of Rts. 442 &
405. (Lyc. Co.). Fraley Auc
tion Co.
SAT. MAR. 14-9 AM, Publ
ic Auction Of Complete
Estate, Antiques & Period
Style Furniture, Persian &
Iran Rugs, Jewelry. Harry
Rudnick & Sons, Inc.,
Sales Manager, Aucts.,
Meetings
ion 4, Jefferson and Lewis coun
ties. Fred Goodnough of Man
nsvillc, N.Y., is regional director.
All dairy farmers arc urged to
attend to discuss plans for the
future and to elect officers. For
further information, call the
RCMA office, toll free, at (800)
634-3723.
Real Estate Broker.
SAT. MAR. 14 - 9:3OAM,
Antiques, Collectibles,
Trains, Guns, Trapping
Equipment, Tools, Boat,
Motors, Riding Mower,
Household Items. Located
1019 High St., Duncannon,
Pa. Owners, Glenn & Carol
Bolden. Kerry Pae Aucts.
SAT. MAR. 14 • 10AM,
Indiana Farmers Livestock
Market Annual Consign
ment Equipment Sale.
Located Indiana Farmers
Livestock Market, Homer
City.
Herd Health Concerns
Beginning in January, milk
handlers were required to test all
tankers of milk for traces of the
beta-lactam family of antibiotics,
which includes penicillin. Howev
er, Atlantic Dairy Cooperative, the
region’s largest, already was doing
so, as were a number of other
cooperatives and companies,
according to Don Breiner, the
cooperative’s quality and Held ser
vices manager.
The handlers also must sample
loads at random for the presence of
other drugs. Many already were.
The results of such screening
tests and the identification of pro
ducers responsible for any residues
that are detected must be passed
along to the state officials who
oversee milk safety. Beginning
July 1, the PMO requires that far
mers found in violation must have
their permits to market Grade A
milk revoked for two days. A sec
ond such violation within a
12-month period requires a four
day suspension. And a third viola
tion could result in the permanent
suspension of the permit at the dis
cretion of state authorities, Breiner
said.
Again, these rules with the
exception of the permanent sus
pension are nothing new. In
recent years, the widespread prac
tice of area cooperatives has been
to not pay their members for milk
found to be tainted with residues
and also to charge these violators
with the cost of dumping tankers of
milk if they have become contami
nated as well, according to
Breiner.
Because the milk from most
farms is picked up every other day,
the dumping of a shipment of milk
is, in effect, a two-day suspension.
Cool Flying At The Farm Show
On the parking lot of the state Farm Show, groundworkers
hook up airconditioning units to a crane helicopter (a Sikors
ky S-58T). The units were then flown and settled down into
place for use in the complex’s heating cooling system. The
unusual sight is the result of work being done to rennovate
the Farm Show complex, which has been a several-year, $8
million project, projected to be finished in October. The
rennovation has included, in addition to work on the heating
cooling system, a $2.7 million re-roofing of the large arena,
about $500,000 for new lighting and sound systems, and $3.2
million to build an additional livestock exhibition hall. The
new hall is to add 82,000 square feet for a total of 460,000
sqaure feet of indoor exhibit space.
he said. The cooperatives would
like state authorities to accept that
this policy satisfies the new PMO
requirement, at least for first-time
offenders.
“We’re hoping that the states are
going to accept that rather than
issue a two-day suspension,” said
Jim Reeder, Breiner’s counterpart
at Maryland and Virginia
Cooperative Milk Producers
Association.
For now, the major focus of
detection efforts remains the beta
lactam family. Any positive results
from the quick screening tests used
to check every load are verified
using the officially recognized disc
assay for these antibiotics, Breiner
noted. These screening tests also
are being used to check for the pre
sence of other types of drugs, but
with these the official verification
test involves far more expensive
and time consuming laboratory
work, Breiner noted.
Official verification is impor
tant for legal reasons. “If I dump
based on a Pen-zyme test or a
Charm test, I could be taken to
court because they’re not official
tests,” Breiner said.
However, FDA officials and
representatives from the Associa
tion of Analytical Chemists repor
tedly are rushing to approve some
of the screening tests as official for
regulatory work.
Yet another PMO change, set to
take effect July 1.1993, will lower
the allowable level of somatic cells
in milk from 1,000,000 per millili
ter to 750,000. Although the vast
majority of area dairymen main
tain herd averages well below this
count, the change will affect a
handful of problem operations, the
cooperative officials noted.
Photo by WKHom toltek