VOL 38 No. 24
Penn State
Dairy Expo
Set Today
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) The 68th Penn State Dairy
Expo will be held today at the Ag
Arena beginning at 8 a.m.
The show will begin with the
amateur showman, followed by
the intermediate and professional
showman. The show will conclude
about 3 p.m. with the overall
championship classes. Special
events competition will begin
about noon with milk chugging,
celebrity milking, and calf dress
ing. The third annual alumni show
manship contest will begin about
12:45 p.m. and is open to all Penn
State alumni.
The Show Manager for the 68lh
Dairy Expo is Terri Packard,
senior from Troy. She is assisted
by Andy Foster, junior from
Petersburg, Assistant Show Mana
ger. Overall Expo Chairman is
(Turn to Pag* A3B)
Sniders Of Trophies
LINDA WILLIAMS
Bedford Co. Correspondent
BEDFORD (Bedford Co.)
Sniders Homestead and its various
Guernsey owners took home a
tableful of trophies at the 62nd
annual awards banquet held re
cently.
Rodgers Named National
Grassland Council President
DES MOINES, lowa John
Reed Rodgers, a dairy farmer
from Belleville, was named presi
dent of the American Forage and
Grassland Council (AFGC), a
7,000 member organization dedi
cated to the profitable production
and sustainable utilization of qual
ity forage and grasslands. AFGC
has affiliate councils in 32 states
and provinces and is truly a North
John Rodgers
Four Sections
Mark A. Wolfskin, conservation fanner of the year for
1992, and his wife, Nancy, take a morning break between
chores to talk about their Heidelberg Township farm. The
youngster with them is grandson, Nathan.
The George W. Snyder Award
and the Sewickley Trophy both
went to Aaron Gable of Sniders
Homestead. Aaron had the
champion at the Pennsylvania Jr.
Dairy Show and was the champ
ion of Youth Show at the 1993
Pennsylvania Farm Show.
American organization. One of
the affiliates is the Pennsylvania
Forage and Grassland Council, of
which Rodgers is a charter
member.
Rodgers is the first producer to
head the 50-year-old council,
which Ss comprised of members
from agricultural industry, public
service and producers. The com
mon thread is forages and grass
(Turn to Pago A 34)
ADC Instructs Producers No BST ... For Now
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
SOUTHAMPTON (Bucks
Co.) The largest dairy market
ing cooperative in Pennsylvania
has issued a statement to its mem
bers this week advising them not to
use injectable, supplemental
bovine somatotropin (BST), until
further notice.
The reason: marketing battles,
skittish consumers and threats of
perpetuating fears of BST by anti
beef and anti-biotechnology
activists.
According to Dr. Paul Hand,
general manager of the Atlantic
Dairy Cooperative, an advisory
letter was mailed out April 16 and
arrived in the hands of members
this past week to inform them of
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 24, 1993
The Snider-Homestead Farm
was also granted the John Brach
man Award for having the grand
champion at the 1993 Pennsylva
nia Farm Show.
Production awards were as fol
lows: high herd for milk and pro
tein in 1992, Axel Linde and Mil
lie Widmann for 56 cows with
17,099 pounds of milk, 766 fat,
and 602 protein.
Rutter Brothers took the high
herd for fat in 1992 award. They
have 50 cows, 16,548 pounds of
milk, 575 protein, and 768 fat.
Top cow for milk and protein in
1992 was the Trotacre Fayette
Loretta, 28,235 pounds of milk,
984 fat, and 874 protein.
The top cow for fat in 1992 was
Sunnybend Shannon Telestar
owned by Thomas Boyer. Her
record was 18,095 pounds of milk,
666 protein, and 1,082 fat
All-Pennsylvania awards went
(Turn to Page A 23)
the moratorium on using the sup
plemental drug because one of
ADC’s biggest milk buyers,
Johanna Farms, has claimed it will
be “BGH-free,” just like its main
competitor. Farmland Dairies.
Farmland Dairies, run by Marc
Goldman, was one of the first pro
cessors to allow its name to be used
by anti-beef and anti
biotechnologist Jeremy Rifkin in
his call to ban BST by listing and
publicizing all businesses which
Rifkin considers “safe.”
Rifkin allegedly mailed letters
to major dairy processors and
chain restaurants within the past
year outlining his plan to publicize
the names of those who fail to join
him. Those who fail to join would
be listed as places to avoid and
Robesonia Farmer Wins
Berks Conservation Award
CONNIE LEINBACH
Berks Co. Correspondent
ROBESONIA (Berks Co.)
Mark A. Wolfskill doesn’t like
squares. At least not for his crop
fields.
Give him a curving contour strip
any day. Not just because of its
natural beauty, but the way this
type of cultivating conserves the
soil and water.
It’s a way of farming Wolfskill
has been doing for so long that it’s
just second nature to him. Besides,
it’s logical.
“Strip cropping holds the soil,”
he said.
Wolfskill, of Robesoma R.D. 1,
was named Outstanding Conserva
tion Farmer of 1992 by the Berks
County Conservation District.
He and his sons, Mark F„ Dou
glas M„ and David M„ grow corn,
soybeans, and hay on 740 acres
that they own and rent. The
acreage, which includes nine
Aaron Gable, left, receives award from Guernsey Presi
dent John Morrow.
treat with suspicion.
ADC is the largest dairy
cooperative in Pennsylvania and
ninth in the nation, marketing
about 3.5 billion pounds of milk
per year, which is about a third of
the Pennsylvania production.
Although every producer and
processor in the world could claim
to be “BGH-free” there is no way
to tell, because there is no such
thing, Hand said the position that
the cooperative is taking is out of
consideration for the milk to be
sold.
He said that until the consumer
understands that there is no danger
in the milk, the cooperative has
decided to direct its members not
to ship milk that was derived from
BST-injected cows.
608 Per Copy
farms, supports 220 dairy animals
and 230 beef cattle.
Since 1969, when he signed up
as a cooperator with the district, he
has practiced pasture manage
ment, no-till, and minimum-tillage
on his contour strips.
Through the years, the Conser
vation District has helped him
farm in an environmentally con
scious manner by designing a con
servation plan for his farm.
Such plans may involve install
ing dram tiles under the ground to
help eliminate wet spots and plant
ing grass in waterways to keep the
soil from washing away.
He points to the pasture beside
his house. It, along with an adja
cent cornfield, is on a slope. But
the drainage area is completely
covered with grass. No standing
water here.
The extra work involved in cul
tivating with the environment in
(Turn to Page A 34)
Of course, Hand said he realized
that there is no way the cooperative
can know how the milk being
shipped was produced.
Nevertheless, the cooperative is
taking the position, he said,
because it is the expedient thing to
do for the membership.
“We had discussed this among
the members of Pennmarva
(Pennsylvama-Maryland-
Virginia) to see if we could arrive
at a similar position among all the
cooperatives both the major
cooperatives and the smaller
ones,” Hand said.
“We felt that (we would lake
this position), since ... the pro
cessors had surveyed the consum
ers and found that there was rcsis
(Turn to Page A 36)
$19.00 Per Year