Vol. 38 No. 34
Forest Restoration Garners State Recognition For Tree Farmers
Efforts In helping to restore coveted forestry In the state gained outstanding tree
fanner recognition for Art and Mary Wolfe In 1991.
Quality Assurance Comes To Agriculture
Larry Hutchinson
Professor Of
Veterinary Science
STATE P !?OL?B& (Centre
Co.) —Quality Assurance (QA) is
the new buzzword throughout
agriculture. Commodity groups
are developing and promoting QA
programs to assure consumers that
their food is safe and pure and to
minimize the risk to producers of
having a residue or contamination
problem.
Government agencies responsi
ble for food safety and quality are
increasing the level of scrutiny on
many products of animal origin.
The quality assurance programs,
however, came not from the gov
ernment but from producer groups
such as the National Milk Produc
ers Federation, National Cattle
men’s Association, National Pork
Pennsylvania Announces
Dairies Of Distinction
KINGSTON (Luzerne Co.)
The Northeast Dairy Farm Beauti
fication Program has announced
Pennsylvania winners of the 1993
Dairy of Distinction Award. For
ty-nine farms in Pennsylvania
have been selected as new recipi-
National Beef Board
Approves $44 Million Budget
HERSHEY (Dauphin
Co.) The national Beef Promo
tion and Research Board held its
summer meeting late last week at
the Hershey Lodge and Conven
tion Center to approve its budget
and plans for 1994 beef promotion,
research and information
programs.
In a letter announcing the prog
ram, David Ivan, executive direc
tor of the Pennsylvania Beef Coun
60* Per Copy
Producer* Association, and
Association.
Drag Residues
Targeted
The reason for development of
most QA programs is to minimize
the risk of antibiotic and sulfa
residues in meat and milk. Milk
plants as well as state and federal
government inspection services
are regularly checking milk and
meat for drug residues.
In many cases, tests are so sensi
tive that they can detect drug
residues as tow as a few parts per
billion. If the product contains
levels of drugs that are detectable
tv, in some cases, above a recog
nized “safe level,” the project is
not used for human food.
The good news is these testing
methods do.assure a residue-safe
ents of this honored award.
The Dairy of Distinction pro
gram has been operating in Penn
sylvania for seven years. Includ
ing this year’s winners, a total of
522 Pennsylvania dairy farms
have been recognized through this
cil, said, ‘Tennsylvania is very for
tunate to be hosting the
semi-annual Board of Directors
meeting of the Beef Promotion and
Research Board... The Beef Board
is the national organization with
over sight responsibilities for the
beef checkoff program. Dairymen,
cattlemen and veal producers remit
$1 per head each time an animal is
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Lancaster Arming, Saturday, July 3, 1993
food supply to U.S. consumers.
This testing effort does put a tot of
pressure on producers to use drugs
responsibly and test when appro
priate to ensure that no residue
contaminated products are offered
for sale.
Other articles in this issue of
Lancaster Farming will detail the
several Quality Assurance prog
rams developed by producer
groups. Several principles are
common to all:
• Use good management, nutri
tion, and preventive medicine
practices to minimize the need for
drugs.
• Establish a good working rela
tionship with a veterinarian.
• When it is necessary to use
drugs, use them exactly as labeled
or as prescribed by your
veterinarian.
program.
The program was established in
New York State in 1983 and has
since spread to Pennsylvania and
New Jersey. The program was de
veloped to recognize farms which
maintain a high quality farm ap
pearance.
Farms that apply are judged on
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1 ft ft ft m" a W a
Happy July 41
To celebrate the 4th of July,
Lancaster Farming’s office will
be closed on Monday, July 5.
Our offices will open again at 8
a.m. on Tuesday, July 6.
ANDY ANDREWS ' v '
Lancaster Fanning Staff
YORK SPRINGS (Adams Co.)
Art Wolfe has an edge in his
voice when he talks about the work
he had to do this past winter to
remove tons of trash piled up in a
forest clearing on his Gum.
He mentions the glass, wire,
metal, and plastic that had to be
removed.
He’s clearly upset about having
to clear all the wood and other junk
Grom fields left abandoned for
years, to get them ready to plow.
And Wolfe is angry about the
pile of rejected wood from loggers
that had to be taken out.
Not to mention losing mower
blades from working the path that
snakes through the refurbished
woodland.
But he smiles when he talks
about the 100-some new Red Oak
saplings that dot the opening of the
trail through the woods, in addition
to the carefully maintained Pau-
• Clearly identify treated
animals.
• Record all treatments, includ
ing animal identity, drug used,
amount, date, and withholding'
times.
• Ensure adequate withdrawal
or withholding time before the ani
mal or its products, such as milk,
are offered for sale.
• If in doubt about the residue
status of an animal, test milk or
urine with an appropriate residue
test
• Make sure all family members
Today through Monday, July 5, is your last chance to visit
the 44th annual Kutztown Folk Festival. Demonstrators
dress in colonial garb as they perform Pennsylvania Dutch
crafts such as flower drying and basket making shown
here. Visitors will find 200 additional working 19th century
craftsperson, 1,600 American Handmade quilts for sale and
display, 20 dally scheduled activities highlighting the Pen
nsylvania Dutch culture, folklife seminars, and* scrump
tious Pennsylvania Dutch food to sample. For more Infor
mation, call (800) 447-9269.
Four Sections
lownia seedlings bursting with
new growth, planted in the spring.
Because it was these efforts, in
helping' to restore coveted forestry
in the state, that helped gain him
recognition as an outstanding tree
farmer in 1991.
Importance of trees
For yean. An and Mary Wolfe,
who operate a small cash crop bus
iness on two farms at the border of
York and Adams counties, have
been busy helping people under
stand the importance of trees to the
environment. Early this year they
were awarded the Pennsylvania
Association of Conservation Dis
trict’s M.K. Goddard Forest
Resource Management recogni
tion at the county’s conservation
banquet.
The Wolfes enrolled more thin
60 acres of the woodland they own
in the Pennsylvania Forest Ste
wardship Program. This program,
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and employees who woik with the
animals know the procedures for
proper drug use and residue
avoidance.
BEEF
QUALITY ASSURANCE
John Comerford
Beef Extension
Specialist
Penn State
Because interest in the whoie
someness of beef has escalated in
the last decade, producers of
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$19.75 Par Year