A2B- Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, February 25, 1985
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
The Pennsylvania Voluntary
Scrapie Flock Certification Pro
gram polled Pennsylvania sheep
producers’ perceptions of the Vol
untary Scrapie Flock Certification
Program
The poll, one of the first of its
kind in the nation, sought feed
back from producers to enable the
board to be more responsive in
addressing the concerns of Penn
sylvania shepherds. The board is
made up of representatives from
producer groups, allied industry,
and state and federal regulatory
personnel.
Questionnaires were sent to
more than 1,300 sheep producers
in the state of Pennsylvania last
summer. Of the 12 percent
responding, 48 percent of the
active producers indicated will
ingness to participate in the pro
gram. Of the respondents, 68 per
cent reported having received
information on the Voluntary
Scrapie Flock Certification Pro
gram from the extension service.
Sixty percent received informa
tion from magazines, 53 percent
from private veterinarians, 39 per
cent from meetings, 25 percent
from the mail, 22 percent from the
state and nine percent from the
federal government
A full 82 percent of producers
responding considered the scrapie
program to be worthwhile, with 48
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Results From Scrapie Program Poll
percent of producers willing to
participate in the voluntary pro
gram. A little half of the producers
(51 percent) thought problems
existed in the program. However,
74 percent of this same group
thought the program was worthy
just the same. Addressing produc
er perceptions, roughly one third
felt one problem area was regula
tory involvement and almost half
of the producers viewed funding
for the program as a problem.
Half of the producers who per
ceived problems with the volun
tary program viewed animal ID as
a concern. Approximately one
third of the sheep producers felt
lack of adequate manpower to be a
concern —this same number,
about a third, felt oversight of the
program to be a problem. Ten per
cent of the producers were con
cerned about program delivery.
The success of the Voluntary
Scrapie Flock Certification Pro
gram is dependent on producer
participation. Producers who see
problems in the program are less
likely to see the program as worth
while. The results of the Pennsyl
vania poll showed no specific type
of problem predominating. Since
the extension service and maga
zines were cited most frequently as
providing producers with informa
tion, these avenues should be uti
lized effectively for transfer of
information to producers, rather
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than relying on state and federal
agencies to disseminate informa
tion.
Reasons cited by producers for
not participating in the program
reflected lack of familiarity with
the Voluntary Scrapie Flock Certi
fication Program and lack of
understanding of scrapie as a dis
ease process itself. It is not a dis
ease of “black-face sheep” any
more, but is found in white-face
sheep as well. One area for the
board to serve the state’s produc
ers would seem to be in the sup
plying of basic educational materi
als on the program and the disease
itself. This information is current
ly available in the form of fact
sheets, and is available, free of
charge, by contacting Dr. Max
Van Buskirk, Pa. Dept, of Agricul
ture, Harrisburg, (717) 783-5301.
Producers were helpful in sup
plying feedback to the board in
terms of suggestions made.
Among the suggestions, two gen
eral themes emerged: one, for a
stronger leadership role for gov
ernment (the government should
make participation mandatory and
government should pay for all
costs to the producer participating
in the program because document
ing healthy sheep is not enough of
an incentive). The second theme
which evolved was the perceived
need for more information on the
program itself—what the proto-
cols are for showing sheep, lost
eartags, dead sheep, and more
nuts-and-bolts information per
taining to the daily incidents that
will occur while participating in
the voluntary scrapie program.
The board members will spend
the next few months designing
strategies to best serve Pennsylva
nia shepherds, based on impres
sions and information gathered as
Adams Starts Membership Drive
GETTYSBURG (Adams
Co.) A membership campaign
kick-off meeting of the Adams
County Farm Bureau was held
recently at Boss’s Steak and Sea
House in Gettysburg.
Louis Sallie, admins trative sec
retary of the state Farm Bureau,
was guest speaker. Sallie has
saved as secretary since 1992 and
previously was with the American
Farm Bureau as director of field
service for the northeast region.
He said, “The importance of
staying organized as a farm bureau
and active in local legislation are
two of the main functions of being
members in the Adams County
Farm Bureau.
“It is critical to maintain contact
with our legislators, since less than
1.6 percent of the population is
within the fanning industry,” he
said. “We need to remain a strong
voice to be heard.”
Sallie, who holds a bachelor’s
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Dannia McConnall ....412-248-9785
Wayna S. Fraaman 717-582-2397
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David G. Rica 610-756-8574
Wayna R. Utzanbargar. 810-847-5563
Jaffray (.. Borgar 610-381-3785
, Laon B. Waaanar 610-285-6246
Clarsnca B. Mull 717-865-2037
Urla C. Yodar 717-524-7739
Elvln M. Hurah 717-733-3538
Arthur 8. Aukar.... 717-865-8627
David B. Sanar 717-538-8103
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...Donald Emal. 809-769-1877
...Rogar L. Sanar 717-638-8307
,R. Todd Lalalar ..4104484828
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a result of this survey.
For more information on the
survey, or information on the
Pennsylvania Voluntary Scrapie
Flock Certification Program, con
tact Dr. van Buskirk at the Pa.
Dept, of Agriculture in Harrisburg
(717) 783-5301, or Dr. Ulysses J
Lance. VS, ASPHIS, USDA, Har
risburg, (717) 782-3442.
degree in social science from West
Virginia’s Bluefield State College,
began his career working with the
New York Farm Bureau for 10
years before joining the national
organization.
Joel Waybright, committee
chairperson, said, “Membership is
the lifeblood of the organization,
the membership of the organiza
tion is responsible for the develop
ment of local policies which are
presented as resolutions to the state
association to be used for the lob
bying effort on the state and
national levels for the farming
community’s benefit”
The Adams Count Farm Bureau
has a membership listing of 900
farm family members. While the
local bureau began a membership
drive in September with a mad
campaign, it launched a farmcr-to
farmer program with the goal of
reaching each eligible person foi
membership. '
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