Lancaster farming. (Lancaster, Pa., etc.) 1955-current, September 23, 1995, Image 205

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    Egg Producers Face Challenges Over Long, Hot Summer
(Continued from Pago 2)
is provided by Willard’s wife, June
and Steve’e wife, Virginia.
While the father processing
market continues to expand, Wil
lard said that overall, the fresh egg
market (of which he used to be a
part of) continues to hold steady
with demand steady.
“The process product has a
chance to pick up some,” he said.
At one time, the Haas family
provided fresh market eggs for
Sauders. But the challenges faced
by the fresh egg producers and the
further processing producers are
the same, regardless.
“We have a very good relation
ship between us and Quaker
State,” said Willard. The key is to
produce the most maximum size
eggs with the least amount of feed.
Many good hens will produce
anywhere from 280-295 eggs over
a lifetime, according to Haas. If
Willard Haas, who grows 235,000 layers, said that every day he and his son went
Into the two layer houses, checking Inlets and making sure all the doors were open
and the fans were running and clean.
PLEASE
VISIT
US IN
BOOTH #3
taken through a molt cycle, which
includes removing the birds from
light, a bird can produce up to
about 425 eggs.
In all, the Haas family has
recorded, at the end of 71 weeks, a
288/eggs/hen/house average.
Willard also serves as a member
of the national United Soybean
Board (USB) as a state director. He
serves on the International Market
ing Committee with a focus on
western Europe.
He is part of the ongoing effort
of the USB to “move soybeans”
into China and Pacific Rim coun
tries. For western Europe, the key
is simply to hold down the markets
they have while promoting quality
products.
The best promise lies with
Japan, which depends on imports
from soybean producers in the
U.S. Willard said he believes that
Japan will “never go out on the
BS
Lancaster, PA
September
27*28, 1995
Poultry Notes Supplement to Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Sept 23,1W5-4>i»flt
Of the 1,300 acres the Haas family farms In Schuylkill, Northumberland, and Dau
phin counties, they manage 730 acres of com, 350 acres of beans, and 180 acres of
wheat. Their hen houses are to the right of the Salem United Church of Christ. In cen
ter, in this view from Mahantongo Mt. Rd.
market for growing their own fin- demand going up. Some of it is
ished product, whether it is pork, new marketing and a lot of it is fin
beef, or eggs.” ished products, microwave pro-
Demand is continuing to rise in dues, quick foods a lot of eggs
China and markets are opening— are used for that”
slowly. The gains will be in further pro-
But for U.S. producers, he said, cess market mostly, while shell
‘T think we'll probably see some egg demand remains steady.
Defined Bacteria Mix
Stymies Salmonella
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Month-old broiler chickens treat
ed with a select blend of natural
bacteria had significantly less sal
monella only about one-third
of 1 percent in their intestinal
pouches called ceca, compared
with untreated broilers, a U.S. De
partment of Agriculture scientist
has reported.
‘The results indicate treatment
with this bacterial blend, which
we call CF3, may be a useful part
of an integrated program to reduce
salmonella in broilers during
growout and reduce salmonella in
the chicken house,” said research
biologist Michael E. Hume with
USDA’s Agricultural Research
Service.
In tests this spring, 100 hundred
broiler chicks were dosed at one
day of age with CF3. Another 100
chicks did not receive CF3. Two
days later, all 200 chicks were giv
en 10,000 Salmonella typhimur
ium bacteria apiece.
“When the birds’ intestines
were checked at four weeks of
age, the CF3 treated chicks had
less than 10 Salmonella typhimur
ium bacteria per gram of cecal
content, compared with about
3,000 Salmonella typhimurium
per gram in the untreated birds,”
said Hume.
Hume and fellow
ARS scientists Donald
E. Corner, David J. Nis
bet and John R. De-
Loach conducted the
tests at, the agency’s
Food Animal Protection
Research Laboratory at
College Station, Texas.
Hume reported the
team’s findings at the
recent annual meeting
of the Poultry Science
Association at Edmon
ton, Alberta, Canada.
Older chickens are
naturally more resistant
to colonization by mi
croorganisms such as
salmonella. Scientists
have known for years
that treating chicks with
the cecal contents of
older chickens offers
some protection against
salmonella.
To produce CF3, the
College Station team se
lected 29 different types
of bacteria from the
hundreds present in the
ceca and used only those
microorganisms to pro
duce a “defined cul
ture,” Hume said.
“The defined culture
offers an advantage in
that you know precisely
what’s in there,” said
ARS’ Donald Comer.
“The CF3 culture con-
205