In Wake Of Drought, Wolfes Worry About Com Test Weights
(Continirad from Pago i)
which attracts buyers’ atten
tion. Also, prices are up over a
dollar a bushel from last year
(up from $2.18 to
$3.00-$3.25), which will make
up for some of the yield loss
and low test weights.
Also, the low moisture
reduces time and money neces
sary to spend drying shelled
com. Although Wade puts up
about 10,000 bushels of high
moisture com for his beef
cattle, he sells the rest as dry
shelled corn, primarily to
Pennfield and Shoop feed com
panies. This year he estimates
he will have 25,000-40,000
bushels to sell alter harvesting
400 total acres, which includes
com cut for silage.
Yields of earlier varieties of
com (Wade plants Doebler’s
and Pioneer) which were cut
before the drought for silage
were “excellent,’’ After the first
of August, the com dried out
quickly and died much earlier
than usual. Their farm suffered
some drought last year also,
being in a small area of the
county that the rain kept miss
ing while falling only a mile
away.
Other Influences
The age-old farm problem of
expenses going up while the
government keeps prices down
to provide cheap food for con
sumers continues. Wade fig
ures not being able to spray
weeds with atrazine will dou
ble his spraying costs. Some
farmers in the State College
area incur the wrath of neigh
bors who oppose the use of
chemicals on crops, which the
Wolfes fear may hinder their
ability to use sprays, further
Facts prove that starch content is what makes corn the ideal animal feed. And that's
what makes CFS Waxy Corn different from dent. CFS Waxy is 100% amylopectin
starch...zero percent amylose. (Dent is 25% amylose).
Amylopectin starch is more digestible. That means CFS Waxy maintains no less than
a 25% advantage over dent...in the feedlot or milking parlor.
On-farm tests show the average weight gain/feed efficiency in beef, sheep, swine and
other animals fed waxy corn increased up to 10% over dent fed animals.
In dairy herds CFS Waxy increased butterfat, protein and milk production.
And, CFS waxy can be produced as a cash crop...often bringing premium prices when
used for export.
Faster weight gain, more milk and flexibility..,that's why CFS Waxy hybrids are more
than just corn.
! See Your Local CFS Seedsman for More Information
/tSJN PARS, INC.
fi 4 * ■ 976 West R ° ad \S rv\
tl ij. /I Elizabethtown, PA 17022-9750 \
1-800-WAX-CORN \
929-2676 '
Custom Farm Seed * Momence, IL 60954
Tha limitation of warranty and remedy of aach bag of CFS toad add it part of tha tarma of tha aatathamef. Plaaaa not* limitad
.warranty and tamady atatawanta on CfSaaad bag and tag.
reducing yields.
The Wolfes have been trying
to work out an acceptable soil
conservation plan with the
ASCS for three years. Because
they pasture their brood cows
in fields of com stalks after the
com has been picked, they
don’t want to put in strips,
which would require too much
money for fencing.
Also, one ASCS agent wants
them to put in more no-till com
(right now they have one-third
no-tilled, one-third chisel
plowed, and one-third mold
board plowed). Wade believes
the cost of more no-till equip
ment is prohibitive for him.
Because no-till com requires a
higher soil temperature to do
well, as he discovered last year
with a “terrible” no-till crop, he
has to wait until mid-May to
plant it. Weed control for no
till com is harder, necessitating
the purchase of more increas
ingly expensive sprays.
Wade has doubts about
marketing com through futures
contracts. “It’s not all gravy,”
he said. After losing money on
options the last two years, he
questions whether contracts
work.
Help On Horizon
Wade and Glenn Wolfe,
Penn State agriculture gradu
ates, monitor their crops close
ly for insect and weed prob
lems. They rely on consulta
tions with their suppliers for
technical support as well as the
seed companies.
To cut down on the need for
chemicals, the Wolfes plan to
increase their rotation of com
with wheat and hay. In addition
to 400 acres of com, they have
100 acres of soybeans, 200
acres of hay, 100 acres of
wheat, and 200 acres of
timothy and clover pasture.
They have some fields in com
for two years and others in com
and soybeans for five years.
As they expand their beef
operation, they need more hay
and wheat, which they will
rotate more often with the com.
Another edge the Wolfes
have is that they can reappor
tion how much com to sell and
how much to feed to beef cattle
according to what the prices
are in a given year.
NFU Protests Assault On Ethanol
DENVER, Colo.—“ The tax
provision changes passed by
the House Ways and Means
Committee would be devastat
ing for the U.S. ethanol indus
try,” said National Farmers
Union (NFU) President Lei and
Swenson in the letter to U.S.
House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
The letter was written on
behalf of NFU’s 293,000 farm
and ranch families.
“Development of a commer
cial ethanol industry has
strengthened com prices by
increasing demand. Five per
cent of last year’s record com
crop went into ethanol produc
tion. This increased farm
income from com. production
by about 11 percent or $1.2 bil
lion in 1994,” wrote Swenson.
“Yet, farmers are only one
sector of the U.S. economy that
has benefltted front this rela
tively new industiy. Ethanol
processing and blending have
provided needed jobs in many
rural communities in the Mid-
Com Talk, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 14,1995-Paga 3
mm mi mw§
Wade is encouraged by the
present growth in the export
market for com. He blames a
lack of competition among
grain buyers for a drop in con
tract prices below Chicago
Board of Trade levels by 20 to
25 cents. He believes that far
mers may be better off with
little or no governmental
involvement in setting prices
west. The ethanol industry has
created more than 40.000 U.S.
jobs and generates $5.6 billion
for the U.S. economy annual
ly,” continued Swenson in his
letter to Gingrich.
The House Ways and Means
Committee has proposed the
following changes: 1) Repeal
of the Treasury Department’s
mling making ETBE eligible
for the partial excise tax
exemption; 2) Cap tax benefits
of current ethanol manufactur
ers and deny tax incentives to
new manufacturers; and 3) eli
minate the excise tax exemp
tion, require that marketers use
only the blender’s income tax
credit and reduce this credit
from 54 cents to 51 cents per
gallon.
Swenson is also critical of
the fact that the tax changes are
being slipped into the House’s
budget reconciliation bilL
“This is an issue that will have
ai significant impact on com
producers, rural communities.
# WARNING, ALL SILO OWNERS
Check your silo now for rotten staves. If you
have been using your silo for 10 to 15 years
for either corn silage or haylage, It is time
to SHOTCFIETE.
RESURFACES INTERIORS;
9 Coats the silo's interior
9 Protects feed in storage
9 Durable, tough, acid-resistant
9 Increases useful life
9 Economical
REPAIRS HOLES:
9 Repairs even large holes
9 Up lo twice (he strength of the
original stave
9 Rapid application
9 Durable surface
EXTENDS USEFUL LIFE;
• Support for old foundations
* Special repairs can be made
quickly and economically
• Little or no forming needed
* Stronger than the original
Shotcrete to iho good for repairing «tone walla
When you think your silo Is beyond repair
THINK Ot SHOTCRETE!
Lancaster Silo Co., Inc.
2006 Horatahoa Rd. • Lancaster, PA • (717) 299*3721
PENNSYLVANIA MASTER CORN PROWERS ASSOC., INC.
■•(ore The ado t Interior After The surface Is
with plaster damaged and stave reconditioned, and a new, thick,
caponed
B«fort A hole to worn Alter Wlththe hole repaired
completely through the eilo wal by Shot Crete and a new
eurlacc applied the eib ie
ready lor years of uu
Before The bottom pan of After ThcShotCrcte
the stavea ere completely worn System repairs and replaces
M **V the missing structure
and other farm programs.
The Pennsylvania Corn
Growers Association, of which
Wade is the vice president,
concentrates on bringing com
growers up to date on new
techniques and developments
at their annual conference. The
association is also pushing for
the com checkoff program.
ethanol manufacturers and our
nation's balance of trade. It
certainly deserves public
debate,” said Swenson.
A recent report by the Gov
ernment Accounting Office
(GAO) projected a net loss to
the U.S. Treasury of up to $6.3
billion over five years because
of a drop in com prices if the
ethanol incentive program
were eliminated.
“Severe crippling of the
ethanol industry—the likely
result of the proposed
changes—would leave petro
leum derivative MTBE as the
only oxygenate available for
Clear Air Act fuels,” said
Swenson. “This would
increase the price of MTBE
and escalate U.S. dependence
on foreign oil.”
lough surface wil protect
stored feed
r "
f' $