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vol. 41 NO. 45
Lancaster County Poultry Association President
Don Brubaker Offers Producer’s Perspective To Industry
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
STRASBURG (Lancaster Co.)
As president of the Lancaster
County Poultry Association, Don
Brubaker offers a producer’s per
spective to the poultry industry.
While most past presidents of
the association have been affiliated
with the industry end, Brubaker
does the hands-on work. His Beav
er Creek Farm houses 90,000
chicks that he raises for the broiler
industry.
He knows the daily grind
required for ■ feeding chickens,
monitoring flock health, cleaning
out manure, coping with the non
farming community’s aversion to
chicken odors and abnormal fears
of contacting Salmonella enteridis,
and a paycheck that never seems to
grow enough to meet cost of living
expenses.
“Being a producer I can’t help
but look at things differently than
industry people,” he said.
But that producer perspective
has also gained Brubaker’s respect
for the industry viewpoint.
“We can’t live without each
other. The poultry industry has
been on its toes since die beginning
in developing a better chicken and
EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Managing Editor
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
“Agriculture is a critical sector
of the economy and society in our
state,” said Theodore (Ted) Alter,
Penn State College of Agricultural
Sciences interim dean. “We hpve
challenges in the college as well as
in the agricultural community. But
Hvo Sections
they've done a good job in market
ing our product,” Brubaker said. “I
have a lot of respect for them.”
Brubaker grew up on his
parents’ Strasburg poultry farm,
the same one that he now owns.
“My parents started raising lay
ers in 1952,” he said. “Housing
6.000 birds back then was consid
ered amazing, and the chicken
house was called an ultra modem
operation.”
Poultry production has changed
a lot in the intervening years. Sev
eral additional houses were erected
and the switch was made from lay
ers to pullets in 1959 and to broilers
in 1968. When Brubaker took
charge of the operation in 1991, he
erected the fourth chicken house to
bring the space to its present
90.000 bird capacity.
Turn To
Poultry Note* Pag* 6
Editor’s Note: The North
east Poultry Show Is sche
duled September 18-19 at the
Lancaster Holiday Inn Host
Resort. Our “Poultry Notes”
section m this Issue features
this show along with other
poultry features, manage
ment reports, a poultry meet
ing calendar, and advertising
messages.
Penn State Interim Dean Alter
Sees Bright Future For State Agriculture
my view is that this is a time of
great excitement and opportunity
for us, and we have great promise
for the future.”
Aker was the guest speaker at
the regular meeting of the Pennsyl
vania State Council of Farm Orga
nizations at the Doubletree Hotel
Monday. The new interim dean
used the opportunity to introduce
Barn Raising Restores Burned York Dairy Farm
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 14, 1996
Don Brubaker, president of the Lancaster County Poultry Association, is shown
with his wife Luann and sons Lamar, 20 months, and Quentin, 4 weeks. Two other
sons, Devon, 11, and Halden, 8, were not available for pictures.
himself to the agricultural com
munity and to outline his agenda
for moving the programs of the col
lege forward.
“1 believe in agriculture in our
state, and I believe in our College
of Agricultural Sciences,” Alter
said. “I don’t know a time that I
have been at Penn State that I have
seen quite such strong, visible, vig
$27.50 Per Year
orous support as I have seen from
President Spanier. Both President
Spanier and Provost (John A.)
Brighton are very strong advocates
for Pennsylvania agriculture and of
our College of Agricultural Sci
ences. This was quite evident on
the state budget issue, and the Col
lege of Agricultural Sciences
received an increase of 11.4 per-
JOYCE BUPP
York Co. Correspondent
FAWN GROVE (York Co.)
With the smell of smoke still lin
gering over piles of bent and
twisted roofing metal, three bams
were rebuilt recently in the wake
of a devastating fire on a Fawn
USD A Economist: Corn Won’t
Run Out Despite Rumors
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
MANHEIM (Lancaster
Co.) Contrary to widespread
rumors thatU.S. com stocks could
run out early next week, on Mon
day an USDA economist said we
won’t ran out of com actually,
some is already available from
harvests well under way in the
Southeast
.f f ■ I
604 Per Copy
cent and was the only unit in the
university to receive an increase.
“My position is interim dean
until a permanent dean is named,”
Alter said. “But I’m not just a care
taker. I can tell you unequivocally
that my charge from the president
and provost is to act like a perma
nenudean. That’s what I’m com
(Turn to Page A 36)
Grove-area Amish dairy farm.
The Uio of bams on the John
Lapp family dairy operation were
discovered ablaze about 2 a.m. on
August 21. Firefighters from sev
eral surrounding rural communi
ties reportedly fought the blaze for
(Turn to Pag* A3B)
including com, will continue to
remain tight in 1997, through feed
prices should rebound for most
producers, providing minimal
increases in across-the-board poul
try production.
Dr. Milt Madison, ag economist
and poultry team leader for the
USDA Economic Research Ser
vice, spoke to 25 producers an
agri-industiy representatives on