Vol. 42 NO. 12
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
MILLBACH (Lebanon
Co.) Dairy farmers Jim and
Dot Bennetch of Millbach raise
Standing In front of the old limastona farmhouse at
JIMANDOT Holstelns, James Benneteh holds the halter of
an 89-point Bova Glow daughter that made 140 pounds last
CMA Conference Provides Insights Into Agriculture’s Economic Future
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Fanning Staff
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) Near-ideal nationwide
growing conditions throughout the
summer last year helped create the
third largest com crop on record,
which could do wonders to help
improve carryover despite con
tinued heavy com use by the poul-
Horse World Expo Held In Maryland
LOIS SZYMANSKI
Maryland Correspondent
TIMONIUM, Md. Friday to
Sunday, Jan. 10-12, featured the
biggest event of its kind ever to
come to the Maryland region.
Trainers, horsemen, and equine
experts came together to share
information, offer goods for sale,
and to entertain horse enthusiasts
of every age and level at the Horse
World Expo at the Maryland State
Fairgrounds.
The show was the brainchild of
organizer Denise Isaac of Balti
more County.
“I literally woke up one morn
ing with the idea for this,” she
said. But thinking about how to
organize, and put it together was
an overwhelming task for Isaac.
Tm also a competitive bass
Five Sections
JIMANDOT Holsteins Grows Greenhouse Calves
their registered Holstein calves in a
“greenhouse.”
Sort of.
Calling a building consisting of
ribbed supports and a skin of white
try and swine industries, according
to a Penn State economist
H. Louis Moore, Penn Stale eco
nomist spoke to about 60 crop
consultants, crop management
association (CMA) managers, pro
ducers, in addition to college,
agency, and business representa
tives at the Penn Stale Scanticon
Conference Center on Monday.
fisher,** she said, "so I decided to
call on Bob Dobart, who runs the
big Fishing Expo at the Fair
grounds each year. I had to work
up my nerve to call him,” she said,
admitting that at the time, she was
in awe of Dobart.
Isaac started riding when she
was six yean old. She said she has
ridden English and Western,
shown, worked with draft hones,
and now owns an Appaloosa and
rides mostly for relaxation. Isaac
said she talked with Eugenia
Snyder, one of the organizers of
Ohio’s Equine Affaire (a similar
show), to get advice. With
Dobart’s expertise they decided to
book the top names in the indus
try, including John Lyons,
Richard Shrike, Kenny Harlow,
animal communicator, Anita Cur-
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Januaiy 25, 1997
plastic a “greenhouse” may be
popular, but it seems innacc urate.
Especially when the building is
designed to house cattle.
A “greenhouse” describes a
test, while wife Dot controls the family dog Corky, and from
the left, James’ mother Martha stands with son Jim and
Dot’s son Christopher and daughter Jessica.
Moore spoke at the 13th annual
meeting of the Pennsylvania CMA
(PCMA) and provided insight into
the direction of the U.S. and state
agricultural economies. Moore
was one of several speakers offer
ing information to the nine state
CMA chapters and their represen
tatives regarding “Insights Into the
Current Ag Economy and New
tis, and a unique demonstration of
Native American horsemanship
given by GaWaNi Ponyßoy, a
Native American of Cherokee
descent
For years John Lyons has been
(Turn to Pago A 32)
State Farm Organizations Want USDA
To Continue Dairy Support Activities
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) For many dairy farm fam
ilies, the reality of the plunge in
milk value hit just about
Christmas.
The milk check to the farm has
been slashed significantly because
house for greenery, not Holsteins.
But this past year has seen the
term become widely applied to
describe lightweight, less expen
sive dairy cattle facilities.
Technologies,” the conference
theme.
Moore told those at the PCMA
meeting that U.S. com harvest for
1996, according to latest USDA
figures, was 9.27 billion bushels.
Wheat harvest stands at 2.28 bil
lion bushels and soybean harvest
was 2.4 billion bushels.
For the slate, com growers
harvested 129.2 million bushels,
not a record year (the record was in
1985 when the state harvested
151.8 million bushels). However,
1996 was a record for'the amount
of bushels per acre, according to
Moore, at 123—compared to only
110 bushels per acre in 1985.
Overall com production is down
because, as one producer who
attended the meeting admitted.
the officially calculated value of
milk dropped because the sale
price of cheese dropped in i mark
et that trades less than 1 percent of
the nation’s cheese.
The price of milk paid to far
mers is set by the federal govern
ment which uses a formula that
takes into account the market val
$27.50 Per Year
In general, before the use of
carbon-chain plastics, a “green
house’* generally was made of
glass, metal and wood, with a
pane-glass roof.
They were used by the wealthy
whose gardners would cultivate
plants for house decoration and
landscaping. They were used by
plant researchers, academic and
amateur, and general plant hob
byists, and they also became used
as commercial facilities for grow
ing flowers, herbs, starter plants,
etc.
When structures incorporating
plastic films became available to
the horticultural industry, it still
took some time before they
became accepted as replacements
for the sturdier-appearing glass,
and metal roofed and sided
buildings.
However, most of the commer
cial greenhouses constructed today
are made with plastics.
Perhaps as more and more of
traditional building materials
become replaced with plastics and
composites out of economic need,
the term “greenhouse” will be
dropped in lieu of more accurate
and specific terminologies.
And perhaps then people will
drop the “greenhouse” and “hot
house” associations that may tend
to shy them away from considering
such facilities for production ani
mal agriculture.
Dairy cattle need cool, clean,
and flowing fresh air not
(Turn lo Pago A3O)
land is being lost to houses, park
ing lots, and shopping centers.
Also, more soybeans are being
grown in the state.
Com use is increasing at pork
and chicken finishing facilities.
Com use stands at 165 million
bushels a week nationwide. Com
carryovers, according to Moore,
stood at 426 million bushels as of
Sept. 1,1996. USDA projects car
ryover as of Sept. 1 of this year to
be 1,107 million bushels, 435 mil
lion bushels of wheat, and 210 mil
lion bushels of soybeans.
But with the increasing use of
com and with the unpredictability
of growing conditions, Moore told
those at the meeting. “I think there
will be less than a billion bushels
(Tum to Pago A2O)
uei of milk and milk component
products, such as butter, milk
powder and cheese.
The drop in cheese price at the
National Cheese Exchange (NCE),
which the USDA uses to set mini
mum milk prices, caused a $4.05
per hundredweight (cwt) decline
(Turn to Pag* A 25)
60t Per Copy