Vol. 43 No. 39 the hosts of the Pennsylvania Cattlemen’s Summer Field Day gather.around the They are from left, Donald Anderson, Diane McElhaney Anderson, Anglea Benham, national Shorthorn lassie queen, and seated, Marie McElhaney. David McEl haney was also a host. Photo by Marsha Chess, Mercer County correspondent. The Marlin Hoff family will host this year’s Maryland Holstein picnic at Coldsprings Farms. From left, lan, Marlin and Kathy, and Matt with Courtney, and Debbie holding baby Brook Hoff. Photo by Karon Butler, Maryland correspondent The grand champions of the Northwest Championship Holstein Show along with owners and officials are from left, Fred Strouse, owner, reserve grand champion; Heather Morrell; Chris Hill, judge; Lacey Zakostelecky, Crawford County dairy prin cess; Robert Morrell, owner, reserve grand champion; Mark Campbell, owner, grand champion; Rachel, Sarah, and Mafk Campbell; and Reekie Raffaner, Armstrong Coun ty dairy princess. See photo report on page A 22. Four Sections Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 1, 1998 $29.50 Per Year Pennsylvania Cattlemen Summer Field Day At McElhaney Farm MARSHA ANN CHESS Mercer Co. Correspondent HOOKSTOWN (Beaver Co.) Members of the Pennsylvania Cattlemen’s Association met here for their 23rd Annual Summer Field Day at the McElhaney Stock Farm and the Hookstown Fair grounds on a hot July Saturday. The event included the 1998 Pa. State Shorthorn Show and the Beaver County Blue Ribbon Pre view Show, which were held at the Hookstown Fairground. Back at the farm cattlemen could parti cipate in a variety of tours and workshops including pasture man agement, water control systems, fencing systems, estrus synchroni zation, ova transfer, and hoof trimming. A tour of the Duquesne Light Power Plant was offered Coldsprings Farms To Host Maryland Holstein Picnic KAREN BUTLER Maryland Correspondent NEW WINDSOR, Md. The annual Maryland Holstein Picnic will be hosted this year by the Marlin Hoff family at Coldsprings Farms, near New Windsor. This will be the fifth year the state asso ciation has held a picnic, and 4-500 people are expected to at tend. The date is Saturday, August 8. Starting time is 10:30 a.m. You do not need to be a member of the association to attend the picnic; all are welcome. The event offers Holstein en thusiasts an opportunity to enjoy a day of fellowship with other breeders. A barbecue lunch will be Hedging, Options, Futures May Spell Survival LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Farming Staff HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.) Risk has always been asso ciated with farming. Farmers, interested in reducing that risk, look for ways to ensure a reliable financial future in farming. For some, hedging, options, and futures may spell survival. But is it for everyone? And how does it really work? These issues were examined in depth during the IX Ag Horizons Conference held in Harrisburg on Tuesday. The day-long conference examined how changing govern ment attitudes are affecting agri culture, and how hedging, options, and futures can be tools to help farmers. Russ Redding, deputy secretary for the Pa. Dept, of Agriculture, said that government attitudes 600 Per Copy to interested parties. During the lunch break Mr. Randy K. Hareza, Attomey-at-Law, Baden, spoke on “Electric Fence and Other Po tential Legal Liabilities.” Dr. Ter ry Etherton, Head of the Depart ment of Dairy and Animal Science at Penn State, spoke on “Chal lenges and Opportunities for Pennsylvania Animal Agricul ture.” Cattlemen members took part in a Cow-Pie-Bingo contest and con tinued the workshops during the afternoon. The cow pic ended up in an unclaimed square, so the winners were the Shorthorn youth who received the prize money. During the evening the guests took part in the Keystone Rib-Eye Steak Dinner and a country hoe down. provided, and there will be farm tours, a cow judging contest, a meeting for the Maryland juniors, and door prizes. Agribusinesses will have a display area set up at the farm. There will also be a calf raffle for the Maryland juniors, of a March "Luke” out of an 88-point “Aerostar.” The next dam is an ex cellent Bell. Coldsprings Farms is widely re cognized as a premier breeder of Holsteins. If you have an interest in visiting a large, successful dairy with a high herd average and a na tionally renowned breeding pro gram that has that has sold about a dozen proven bulls to studs over (Turn to Page A 27) toward agriculture are changing, not by choice but forced by budget restraints. “The key to improving prosperi ty for agriculture is to improve trade,” Redding said in response to statistics that show that 96 percent of the the world’s population is outside of the United States. Already one-third of the United States’s agriculture products are being exported to other countries. A main focus of the United States government is to reduce trade barriers so that agricultural products can be more freely exported. Steps in this direction have enabled the trade segment to grow faster than any other part of the economy. An example of the government’s work to benefit agjs seen from exempting agricultural products from trade embargoes (Turn to Page A 24)