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V 01.45 No. 14
JAYNE SEBRIGHT
Lancaster Farming Staff
GROVE CITY (Mercer Co.)
John Ligo of Mercer County
is excited to be a dairy farmer.
He has good reason, too. Last
year the Ligos made $1,600 net
PaDHIA &
Dairy One
Join Forces
STATE COLLEGE-(Centre
Co.)-Pennsylvania Dairy Herd
Improvement Association
(PaDHIA) and Dairy One have
entered into an agreement to
create an international service
company focused on delivering
American style dairy herd man
agement systems around the
globe.
According to PaDHIA presi
dent Norm Hershey, the interna
tonal venture will be called
AgStar Technologies and be
owned SOVaO by the two organ
izations.
“Both Pennsylvania DHIA
and Dairy One are aware of the
enormous opportunities for in
formation services and technol
ogy in agriculture’s global
marketplace,” Hershey said.
“By joining forces, we can bring
the expertise and resources of
both organizations together to
create an industry-leading ser
vice provider around the
world.”
(Turn to Page A 32)
CL As In Forages: Potential
Milk Marketing Tactic?
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
GUTHRIESVILLE (Chester
Co.) Believe it or not, forages
have some rather high levels of
substances that could actually
fight cancer.
Scientists are working out the
details of exactly how a sub
stance called conjugated linoleic
acid (CLA), an 18-carbon fatty
acid similar to what is found in
vegetable oil, according to an ar
ticle in the January Hay and
Forage Grower, can actually
prevent certain types of cancers.
Meanwhile, it could be possible
for grazing groups trying to
“niche-market” milk items to
put the fact that feeds contain
ing CLAs are used in the pro
duction of milk.
PDA Offers Crop Insurance
Assistance To Farmers
JAYNE SEBkiGHT
Lancaster Farming Staff
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) The Pennsylvania De
partment of Agriculture (PDA)
Four Sections
Mercer County Farmer Is Positive About Dairying
cash profit per cow on their 230-
cow dairy farm.
“Dairy farming has been very,
very good for us,” said Ligo.
“When it has been good for so
Judy and John Ligo of Mercer County encounter both
profit and pleasure with LiTerra Holstein and Highlands.
They milk 230 cows and profited $1,600 per cow in net
cash last year. Photo supplied by the Ligo family
“This is a big issue, a big
health issue,” said Dr. Marvin
Hall, Penn State forage special
ist, late last week.
Hall spoke to about 60 crop
producers and agri-industry
representatives at the 2000
Chester County Crops Day at
the East Brandywine Fire Hall
in Guthriesville.
The more animals are fed
forages, the higher amounts of
CLA are present to fight cancer.
The potential to use this source
of information to market “CLA
forage” milk could be enormous.
Hall spoke about develop
ments in forage research and
new products on the horizon for
producers.
(Turn to Pag* ASS)
has recently allocated 5.6 mil
lion dollars to aid farmers in
purchasing crop insurance.
The $5.6 million is in addition
(Turn to Pag* A2O)
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 5, 2000
long, there’s bound to be correc
tions, like the current low milk
price.”
Ligo and his wife Judy started
in the dairy business 10 years
A second helping of snow that blew through southeast Pennsylvania on
Sunday followed by significant winds left farmers such as George Spahr of East
Berlin clearing out driveways all day Monday. George and his family have oper
ated a 235-acre dairy farm for the last 41 years. The farm is owned by the family
of George Kennan, who was the ambassador to Russia during the Truman Ad
ministration. Photo by Jayne Sebright
ago because John saw dairying
as a profitable way to run his
own business and stay in agri
culture. He hasn’t been disap
pointed yet.
“Ten years ago, we started
with nothing and now ten years
later we have a net worth of
more than a million dollars,”
said Ligo. “Our net worth has
increased because of dairy farm
ing.”
According to Ligo, the last
four years have included three
of the best years ever in dairy
ing. He received an average of
Knapers Named
York Family Of The Year
JOYCE BUPP
York Co. correspondent
YORK (York Co.) Farm
land all around them has disap
peared, changing into highways,
housing developments, and strip
malls. Still the Emerson and
Ruth Knaper family has stead
fastly continued to devote their
land to crops and cows.
For their dedication to keep
ing the family farm in agricul
Pork Expo Next Wednesday
Next Wednesday, Feb. 9, the annual Keystone Pork Expo will
be conducted at the Lebanon County Expo Center at the Lebanon
Fairgrounds in North Cornwall. The program centers on the
market outlook for producers and managing risk. For more about
the expo, including a schedule of events, turn to page A 25.
$31.00 Per Year
$15.31 per hundredweight last
year. Producing milk at a cash
cost of $10.60 per hun
dredweight, that’s a profit of
$4.71 per hundredweight minus
depreciation and interest.
He attributes his success as a
dairy farmer to having a positive
attitude. He also attributes his
profitability to having a plan
and a goal, then maintaining the
commitment, intelligence, and
drive to reach that goal.
“Keeping a positive attitude
is the most important thing a
ture, the Knapers have been
cited as Farm Family of the
Year by the York Chamber of
Commerce.
James and Mirian Wal
temyer’s John Deere equipment
dealership in southern York
County was named the Ag Busi
ness honoree during the Cham
ber’s annual Agribusiness
Awards dinner, held January 20
600 Per Copy
(Turn to Page A2O)
(Turn to Page A 26)