A32-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 15,2001
First-Time Champions
For Both Denver
Swine Exhibitors
ANDY ANDREWS
Editor
DENVER (Lancaster Co.)
Gary Martin and Renee
Hoover both had something to
celebrate on a gloomy day
Tuesday.
Though the pall from the
worst terrorist attack in U.S.
history was felt by all, they
both managed to capture their
first championship ribbons at
the Denver Fair Hog Show.
Gary Martin, 20, son of
Clarence and Marilyn Martin,
New Holland, exhibited a
240-pound Yorkshire cross
bred gilt to grand champion.
Nicknamed “Frisky,” judge
Kent Good said “everything
stands out about the hog - it’s
free-moving, clean up in the
jowl and chest, is very lean,
with a nice rump and nice set
of loins.”
Gary’s first champion rib
bon at Denver was obtained by
showing a hog he obtained
from a private sale in Mary
land. He is a 2000 graduate of
Garden Spot and Brownstown
Vo-Tech, and works as a
crewman/driver at Conestoga
Pole Building.
Reserve champion, a gilt
which Good liked because of
its “tremendous length and
movement,” was a 255-pound
Duroc crossbred exhibited by
Renee Hoover.
Gary Martin, right, won grand champion hog
Tuesday evening at Denver Fair. Kent Good Judged
the show.
Renee Hoover, right, won reserve champion hog at
Denver Fair. Judge for the show was Kent Good.
We Salute Our Farming Industry
Renee, 18, is the daughter of
Marty and Lois Hoover,
Schoeneck. The 2001 Cocalico
High School graduate said she
was happy to have a champi
on her last year of showing at
the fair. She exhibited a home
bred hog, which she exercised
every day.
There were 26 hogs and 11
exhibitors.
Following is a list of show
placings.
DENVER FAIR
SWINE SHOW
RESULTS
Class 1 (225-227 lbs). 1. Gerald Mar
tin 2. Sarah Boyd. 3. Gerald Martin
Class 2 (230-235 lbs.) 1 Gary Martin
2 Sarah Boyd 3 Chelsea Hoover.
Class 3 (240-247 lbs.): 1. Gary Martin.
2 Jenny Hughes 3 Willis Hoover
Class 4 (245-255 lbs.) 1 Jenny
Hughes 2 Jason Martin 3. Wesley
Hoover
Class 5 (253-260 lbs.) 1 Renee Hoo
ver 2 Jenny Hughes. 3 Wesley Hoo-
Class 6 (265-270 lbs.) 1. Willis Hoo
ver 2 Sarah Boyd 3 Justin Martin
Class 7 (280-285 lbs)' 1 Jonathan
Rupert 2. Jonathan Rupert.
GRAND CHAMPION
Gary Martin
RESERVE
Renee Hoover
SHOWMANSHIP
16 And Over 1 Sarah Boyd 2 Gary
Martin 3 Renee Hoover.
12-15 Year Olds'l Jenny Hughes 2
Wesley Hoover 3 Chelsea Hoover
11 & Under. 1 Willis Hoover
CHAMPION
Sarah Boyd
Can Farms Survive Phosphorous-
Based Nutrient Planning?
ANDY ANDREWS
Editor
MANHEIM (Lancaster Co.)
If the state nutrient management
board performs a review of the
current nutrient management act
and decides to adopt a phospho
rous-based plan, farmers are like
ly to need two to three times the
land base to accommodate the
manure they apply now.
That was the message given to
about three dozen poultry pro
ducers and agri-industry repre
sentatives Monday at the Penn
State-sponsored Poultry Health
and Management Seminar at
Kreider’s Restaurant in Man
heim.
Jerry Martin, dairy/
environment agent at the Lancas
ter County extension office, said
that the current Act 6 will be up
for possible review in 2002. The
USDA Environmental Protection
Agency’s (EPA’s) adopted pro
posal is to consider phosphorous
site index planning for the state.
Martin spoke about regulatory
changes facing Pennsylvania
farmers and “what we can do to
anticipate changes and prepare
for them,” he said.
A USDA/EPA Unified Nation
al Strategy was proposed in
March 1999 that could have great
impact on animal operations in
the state. One such proposal
under consideration is subjecting
“anyone with confined animal
operations,” Martin said, to pro
visions to have some type of nu
trient management plan.
For the poultry industry, how
ever, what has bqen considered,
during a review period for pro
posed changes to federal Wafer
quality rules for Concentrated
Animal Feeding Operations
(CAFOs), is that all poultry oper
ations are under the CAFO regu
lations. Co-permitting could also
have significant impact for jtouf
try producers and those in the in
dustry.
The EPA invited. comments
from the proposed CAFO rules
until the end of July this year.
The agency is scheduled to re
lease final regulations on Dec. 15,
2002. Those regulations may not
be published until January 2003,
Martin noted.
These regulations “could have
significant impacts on all ag pro
ducers,” Martin said. “What can
we do to prepare?”
Right now, the unified strategy
has looked closely at the phos
phorous site index, based on re
search at the USDA Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) Pasture
Lab Farm in Klingerstown,
Schuylkill County. The lab dis
covered, on a watershed basis,
that 90 percent of phosphorous
leaves a watershed from 10 per
cent of a land area. A small
amount of land could contribute
to a lot of phosphorous loss.
The site index would take a
look at potential high source
areas, identify them, and nutrient
management plans would have to
be in place to manage them.
Pressure could be exerted on
Act 6, the Pennsylvania Nutrient
Management Act written in May
1993 and put into affect Oct. 1,
1997, to include phosphorous
based planning.
A requirement was that the
State Conservation Commission
must review CAO status and cri
teria at the five-year anniversary
of the plan’s enactment which
occurs in 2002.
Oct. 1, 2002 marks five years.
“What’s going to happen?” Mar
tin said. “I have no idea.”
Regulators could lower the an-
Jerry Martin, Lancaster County daily/envlronment
agent, left, with Paul Patterson, with the Penn State poul
try science department.
Dr. Robert Elki professor and head of the Penn State
Department of Poultry Science, right, introduces Phillip
Clauer, new senior extension associate of the depart
ment.
imal density formula from 2to ent management plans. Right
1.7 S or 1.5. And how does thk now would be a good time to get
affect farms that soil test high or, the soil test, and soil test on a
off the charts for phosphorous al- basis (every three years),
ready? They would be faced with to identify fields “near or more
having to route the manure away than 200 parts per million of
from those fields or off the farm according to Mar-
entirely.
Discussion will continue for
some time at the review date.
Martin noted while some can
speculate, it is like “trying to read
the crystal ball,” when so many
factors have to be considered, he
noted.
From a federal standpoint,
storage and confinement areas
would be under tougher regula
tions to ensure they could contain
material from a 25-year, 24-hour
storm. That would entail “no re
lease of nutrients, period,” said
Martin.
Producers would take note to
identify, now, how water travels
through their farm, and to ensure
they have current and imple
mented conservation and nutri
tin.
If a" phosphorous-based plan is
implemented, producers would
also havfe to evaluate and im
prove water flow on the farm, in
cluding identifying streams, wa
terways, ditdhes, terrace outlets,
and subsurface drainage. They
would have to identify fields
within 100 feet of surface water
or 150 feet of a stream.
“These are things to do to get a
handle on the potential for how
this may impact you down the
road,” Martin said.
But the plan raises concerns,
because if phosphorous-based
planning is implemented, it
“could kill our ag industry in
Lancaster County if we get too
stringent with phosphorous,*’
according to Martin. >