A34-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 22, 2002
NCBA Requests Congress
To Fund Study On
Livestock, Meat Industry
DENVER, Colo. The Na
tional Cattlemen’s Beef Associa
tion (NCBA) is calling on the
U.S. House and Senate Agricul
ture and Appropriations Com
mittees to find funding for re
search that would get to the
bottom of volatile markets and
low prices for cattle producers.
In a June 17 letter to the com
mittees, Wythe Willey, NCBA
president, asked that funding be
provided to USDA to “contract
with an unbiased independent
consortium of several preeminent
business schools to conduct a
thorough analysis of the entire
livestock, poultry, and meat pro
tein complex.”
The letter pointed out that
many changes have occurred
over the past several years in the
ways livestock are priced, sold,
and raised. Recently, producers
have faced tremendous volatility
in the prices they’ve received for
their animals.
The analysis, according to
Willey, should take a broad look
at the underlying fundamentals
af the industry as well as those
associated with it. It should also
evaluate the affect of internation
al trade on the industry, as well
as the impact of regulatory activ
ties and costs of regulatory com
aliance at all levels.
In the letter, Willey said in
leasing levels of concentration
ihould be one of the issues inves
igated. Less than 40 percent of
he steer and heifer slaughter was
Lancaster Farming’s annual
Dairy of Distinction section is July 27.
The issue is scheduled to include feature
farm reports on more than two dozen
Dairy of Distinction award winners.
Watch for it!
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conducted by the top four firms
in 1980, and more than 80 per
cent is processed by the top four
today. However, Willey pointed
out that during the last 10 years,
prices have been highly variable
while market concentration has
remained virtually unchanged.
Willey, a beef producer from
Cedar Rapids, lowa, pointed out
that during difficult times like
these “we need to take a careful
and pragmatic look at the funda
mental factors impacting our in
dustries.” He said this would
allow producers to make in
formed decisions about the future
and “assure that unintended con
sequences do not outweigh any
potential benefits from legislated
change.”
Part of the analysis should in
clude “looking at different busi
ness models and industry struc
tures that will help producers
maintain long-term profitability.”
The industry is changing rapidly,
Willey said, and those changes
should be recognized and under
stood.
Willey also said NCBA be
lieves “this analysis should be
conducted with an eye to discern
ing the best long range methods
for livestock producers to main
tain global competitiveness, sus
tainability and longevity while
meeting the long-term needs of
consumers, who are the ultimate
source of every producer dollar.”
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Pa. Cattlemen Schedule Field Day
STATE COLLEGE (Centre
Co.) The Pennsylvania Cattle
men’s Association, along with
several affiliates and other organ
izations, have scheduled their an
nual Summer Cattlemen’s Field
Day for Saturday, July 27 in the
Gettysburg, Adams County area.
The main location of the pro
gram will be the Eisenhower His
toric Site, located just a few min
utes southwest of Gettysburg.
There will be special tours of
the historic battleground areas, as
well as the Eisenhower buildings,
including the Eisenhower home,
Brown’s Ranch and Mason-
Dixon Farms.
Registration will begin at 9
a.m. Saturday, with bus tours
scheduled not only of the battle
ground area, but also of Brown’s
Ranch, primarily to observe a
wide variety of conservation
practices.
During the noon program,
there will be a presentation by
Jana Malot, grazing specialist
with NRCS, on the use of a new
method of determining nutritive
value of grassland.
Some of the practices that will
be observed on the Brown Ranch
are riparian buffers, crossings,
water control structures, sub-sur
face drainage areas, watering sys
tems, fencing, and critical area
stabilization. Several leaders in
conservation will lead the discus
sion about these practices at the
Brown Ranch. Mr. Jere Wingert,
extension area agent in the
Adams County area will
discuss the breeding pro
gram results and tech
niques used at the Brown
f»li
Maxon-Dixon Farms, Inc. is a
family-owned farm that includes
2,600 acres, over 2,300 milk cows,
and over 1,700 replacements. The
breeding endeavors are geared to
ward functional-type cows with a
higher than 25,000-pound herd
average milk production. The
cows are milked three times daily
in two double-12 herring-bone
shaped milking parlors and one
double-24 parlor.
Being environmentally con
scious, Mason-Dixon Farms saw
an opportunity to become energy
self-sufficient with the installa
tion of biogas digester in 1979. It
provides not only more energy
than the farm can use but also,
with the digested manure, they
can fertilize as well as irrigate
crops using a slurry irrigation
center-pivot system. They have
also designed and built farm ma
chines of industrial quality and
size. Mason-Dixon Farm will be
toured on Saturday afternoon.
Field Day attendees may take
a guided bus tour of the Gettys
burg Battleground sites, and will
have access to the Eisenhower
Home. The tours are being or
ganized by Tom Vossler, an
Adams County Simmental breed
er and battlefield guide.
A large commercial hay har
vesting operation owned and op
erated by Larry Wilkinson will
Greg Creeden or Dave Bennett at
800-734-6064 or 315-364-7774
also be toured Saturday after
noon. The hay harvested from
over 3,000 acres is sold for live
stock feeding, mushroom com
post and several other purposes.
The event is co-sponsored by
the Pennsylvania Cattlemen’s
Association, Adams County Beef
Producers, South Central Cattle
men’s Association, Pennsylvania
Grazing Lands Coalition Initia
tive, and the National Park Serv
ice.
Headquarters will be the Super
8 Motel at (717) 337-2160. Ask
for the Cattlemen’s rate ($75), al
though there are many other ho
tels in Gettysburg area. There are
also many camping facilities
nearby. More information about
the commercial trade show, ar
rangements for tour groups, and
other specifics about the Field
Day can be obtained by contact
ing Ray and Mary Grimes at
(717) 334-1022, or the PCA Of
fice at phone/fax (814) 238-5888,
or by visiting the Pennsylvania
Cattlemen’s Association Website
at www.pacattle.org.
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