Lebanon Area Fair Posts Sale, Show Results
Tracey Gray’s 1,286-pound Lebanon Fair champion market steer went
for $3,000 to Doug Horst, representing Country Fare Restaurant, Myers
town. AH photos by Andy Adnrews, editor
LEBANON AREA FAIR
MARKET LAMB RESULTS
LIGHTWEIGHT
Class 1 1 Amber Frank 2 Carl Eisenhauer Jr 3 Amber Frank
Class 2 1 Rebecca Eisenhauer 2 Heath Spatz. 3 Amber Frank
MEDIUM WEIGHT
Class 1 1. Rebecca Eisenhauer 2 Rebecca Eisenhauer. 3 Emily Horn-
Class 2 1 Erin Willard 2 Mary Ellen Whitmoyer 3. Emily Whitmoyer
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Class 1 1. Megan Fuls 2 Kurt Fleener. 3 Billie Jo Atkins.
Class 2 1 Melissa Jo Risser 2 Billie Jo Atkins 3 Rebecca Spatz.
HEAVYWEIGHT
Class 1 1 Susan Leed 2 Kurt Fleener. 3. Megan Fuls.
Class 2 1. Kyle Fleener 2 Susan Leed 3. Susan Leed
Champion; Kyle Fleener
Reserve champion Susan Leed.
MONTADALE
Lightweight-1. Danielle Eblmg. 2. Danielle Eblmg 3. Danielle Eblmg.
Heavyweight-1 Derek Eblmg. 2. Derek Eblmg. 3. Dee Anna Eblmg.
1. Ashley Bmgaman. 2. Amber Gemberlmg.
1. Melissa Jo Risser.
DORSET
Lightweight: 1 Michelle Spatz. 2. Heath Spatz. 3. Michelle Spatz.
Medium weight: 1. Adrian Whitmoyer 2. Angela Blauch. 3. Matthew
Blauch.
Heavyweight; 1. Valerie Blauch. 2. Mary-
Ellen Whitmoyer. 3. Valene Blauch.
Last week, buyers Harry Bachman, Annville,
right, and Mike Firestine, Lebanon Valley/Fulton
Bank, purchased this pen of rabbits from Melis
sa Graybal. Melissa, 15, is the daughter of John
and Chris Graybal, Grantville, and is in the 10th
grade at Northern Lebanon high School. This is
her Rex breed.
Legislation May Help Protect Manure Prices For Pa. Applicators
STEPHEN SEEBER
Special To Lancaster Farming
LITITZ (Lancaster Co.) 1,500 tons of chicken manure and
nowhere to put it.
That could be a serious problem for farmers, haulers, and leg
islators within the next year.
. The Heller brothers, Dan and Daryl, along with Rick Haller,
have been running the Flintrock poultry farm with 200,000
chickens in eight bams at 16 E. Brubaker Valley Road for
many years. And every couple months or so, when they clean
the waste from the bams, the droppings are conveniently hauled
to mushroom country in southeastern Pennsylvania, where
growers buy the nitrate-rich chicken waste for use as mushroom
fertilizer.
For the most part, it’s been an efficient form of waste manage
ment, and Flintrock can dispose of up to 1,500 tons of manure in
a lucrative manner.
That all changed when, in an effort to keep nitrates out of the
Chesapeake Bay, the Maryland legislature enacted the Mary
land Manure Transport Project in March 2000. It’s an environ
mental initiative that subsidizes Maryland poultry farmers who
relocate their waste to low-nitrate areas. With the subsidies on
their side, these farmers are now driving their manure north to
BREEDS
SOUTHDOWN
CORRIEDALE
Late last week, the reserve champion hog,
exhibited by Kurt Fleener, Robesonia, weighing The 246-pound champion hog from the Leba
-270 pounds, was sold to Lebanon Valley/Fulton non Area fair, exhibited by Christopher Behney,
Bank for $5OO, represented by Mike Firestine, went for $l,lOO to Country Fare Restaurant,
fourth from right.
Kyle Fleener, Robesonia, saw his 134-pound
Lebanon Fair champion market lamb go for
$l,OOO to First National Bank, Fredericksburg,
represented by Martin Daubert, Wilmer Stoner,
and Alletta Schadler.
Pennsylvania mushroom land and, according to some, undercut
ting the going rates for chicken waste.
As a result, Pennsylvania farmers, including as many as 400
farms in Lancaster County, can’t compete.
Glenn B. Martin, owner of Quality Mulch Products LLC,
hauls chicken waste for Flintrock Farms. His business could be
hit the hardest.
“To stay competitive, we’re going to have to cut our price,” he
said, explaining that Maryland is currently beating Pennsylva
nia prices by $4 a ton.
Poultry manure hauling comprises about 60 percent of Mar
tin’s business, but if the playing field doesn’t level soon, he will
have to downsize his fleet and possibly put drivers out of work.
Recently he bought 15 truckloads of chicken manure from Flint
rock. This time, he will be able to sell it to mushroom farms in
Chester County. But if prices continue to drop and Maryland
continues its aggressive approach, this could be one of the last
pick-ups at the Elizabeth Township farm.
As haulers contemplate their futures, the long-term problem
for large chicken farms like Flintrock will be in finding a new
place to take the waste.
Dan Heller, Flintrock president, said land application options
are limited and storage facilities can only hold about a year’s
worth of manure.
Reserve champion steer of the Lebanon Area Fair, weighing 1,264
pounds and shown by Kyle Fleener, Robesonia, went for $2,200 to
Dutchway Farm Market, Myerstown, represented by Steven Habecker.
Myerstown, represented by Doug Horst late last
week.
The 121-pound reserve champion market
lamb, exhibited by Susan Leed, Myerstown,
went for $550 to Lebanon Valley/Fulton Bank.
Mike Firestine, fifth from left, purchased the
champion hog late last week at the Lebanon
Area Fair.
“You can only build a building so big,” he said. “This could
definitely impact Lancaster’s nutrient management plans.”
It now appears the only recourse is legislation, recently pro
posed by State Representative Thomas Creighton (R-37), which
would earmark $3 million out of the DEP budget to put Penn
sylvania and Maryland farmers on the same page.
“We need to duplicate the Maryland subsidies,” Creighton
said during a recent meeting at Flintrock. “We need to negate
the Maryland advantage. This legislation could come in at $3
million per year, but it could come out of the DEP (Department
of Environmental Protection) budget, since DEP is concerned
with local nitrate levels.”
Tariffs on Maryland haulers, Creighton explained, would only
impede interstate commerce and hurt the Pennsylvania econo
my.
With the backing of local farmers and manure haulers,
Creighton will put out a call for cosponsors in the state House. If
all goes as planned, a bill that could stop the dumping of out-of
state manure will be introduced at the September session of the
House of Representatives.
And if the House shares Creighton’s urgency, farms such as
Flintrock and haulers such as Glenn Martin may be back in
business.