Somerset County Dairy Producers Receive Price Information
SANDRA LEPLEY
Somerset Co. Correspondent
SOMERSET (Somerset Co.)
Ken Bailey, professor at the De
partment of Ag Economics and
Rural Sociology at Penn State
University, didn’t paint an overly
optimistic' picture for Somerset
County dairy farmers during the
recent Dairy Day here at the
Oakhurst Tea Room near Somer
set.
However, Bailey stressed that
dairy farmers need to be on top
of issues and pro-active when it
comes to milk prices.
“This year’s going to be rough
economically. It may take more
time to turn around for the dairy
industry,” said Bailey. “What’s
not going to work is sit around
and wait. If you wait, you take
what the market will give you.”
Bailey served as the main
speaker for this year’s Dairy Day.
His speech was entitled “Milk
Outlook and Policy Changes;
What Do the Price Supports and
New Pricing Formulas Mean to
You?”
According to Bailey,
most of the market re
lies on supply and de
mand. He also related
that other states are
adding dairy herds in
number. In the past
year, the state of Cali
fornia has added
60,000 cows alone.
“If we lose 5,000
cows here in Pennsyl
vania, they more than
make up for it in the
West. However, there
is still a demand for
milk in the East,” he
said.
Miguel Saviroff, ex
tension agent for Som
erset County, helped
to organize the event
and also served as a
speaker concerning
Venezuela markets.
Saviroff is originally
from Venezuela. He
believes the farmers
received invaluable in
formation for their
businesses during
Dairy Day.
“This is a very im
portant workshop,”
said Saviroff. “Farm
ers can come to this
event and learn about
broad and specific top
ics, and this year we
Lineback
Sale Set
SMOKETOWN
(Lancaster Co.) The
11th Annual Lineback
Dairy Cattle Promo
tional Sale is sched
uled for Saturday,
April 26 at Smoke
town Dairy Sales,
Smoketown.
About 75 Lineback
females of all ages and
several bulls will be
sold. Animals are con
signed from a number
of states, including
Pennsylvania, New
York, and Wisconsin.
The sale is set to
begin at 11:30 a.m.
are focusing on milk pricing and Jim Dunn, professor in the De
markets.” partment of Ag Economics and
Ken Bailey, who served as guest speaker for the
Somerset County Dairy Day, recently at Oakhurst Tea
Room near Somerset, shows milk pricing reports to,
from left, Jim Dunn, also a professor at Penn State;
Wendell Yoder, an Elk Lick Township diary farmer;
Harold Shaulis, president of the Somerset County
Farm Bureau; and Miguel Saviroff, extension agent
for Somerset County.
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Rural Sociology at Penn State,
served as another guest speaker.
Dunn has traveled extensively to
other countries and studied the
markets. His topic was “Com
Markets: Has the Basis Gone Ba
nanas?”
“Obviously, there is a lot of un
certainty, and we are in a world
wide recession,” said Dunn.
“Dairy is very much tied to the
world economy and much of the
rest of agriculture is as well. We
are talking about a world market.
Not just com and milk, it’s other
things, like copper, that is a
world commodity, and some of
the prices have gone down the
drain.”
Dunn also discussed the North
American Free Trade Agreement
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(GATT) agreements.
“Dairy is largely a domestic
market, but it could become an
international market. Corn and
beans are on the international
market,” said Dunn.
Harold Shaulis, president of
the Somerset County Farm Bu
reau, believes that Dairy Day
served as an extension of the
business.
“Farming is an educational
practice,” he said. No matter
how long you have been in busi
ness, you can always leam some
thing else. We are going forward,
not backward. It’s a two-way
street. Not only can we learn, but
presenters can learn what s going
on in the fanning community at
large.”