A24-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 16, 2003
Tillers Turn ‘Trash’ To Topsoil Treasure At Ag Progress Days
ROCKSPRING (Centre Co.)
Conserving crop residue is im
portant in reducing topsoil ero
sion and nutrient runoff, and the
latest tools and techniques for
surface residue conservation will
be on display at special tillage
demonstrations that will be held
at 11:30 a.m. daily at Penn
State’s 2003 Ag Progress Days,
Aug. 19-21.
The event takes place at the
Russell E. Larson Agricultural
Research Center at Rock
Springs, nine miles southwest of
State College on Rt. 45.
Ron Hoover, senior project as
Farm Health Screenings; Safety Demonstration At Ag Progress Days
ROCKSPRING (Centre Co.)
With a tractor-accident rescue
demonstration, free health
screenings, and on-site agricul
tural emergency specialists, this
year’s Ag Progress Days, Aug.
19-21, focuses on the health and
safety of farmers like never be
fore.
Farmers won’t want
to miss the farm-safety
demonstration area,
Agricultural Health
and Safety tent, and
the AgrAbility and
Agromedicine Tent.
On Wednesday,
Aug. 20, two tractor
emergency response
demonstrations will be
conducted in the dem
onstration area. “An
overturned tractor will
be used to demon
strate scene stabiliza
tion and extrication
techniques,” said Dave
Hill, Penn State senior
extension associate
and agricultural emer
gency management
program director.
“The purpose of these
demonstrations is to
show people the typi
cal ‘tiered’ emergency
response to a farm-re
lated injury emergen
cy.”
An ambulance crew
and fire department
crew are scheduled to
attend and assist with
the demonstration.
State College-area Fu
ture Farmers of Amer
ica (FFA) will operate
an all-terrain vehicle
to demonstrate how
the farm community
can be involved with
on-farm rescues.
The risk of grain en
trapment will be fea
tured in the demon
stration area and in
the Health and Safety
tent. On Tuesday and
Thursday, safety spe
cialists will demon
strate the hazards of
flowing grain with a
'A-scale grain entrap
ment simulator. Emer
gency response also
will be shown.
Visitors can exam
ine the latest Pennsyl
vania farm injury sta
tistics and talk to farm
safety and agricultural
sociate in crop and soil sciences,
explains that crop residue
what farmers call “trash” is
important in reducing water-in
duced soil erosion.
“Raindrops that fall directly
onto bare soil break the larger
soil aggregates into smaller parti
cles that are more easily trans
ported in runoff,” Hoover said.
“Costly fertilizer nutrients also
are lost with the topsoil. So man
ufacturers have responded with
the increasingly popular one-pass
tools that we will be demonstrat
ing.
“Most implements will per-
emergency management special
ists about programs and re
sources in the Health and Safety
tent.
At the AgrAbility/
Agromedicine Tent, a variety of
health screenings will be offered
all three days. AgrAbility is a na
tional information and technolo
eliminate Heat Stress with
What is Evaporative Cooling?
When water evaporates, heat energy is converted
into a different form, which lowers the temperature of
the air or the object that the water was on. As water
evaporates the temperature continues to drop until
the air reaches the 100% saturated point. In the
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potential on an average 90 degree day. Since most
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efficient, that means that a 12 degree temperature
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MORE COOLING YOU GET!
Evaporative Cooling for Dairy
Tie-stall and Free Stall Barns
The use of evaporative cooling for livestock and
poultry in the northeast United States has been
gaining acceptance in recent years. The main rea
son being that producers now understand that dur
ing the hottest part of the day, the relative humidity
is often very low, which allows for the effective use
of evaporative cooling. Since many tie-stall dairy
barns now use tunnel ventilation systems for hot
weather, dairy farmers can further enhance their hot
weather ventilation by adding evaporative cooling
pads. These systems work hand-in-hand to increase
the amount of heat removed from the cow due to
the high air speeds. The cost of the cooling system
is minimized when designing it for tunnel ventilation
compared to a cross-flow ventilation system.
Call Cedar Crest to design your complete ventilation system.
Let us show you a recent installation:
form some medium to deep till
age, followed by a gang of discs
or a field cultivator to reduce
clods, and finish with a field lev
eling attachment. Other tools
simply will level the surface of
the field with little soil penetra
tion.”
Conservation tillage has been
gaining in popularity in recent
decades, Hoover says, but experts
are concerned that unnecessary
tillage continues. With each pass
of most tillage implements, less
plant residue remains on the sur
face.
“With some of the newer, one
pass tillage tools available today,
gy network for farmers, farm
workers and family members
who continue to farm despite on
going physical or medical diffi
culties. The program emphasizes
health and safety on the farm.
Geisinger Health Systems will
conduct free osteoporosis screen
ings, the state Department of
Heat Stress Lowers
CREST
NT
lari- 717-354-0584
many of the follow-up passes
may be unnecessary,” he noted.
“In addition to reducing much
needed surface residue, these ad
ditional operations cost produc
ers in the form of extra time, fuel
and wear on equipment.”
Hoover said many of the plant
ers available to farmers in the
past decade are more than able to
place seed properly into a less
than perfectly smooth field. “Our
growers spend a lot of money on
new state-of-the-art planters,” he
said. “If they aren’t comfortable
with no-till, they at least need to
cut back on tillage and let the
planter do more of the work.”
Health will provide free tetanus
shots and the Home Nursing
Agency will providing free stroke
assessments and blood pressure
readings. The New York Center
for Agricultural Medicine and
Health will be conducting respi
ratory screenings on Tuesday and
Wednesday.
Milk Production
€voporotive Cooling
Join Those Who Found The
Solution To Heat Stress
Daryl Bair, Quarryville
David Breneman, Elizabethtown
Glenn & Lamar Gockley, Mohnton
Nevin Horning, Lititz
Nelson Nolt, Peach Bottom
Clair Oberholtzer, Elizabethtown
Mark Peachey, Belleville
Elvin Reiff, Mt. Joy
Dennis Stoner, East Earl
Eli Zimmerman, Fleetwood
Delmar Sensenig, Quarryville
800-646-6601
717-866-1888
339 King Street,
Myerstown, PA 17067
The demonstration each day
will begin with a short discussion
led by Sjoerd Duiker, assistant
professor of soil management,
followed with comments from
implement manufacturers’ repre
sentatives of the tillage imple
ments. Last year’s deep-tillage
demonstrations drew more than
1,000 spectators, and Hoover ex
pects interest in this year’s dem
onstration to be at least as great.
Other field machinery demon
strations will feature hay mow
ing, hay rakes and tedders, bal
ing, bale handling and manure
application to reduce odor and
preserve residue cover.
On Wednesday, 4-H and ,FFA
teams will compete in the Farm
Safety and Health Quiz Bowl.
Team members will answer farm
safety and health questions in
this semi-final quiz bowl event.
The winning teams will advance
to the state finals in January at
the Pennsylvania Farm Show.
2nd Location
717-806-0484
936 Buck Road,
Quarryville, PA
1/2 mile east of Rt. 272 on Rt. 372