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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 25, 1959)
Fobto ' NEW HEN HOUSE-This is one of the new hen houses being constructed on the Elmer Korner ranch in Sams Valley. Korner plans to expand his flock from 4,000 layers to Valley Egg Producer Views Egg Market With Optimism Bv JOE G. COWLEY Mail Tribune Farm Editor "Egg prices can't go any lower so they have to go up!" Elmer Korner, Sams Valley egg producer said Tuesday. He and his family are back ing an optimistic viewpoint on the egg price outlook. Elmer Korner and his wife plan to house 7,200 hens in the near future. They now have 4.000 egg layers of the D e m 1 e r strain or white Leghorn. Their long, open steel roofed, wood frame cage sheds could house 4,800 hens. Not only are the Korners planning for expansion but their' son plans to go into the business at a time when many people are leaving it due to low egg prices. Generally, Pa cific Northwest egg producers are selling eggs for 3 to 4 cents a dozen less than they cost to produce. Designed For Efficiency .Everything on the Korner chicken ranch is designed for maximum production at a minimum of labor-from the bulk feed tanks to. the cage system of chicken housing, to the operation of the egg room. The Korners clean 2,500 eggs a day and candle and erade at the same rate. Following the cleaning the eggs are placed in the cooler room overnight to ensure their freshness then candled and graded the next day. Automation? No! Korner emphasized. With 100,000 birds it might pay. His hen houses are designed to use the automatic system complete with moving belts to pick up the eggs as in the automatic system of production. How ever, Korner belives this would make him too big. He likes to know everything that is going on in the hen house. An owners and operator loses that close personal con CANDLES AND GRADES-Mrs. Elmer Korner, Sams Valley, is shown candling and grading eggs on the large automatic grading machine. The eggs roll over a light which illuminates the eggs for a check on any possible defects. Then they move through the machine which rolls them down into sections for the various sizes. The Korners estimate that they clean 2,500 eggs a day and candle and grade the same number a day after they have been kept in the cool room overnight. . QUACK WITH DOWPON Keep grass from creeping into your best land. Simply sprinkle or spray DOWPON on your thickest grass and watch, it wither away. Kills roots too! naauiraMnnntuHn free sample available covkbssisbq.pt. KEDFOnD FEED & SEED CO. i v 330 North Fir ' -r , Medford, Oregon ' . '- DEALERS FOR DOW WEED. GRASS, AND BRUSH KILLERS' (Siinidl tact when an operation be comes too big, Korner and his wife explained. Then lots of things go wrong. The birds, naturally skitterish, aren't used to having a human around, for instance. And Kor ner cited the case of a rela tive operating a huge chick en ranch down south. His newly hired foreman mistak enly sold pullets for cull hens. A substantial financial loss resulted Korner's operation is differ ent from the standard egg operation where the chickens nest on the floor. As men tioned before the hens are kept in cages measuring about 3 by 6 feet, according to in side dimensions, and about 30 birds to a cage when housed. The bottoms of the wire cages are slanted so the eggs roll down to a long trough in the front. Their droppings fall to litter underneath the raised cages. Korner merely runs a tractor along with an especially designed blade and scrapes up the chicken droppings. Sold as fertilizer this more than pays for cost of operating the tractor. This cleaning operation takes about one day whereas it would take much longer with hard labor. The chicken houses are also sprayed periodically to kill flies,, lice and mites. Backing up the henhouse op eration are reserves of 1,200 young chickens kept in the brooder house. When they are three months old they are moved as a unit to a chicken house where they start pro ducing eggs. The Korners will move in another 1,200 chicks into the brooder house in July. The Korners don't keep any hens longer than one year at lay. The drop in egg production after the moulting doesn't make it practical. The old hens are sold to local proc- v r f ? -f ' " v 7,200. His egg producers are of the Dernier ' strain of White Leghorn. Like many eggt producers who plan to stay , in the business ... Korner emphasizes quality for higher sales. essors. Feeding from the two bulk tanks makes it possible to service all four chickenhouses in 20 minutes. Korner uses a small cart and shovels the feed into the troughs. Water is continually pumped into the watering troughs from two good wells. Production and Processing It takes a half hour to col lect the eggs. They are collect ed three or four times a day. Fifteen watt light bulbs strung every six feet are kept burn ing all night. This keeps the birds producing and quickly reveals four or two-legged prowlers. However, the Kor ners say they haven't yet had trouble with chicken thieves. The egg house is supervised by Mrs. Korner, a tall, slight, smiling - blue - eyed woman. Two machines, one for egg cleaning and one for candling also speed up the processing. Mrs. Korner estimates that each egg is handled five or six times. It would be much more than tha.t otherwise, she said. "" The egg cleaning machine is something to delight a Rube Goldberg. To the ama teur eye it resembles the back of a piano. Eggs are moved along on rollers and against brushes. Small jets squirt sani tizing powder mixed with wa ter. Hot air dries the eggs as they move along the sec ond section of the machine. They are carried to the cool er for an overnight storage. The next day they are can dled and graded as a machine automatically sorts them ac cording to weight. The ma chine is rated at five cases a hour. People' viewing the Korner poultry ranch are apt to get enthusiastic over the egg pro ducing business. Then the Korners are prompt to tally up all beginning expenses which often discourage the prospective egg producer. When the Korners started out it cost them $15,000 before they had their first egg. They have been on their present Sams , Valley ranch about 2te years., They chose the 40 acres because it is far from any poultry ranch and is comparatively cheap land. They did have a small farm in Sams Valley where they raised "a little of everything." A small operation doesn't pay, they discovered. So, they returned to Los Angeles for eight years. They saved their money while he worked as an inspector for an aircraft cor poration and she worked as a private secretary. They both left good jobs but they like liked slow moving country liv ing and being their own bosses. ...... . .... . They report they are mak ing some profit in these days of many profitless poultry op erations. They ensure this by carefully charting the egg pro duction in each hen house on graphs. They know what goes on in each hen house. Agents Advises Lygus Bug Check Alfalfa seed producers are reminded by Gene Winters, Jackson county extension ag ent, to examine their stands for lyus bugs. r Agents recently making ly gus bug counts in alfalfa fields found more than one adult or nympth in each sweep of an insect net. Control measures are recommended .when the the count averages one lygus or nympth per sweep in ten sweeps, Winters said. . Lygus bugs' are now feeding on alfalfa buds which soon die preventing1 the formations of seed. YThe green of alfalfa. attracts -these pests from dry vegetation or when fields have been cut for nay, the county: agent said. Applications of insecticides MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford, Of. A Thursday, June 25, 1959 Tenth of Farmers Of Local Area Work with ACP .-.Oyer one-tenth of Jackson county's farmers joined hands with the government last year to carry out needed conserva tion practices on their farms. The annual report from the local county agricultural sta bilization and - conservation (ASQ office shows that on 174 farms in the '.county soil or water . conservation practices were carried out under agri cultural conservation program (ACP) in 1958. '.. Under the ACP, a farmer and the government share the cost ' of needed conservation work, the report pointed out. Last 'year! Jackson county farmers put up over $42,000 in carrying out approved con servation practices on around 43,000 acres, . T . 1 Uncle Sam then matched these payments to help farm ers conserve valuable crop lands, woodlots, grazing areas, orchards, and agricultural wa ter for use by future genera tions. A total of 17 different con servation practices were used by Jackson county farmers un der the 1958 ACP, the report indicated. Practices most pop ular with local farmers last year included land leveling, reorganization of irrigation systems, "building irrigation dams, and tiling for drainage. Pool Agreements Through pooling agree ments allowed under the ACP, some of the county's farmers banded together to do conser vation jobs they couldn't carry out individually. In five pool ing agreements , 33 Jackson county farmers were able to reorganize irrigation systems and line irrigation ditches. ACP assistance is made available to farmers to help them carry out conservation practices they wouldn't be able to carry out themselves. During 1958 Jackson county farmers paid 65 pe?r cent and the government paid 35 per cent of the cost-with the gov ernment's share an indication of the interest of all the na tion's people in protecting and conserving our farm and ranch lands to insure future supplies of agricultural products. Every farmer with a con servation problem is eligible to apply for ACP aid. More information on the program is available at the Jackson county ASC office in the Court House Annex, Medford. Bee Owners Urged To Register Bees Salem-Bee owners in. this county who have not regis tered their colonies for this year may do so by contacting the local deputy state bee in spector, Samuel D. Dawson, box 172, Jacksonville, who is working in Jackson and Jose phine counties this summer. Or they may contact the state department of agriculture headquarters at Salem. The objective of this in spection program is protec tion of the Oregon bee indus try . against American foul brood, a highly contagious bacterial disease which de stroys bees. The bacteria caus ing this disease are hard to destroy and for that reason any colonies infected with American foul brood are burned and buried below the plow line. t Without this control mea sure, which is written into the state apiary, law, Oregon would have a greatly reduced bee population much to the detriment of thousands of acres of crops primarily de pendent upon the bee for pol lination. The Oregon . law requires all beekeepers to register their bees, whether they have one colony or 500 colonies. The annual registration fee is ?1 which covers up to six colonies, and 15 cents for each colony over six. Last year 27,254 colonies of bees were registered by 1,361 beekeepers in Oregon, accord ing to Kenneth E. Goeden, Salem, who supervises this program for the department. should be made in early morning or late evening to protect pollinators. Three, difrerent materials are recommended for lygus bug control at least 2 pounds of actual DDT per acre or 3 pounds of actual toxaphene per acre or one-half pound of actual dieldrin per acre if dif ficulty has been experienced with control of lygus with DDT and toxaphene and if applied before the alfalfa is in bloom. Toxaphene is least harmful of the three to pol linators and will also control grasshoppers. Foliage treated with DDT, toxaphene or dieldrin must not be fed to dairy animal or animals being furnished for slaughter, the agent cautions. mil : ' By JOE COWLEY Mail Tribune Farm Editor Next time you eat breakfast why not have something else beside the usual "coffee and growl"? How about ham and eggs? And just before you prepare that egg for eating take a good look at at. Are you' getting a top quality egg? If you don't know, then what's the use of the local egg producers taking all the trouble to carefully wash, candle and grade their eggs? . Since many egg producers are aiming at a quality market they want you to know what makes a good egg.'A man who knows, an egg-producer, tells us that an egg should be clean, ai good shell quality-no cracks, ties. Hold the egg up to the light to see if the air cell at the large end of the egg is small or large. If it is comparatively large then you are getting an older egg. And look to see if the eggs are in a cool or refrigerated case in the store when you buy. : . - In color, the white eggs brown ones a uniform dark brown. Other things to consider are whether the air cell is movable, meat spots, blood spots, amount of thick and thin albumen and condition of the yolk. The albumen should be firm and the yolk dimly visible. Eggs must be free from meat or blood spots and germ develop ment. A blood spot will show as a dark or foreign substance in the albumen, ... Good quality eggs will have a firm, thick albumen that is compact. The yolk , will stand up above the white and be round in appearance, y Invitations will go out soon in Jackson county and Klamath tional meeting of an area egg be modeled on the Emerald tion of the Lane county area, Some of the main objectives will be to serve as a contact agency between the producers and market representatives, help control and eradicate disease, improve the quality of egg, breeding stock, chicken, and improve the quality, effi ciencyi distribution and consumption of Oregon 'poultry prod ucts, to collect and disseminate news of the poultry industry, and to coordinate the activities of the hatcherymen, poultry producers and allied industry. Farmers need a bargaining agency which will represent them to the wholesalers and retailers. The fact that they are learning that is shown by the formation of a milk producers' bargaining agency for dairy farmers of Oregon, southwest Washington and northern California, by various commodity promotion groups and now by plans for area egg producer groups in the state. On the national level the National Egg Council of the American Poultry and Hatchery federation will hold its first annual meeting in Stx Louis, Mo., July 23. Supply and demand normally set the price. According to June 22 reports from Corvallis supplies in the poultry busi ness are declining which should give a boost to the much needed price rises. There are these indicators: eries nroduced 10 per cent fewer chicks in May than a year earlier. Compared to last year, were down 4 per cent. Egg-type chicks produced dropped zu per cent. Smaller June hatches than a year ago are predict ed. Hatchery output of egg-type chicks nationally during the period of January through from a year ago. By the end of May last year, tnree-iourins of the 1958 egg-type hatch had been completed. Also, at Portland, producer prices on Grade Double A Large advanced 2 cents during the past two weeks. Grade A Large eggs remained steady. Grade Double A Mediums ad vanced orie cent a dozen. Grade strength, advancing 2 cents a weeks. This information comes poultry marketing specialist. Another lamb pool for this day, July 1. Those producers who want to join this shipment should contact Earle Jossy, Jackson county extension agent, at the courthouse. ; This could be an easy prediction-but we figure the price of milk in this are will also correspond to the recent price producers, for a change, will rise. And it's needed! The experets figure that the cost of producing milk in the Rogue per cent higher in May man ' Factors causing that cost up 60 per cent, labor is up 4 per cent, taxation is up 8 per cent (overall taxes). The startling thing, according to the dairy experts, is that replacements are up 23 13 per cent than they were last year. This includes machinery and re placements of dairy stock. The cost oi dairy concenxraxes is up, also. The bad dry pasture situation hasn't helped the cost price picture for the dairymen, either. A dairyman who recently made a general tour of the state reports that the hay situation is tight. In the Hermiston area, for instance, the hay crop is short. Both quality and quantity there is usually good. Price contracted for July de livery was $25 a ton in the field against $18 or $19 a ton last year. The current price levels in all areas this farmer visited last month are from $6 to $8 above last year. Farmers in all of the southwest areas are watching care fully the water supplies which in many areas over the state are less than sufficient. An alarming thing in the dairy busi ness is that most hay crops were cut much later than in the last 10 years-it was about two weeks late this year. This means that later on the second cutting will be delayed and in a great many places there will be no third cutting at all. Anyway, while you're stewing over this picture-have some eggs and bacon or ham for breakfast with a tall glass of milk. It's good for you! Seed Fields Gel Close Inspection One phase of the see'd cer tification program in Jackson county has been completed according to Gene Winters, Jackson county extension agent. Fields of seedling alfalfa, ladino clover, lotus, wheat, and grasses eligible to pro duce registered or certified seed were recently inspected by Oregon State college Ex tension seed certification spe cialist. . Ten county farmers made application for seedling in spection of 123 acres of Tal ent and 20 acres of Lahontan HUM IE Right After Hay Cutting, When Ground it Firm, is an Ideal Time to Apply Lime. Call Us far Quotation Delivered and Spread en Yeur Field. Phone UL 5-1245 Agricultural Lime Distributing Co. Gold Hill, Oregon GMT checks or any other deformi should be chalk white and the to commercial egg producers Falls to attend an organiza producers association. This will Empire Egg Producers' associa we understand. Nationally, commercial hatch broiler-type chicks produced May, 1959 is down 4 per cent Double A Smalls also snowed dozen during the past two from Charles M. Fischer, OSC area is scheduled for Wednes increase in about a month to rise in the Portland area. Milk share in this cent-a-quart price River valley has gone up 11 tor ine same period a year ago rise are price of alfalfa hay is alfalfa. Three fields inspected have isolation problems. Al falfa varieties , and classes must be specified distances apart to prevent cross pollina tion. Two growers had 64 acres of ladino clover inspect ed. One field of granger lotus eligible to produce Founda tion seed was examined. Nearly 150 acres of grain for seed were also inspected. Varieties grown are Merion Kentucky bluegrass, Newport bluegrass, Penncross bent grass and Pennlawn Red fescue. Observer Notes Fewer Dairymen Br EARLE JOSSY Jackson County Extension Agent June is dairy month for fewer and fewer dairymen. There aren't as many of them as there were awhile ago. At the close of World War II there were 2,400,000 dairies in the United States. Today, more than half of these have quit. Pretty much of this same thing has happened in Oregon and in Jackson County. The best guess of the economists indicate this trend will be continued. Why are dairymen selling their cows? There are a number of rea sons. Most important is the price cost squeeze. The price paid dairymen for milk has, not increased for several years -in fact it has been reduced twice in the last year. About per cent each time. A 10 per cent cut in income hurts but at the same time labor costs, higher taxes, and espe cially higher cost of - invest ment in . needed equipment have cut into the margin. In order to have enough money to pay the bills some dairy men are milking more cows. Those who cannot or do not want to increase the size of their herds are selling out. The cow numbers are reduc ed much less than the number of dairies. The dairies are sim ply larger and fewer. Trend Not "Undesirable This trend is not entirely undesirable. It makes practi cal the Use of labor saving, efficient machinery, pipe lines, bulk tanks, efficient milking parlors and is part of the trend toward total bulk handling from the cow to the bottle.. On the other end of the business largeness makes practical the use of bulk stor age and mechanical feeding of the animals. It makes more efficient use of manpower. Studies show it takes 147 man hours per year to take care of each cow in a ten cow herd while 62 hours will suffice for the cow in a 35 cow herd. Efficiency in production is extremely important - much more so today than 10 years ago. Dairy markets are con stantly threatened with inva sion. Not only by fluid milk from other more efficient pro ducing areas (modern tank trucks make hauling great dis tances practical) but from newly developed products such as instantly reconstitut ed dried milk, low moisture milk concentrates, and a host of products which are not milk at all but which provide much of the nutrition of milk and compete for the house- wive's dollar. Cost Cuts Important Bigness in itself does not insure efficiency. Management must make every effort to cut costs and increase income. A poll of successful dairymen rt; veals that the first and most essential need is tot maintain accurate records. Records not only of production but records of costs and returns. Number two is to keep high producing cows. The average cow in the United States produces 6,200 lbs. of milk per year. She pro vides her owner with a return of $9 over costs of feed and care. The average cow in the standard dairy herd improve in e n t associations produces FRUIT GROWERS ... Rogue River soils are acid! VIKING SHIP CALCIUM NITRATE helps combat soil acidity . . . supplies bene ficial nitrate nitrogen. Acid soijs like those in the Rogue River Valley are low in calcium and subject to water saturation that can cause serious damage to fruit tree roots. When it comes to protecting trees from the harmful effects of excess acidity, the kind of nitrogen fertilizer you choose can be vitally important. Viking Ship Calcium Nitrate is the choice of experienced growers because it contains: 20 water-soluble calcium that can help reduce excess acid ity and improve soil structure for better penetration of water and nutrients. Viking ShipCalcium Nitrate FROM NORWAY 7T Distributed by WILSON 10,000 lbs. of milk per year and returns her owner a prof it of $51 above the cost of her keep. It would take more than five ordinary cows to equal one good producer in net in come. The above figures are cited by Ralph E. Hodgson, Agricultural Research Serv ice. . . Dairymen in Jackson Coun ty are keeping step with these trends. Our neighbors on the dairy farms are keeping more cows. They are becoming more and more efficient they have to, to stay in busi ness. They and their cows are converting our irrigated pas tures, hay, and grain into dol lars which they scatter all through the stores and busi nesses of Jackson County. June is their month. It's a good time to use more dairy products - the benefits are better health and more finan cial stability. Gardening Tips By DON BERRY County Extension Agent JUMPING OAK GALLS , A numbr of home owners have been concerned with the tiny mustard-seed-like galls which they find on their pat ios and under their oaks. These little galls have a tendency to jump like a Mex ican jumping bean. This char acteristic is imparted in them by a tiny insect which is in side. As the galls ripen and fall from the undersides of the oak Reaves, the larvae throws it self within the gall causing it to jump considerable distances probably in an attempt to find seclusion in a crack or crevice for hibernation. The following spring tiny black wasps emerge and rein fect the oak leaves in the area. This is a common pest which is occurring in epidemic pro portions this year. They work only on oak leaves, and there is no known control for them, but they are seldom consid ered a serious problem. . There are 54 mountains in Texas with an altitude of more than 6,000 feet. MODERN ARTIFICIAL BREEDING with FROZEN SEMEN FROM AMERICAN BREEDERS' SERVICE jp1 ROGUE VALLEY PROVED SIRE SERVICE beneficial For the nitrate fertilizer that conditions call your dealer and order. . & GEO. MEYER & CO., Portland . Smut Controls Told by Agent By EUGENE WINTERS' County Extension Agent The unusually heav infis tation of smut in Jackson County barley fields this spring is probably due to last year's weather condition. Cool wet weather furnisheg) conditions favorable for , S velopment of sled infctk)g by loose smut organisms, oJ of the seed barley usefi dig) year was from tbe 1951 csofl. Smut heads collected ft"J4) different varieties of brltg throughout the county identified by Oregon Sfrto College plant pathologies, S) the species of -smut which egn be controlled only by thsj ted ious soaking method. In th field spores of this smut infect healthy head? through the flowers and the fungus grows into the young barley kernels. Since this smut is seed borne, growers need not b concerned about planting bar ley in fields infecd this year if smut free treated seed is used. Volunteer plants may be smutty. ' Control measures for this disease suggested by the ag ent are to plant certified seed or seed which is known to have been grown in fields free of loose smut. Seed should be treated to control c$her loose smuts carried on the Seed or under the hull and covered smut. 1 HERTZ TRUCK RENTAL Available at HOPKINS RICHFIELD SERVICE McAndrews at Court Phone SP 3-9068 Proved Dairy Bulls performance tested Beef Bulls. The finest service we have ever offered at the -lowest prices wt have ever offered. SP 2-4093 C. C. Williams CALCIUM' NITRATE NORSK HYDRO A nitrate nitrogen I readily available to tree roots without conversion delay. Nitrate nitrogen is not held in upper soil layers but moves with water to the root zone acid soils, . San Francisco
