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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 30, 1961)
12 C Oregon THURSDAY, MARCH 30. 1961 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, ORE. Farms Show 120 Acre Increase Now CorvallLs - Oregon farms grew an average of 120 acres in size and went up SO per cent In value during the five years between the last two farm census periods, reports Mrs. Elvera Horrell, exten sion agricultural economist at Oregon State college. The agricultural census of 1954 showed farms in the state averaging about 386 acres in size. By the 1959 cen sus, this average had grown to 507 acres, Mrs. Horrell found as she studied reports from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This change in size resulted largely from combining exist ing farms, not by bringing new land into agriculture pro duction, Mrs. Horrell said. Total amount of cropland in the slate held steady at about 5.3 million acres. After cor recting for the change in the census definition of a farm, Mrs. Horrell found the num ber of farms decreased by 5,315 during the five-year pe riod, with around 43,000 farms now in the state. Farm Valut Jumps During this same period, value of land and buildings per farm in Oregon jumped from an average of $27,780 in 1954 to $41,689 In 1959. The 1959 census classified a little over half of the state's farms as commercial. Of these, nearly 70 per cent sold over $5,000 worth of products a year, but only 45 per cent sold over $10,000 worth. About 100 different prod ucts come from the state's farms, Mrs. Horrell noted. USDA listed the 10 leading Oregon commodities, based on estimated cash receipts, as cat tle and calves, wheat, milk, eggs, barley, greenhouse and nursery crops, strawberries, hay, potatoes, and ryegrass seed in that order. Farms are second only to forests as a source of primary income to the state, generat ing more than half-a-btlllon dollars In buying power each year, Mrs. Horrell reported. And this takes into account only the cash receipts from farm sales, plus the first step in marketing beyond the farm gate. Taking Into account busi nesses related to farming, such as suppliers of goods and services as well as processing and distribution Industries, gives an idea of the full im pact of agriculture on the economy of tha state, Mrs. Horrell said. Oregon Onions Asked On Plentiful List Salem -Division Chief Paul T. Rowell of the State De partment of Agriculture has asked the plentiful foods pro gram of the USDA to put on ions from western Oregon on their listing of foods in plen tiful supply at this time. That listing goes to commercial out lets as well as to school lunch programs and federal agen cies purchasing food items. Rowell says there are near Iy 500 carloads of these on ions in cold storage in the Willamette valley. Shippers have advised that while these onions are in good condition they should be moved before the first of May, when new crop onions from southern states will move to all mar kets. Recent imports from Aus tralia have competed heavily for markets in British Colum bia, normally one of the best markets for western Oregon onions at this time of the year. National Weights Week Announced Salem - Max Burns of the State Department of Agricul ture helped promote observ ance of national weights and measures week In Oregon, March 1-7. Burns, a weights and measures man from the department, is state chairman of the event. Purpose of the week is to call attention to the men all over the state who help "bal ance the scales" for the pub lic. These men check scales, meters, gas pumps and other devices to make certain they are correct. There are about 14,000 small scales, over 13,000 gas pumps, 3,000 truck and plant meters, 7,000 heavy duty scales among numerous other weights and measures over the state which are checked yearly by a group of 11 weights and measures inspec tors from the state depart ment of agriculture. Some 3,500 officials over the nation, representing cities, counties or states, dally test the accuracy of equipment. Check weighing prepackaged products for the accurate net weight content as printed on the packages Is a major proj ect of the weights and meas ures program. Ninety per cent of our food is bought in pre packaged form and many items are imported from all corners of the world. Checking accuracy of gaso line pump deliveries is anoth er routine test. Tested with a five gallon standard, a gaso line pump on a five gallon delivery must be correst with in a very narrow margin, plus or minus. African Animal Diseases Rated World Threat Washington - (Science Serv ice) - Countries badly in need of meat dare not import it from Africa because of the risk of disease. Dr. Fred D. Maurer of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology said here that con trol and eradication of Afri can animal diseases is vital, Dr. Maurer, who has done research in Africa on rinder pest and African swine fever, charged that the reluctance of all countries to Import Af rican animals is preventing the exchange of food badly needed. 'This is not only critical to the world's food supply," he said, "but it is an important key to improvement of the economies of both agriculture and industrial countries. 'The ever - increasing vol ume of speed of trade and travel has provided new op portunities for these diseases to spread," he said. "Coun tries that benefit from mod ern industrial transportation must face the problem it has created. They should help to eliminate the diseases while they are localized." Flics Transmit Disease Blue tongue in sheep and cattle is transmitted by Cull coldes flies, which have a world-wide distribution. This highly fatal, viral disease has been in South Africa since sheep were imported before 1800, and has since spread through much of southeast and northeast Africa to the Mediterranean. In 1952 it was diagnosed in the United States, where it was found in 13 western states. It was found in Japan in 1960 and killed a reported 40,000 sheep. In South Africa the com mercial raising of sheep is dependent on the annual use of 25,000,000 doses of blue tongue vaccine. Also transmitted by Culi- coides flies or midges is Afri can horse sickness (AHS), which goes back to 1719. It has continued to be the most destructive of diseases to the equine species in . Africa. In 1959 the disease spread to Iran, Afghanistan, West Pak istan and in 1960 to India, Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Cyprus, Lebanon and . Jordan, and losses in these countries were estimated at 170,000 head. Two million tons of salt are used annually in the United States for ice and snow removal. Idaho Quarantines Strawberry Plants Salem - A quarantine has been established on straw berry plants being imported into Idaho according to an announcement from the Ore gon State Department of Agri culture. Authorities of Idaho advise that a quarantine is necessary to prevent introduction of two plant diseases and two plant pests into the state. The dis eases, red stele of strawberry plants and phytothphora fra gariae and the pests, summer dwarf and aphelenchorides gragariae, have so far not been known to exist in Idaho All Dairies Now Must Be Licensed Salem - Dairymen, selling raw milk in jugs or bottles are asked to contact the state department of agriculture for inspection and licenses. All dairies with more than one dairy cow, which are deal ing with the gallon jug or bottle trade in raw milk, must be licensed to operate legally. Only licensed dairies come under the state sanitation in spection and laboratory check of milk and cream for whole- someness and butterfat con tent. Every spring, when the cows are turned out to graze on new grass, there is a sur plus of fluid milk. Dairymen who bottle and sell this as raw milk are operating "jug dairies." From 50 dairies six years ago, the jug business has climbed until at the present time there are 117 under state license. Sales of these gallon jugs are made on the dairy premises. Such dairies can qualify for grade A or B license. Unlicensed dairies can be shut down by state author ities and are subject to pos sible prosecution. Not Subject Dairies with only one cow or three dairy goats, are not subject to licensing. As a re sult they do not have sanitary inspection nor are they re quired to have the brucel losis and tuberculosis tests as often as licensed raw milk dairies. Kenneth Carl, assistant chief of the foods and dairies division of . the SDA, says, "because no controls are re quired of the one-cow dairy, persons obtaining their milk supply from this source should realize they do so at their own risk with relation to sanitation and cow health. If a 'lot of cattle crowd around salt blocks, the timid animals and young calves may not get enough to meet their minimum needs. 5 J i mil "Ska ... "The Oregon Bank has a great many mail-box 'branches' around this area all open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week." ". , . doesn't sound like bankers' hours to me!" "Bank-by-mail pays postage both ways!" 'Glad I'm not a banker ... I'd get cramped working in a mailbox!" THE ROGUE VALLEY BRANCH EAST MEDFORD BRANCH 1109 Court Street 701 East Jackson 01? Barley Growers Urged to Plant Early, Fertilize Corvallis - Willamette Val ley barley growers can bene fit by planting as early as pos sible and fertilizing to get crops off to an early start, re port Oregon State college agricultural experiment sta tion researchers. Barley test plots planted early last spring on well drained soils gave better yields, higher test weights, and a lower . percentage of thin kernels. T. L. Jackson, soil scientist, and Wilson Foote, agronomist, pointed out, however that temperature and rainfall will of course influence the ef fectiveness of early planting. Growers are also reminded that early planting will be successful only on well drained soils. Details of the research findings may be ob tained from Willamette Val ley county extension agents. Nitrogen Better Response to nitrogen fer tilizer was also better on early-planted plots than on plots planted later. Amount of nitrogen needed will de pend upon whether the land produced a legume, grass seed, or cereal crop the pre vious year. County agents can also provide a free copy of the OSU fertilizer recommen dation sheet that relates nitro gen requirements to previous cropping practices. Getting barley off to an early start may help growers cut down damage from yel low dwarf virus that has plagued the area in recent Good Dairy Farmer? Check List Indicates How good a dairy farmer are you? The following is a check list issued during the two-day dairy short course held in the county court house last week. Breeding Poinli: Do you have a registered dairy bull with no proof in pedigree? Have an occasional animal hand bred? Do you keep breeding dates? Does your herd spend 75 days in milking based on a 12 months herd average? Do you partial ly offset unbalanced produc tion by purchase of fresh cows? Feeding Points: Is your rate of roughage feeding 2.0 per cent? Is your feeding index 105, based on the relation of net energy fed to net energy required, or is it 100 or below? Is your per centage of net energy from concentrates 40 per cent or higher? Is your hay light mixed or no legume? Do you cut your hay at the heavy bloom or mature stage? Do years. OSC research shows that grain which can reach the four to five-leaf stage before being attacked by the virus can probably produce a near-normal crop. More weed control than normal may be necessary with early planting. Foote said spraying for weed control with 2,4-D should be done as soon as possible after barley plants are six inches tall. Re search shows that spraying at that time will do no damage to barley yield or malting quality if applied at recom mended rates. you have an unimproved per manent pasture plus partial use of supplemental pasture? Is the majority of your herd overweight during most of the lactation? Management Is the milk produced per man 150,000 pounds? Is the milk produced per cow 7,000 pounds? Is the average age of your cows 54 months? Do your heifers calf at an aver age of 30 to 32 months? Do you keep some private rec ords on your herd? Are you following Plan C In the bru cellosis program? Do you have enough mastitus cases to be a major herd problem? Are high bacterial counts a major problem in your milk? Do you have frequent cases of foreign matter and objec tionable flavors and odors? If your dairy operation fits the level of these questions you may hang on in the dairy business for a year or so, but competition will be stiff. And you should have attended the short course, you might have learned something! Subcommittee Okays Megler Bridge Bill Salem UPD A Ways and Means subcommittee Wednes day approved a bill authoriz ing construction of the pro posed Astor.'a-Megler bridge over the Columbia river. Reciprocal legislation al ready has been approved by the Washington Legislature and signed by Gov. Albert Rosellini. . The measure went to the full Ways and Means Committee. Lack of Standard Labeling Affects Dairy Industry Salem-Speaking before rep resentatives from Washington and Idaho recently at the 30th annual Institute of Dairying held in Pullman, Wash., Ken neth Carl, of the State De partment of Agriculture said that lack of nationwide uni form labeling standards af fects the welfare of the en tire dairy industry. Distribution is restricted and marketing costs are in creased for lack of such stand ards, Carl said. "Industry, eco nomic and political forces, plus the apathy of regulatory officials has, in my opinion, formed the principal areas of resistance in a move toward uniform labeling standards," he asserted. Carl went on to say that in Oregon there have been frequent revisions of the dairy laws and regulations in order to keep them current with changing industry conditions. The speaker went on to define Oregon laws relating to dairy products. Look For Laws "As competition increases, segments of the dairy indus try look for more and more regulatory laws for manda tory labeling requirements," said Carl. In the past, he add ed, when milk was bottled in glass containers the cap was laheled with the grade of product, marked raw or pas teurized, the identity of the distributor shown and the label was considered to be satisfactory. But, he said, "Now with a traveling bill- Condemnation Hits New High Salem-More than 20 stock cars of meat animals and more than 427 tons of edibla parts (liver, head, tongue, etc.) were condemned under stata meat inspection during 1960, the state department of agri culture reports. About 80 per cent of tha edible parts of the meat con demned was liver, with fluke and abscesses the main causes of unwholesomeness. Altogether there were 1,000 animals condemned under tha inspection program. Rejec tions included 855,752 pounds of liver, heads and other ed ible parts. Also condemned were 9,491 pounds of pro cessed meats. New High A new high was reached in I960 in the number of in spections made by the depart ment. According to meat in spection supervisor Dr. M. L. Houston, 443,348 head wera checked in 1960, up 20.6 per cent over 1959. However, while 23.7 per cent more livers were con demned in 1960 than in tha previous year, condemnation of whole animals dropped to 963 from 1052 in 1959. Dr. Houston states, "Tha decline in the number o whole animals condemned re flects increased recognition that only healthy animals will pass meat inspection." board, that is, paper milk carton, there is suddenly a lot of space to be filled up with extraneous wording. This keeps authorities busy separating fact from fiction in dairy labeling," he said. r "OA) PI? y l NATIONALLY 0 L J ADVERTISED PRICK Your Chance Of The Year Now you can buy these brilliant diamonds mounted in exquisite solid 14 -Karat gold settings for only half the regular price. 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