Banner Graphic, Volume 10, Number 179, Greencastle, Putnam County, 2 April 1980 — Page 12
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The Putnam County Banner Graphic, April 2,1980
The Homesteader : Raising earthworms~the best friend of farmers
By STEVEN HUNTER Special Correspondent Socrates called them the "intestines of the earth”. Da Vinci believed them to be possessed of supernatural powers, and Ambrose Bierce called them “the final consumer". Regardless of terminology, there is no doubt that the earthworm is the farmer and gardeners’ best friend. Consuming thousands of pounds of soil in our garden and fields annually, worms return "castings' to the earth, which are the end product of digestion These castings are fabulously rich in magnesium, phosphates, nitrogen, and calcium. PERHAPS EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY, w'orms break up hardpan and tightly packed soils, making them granular, light, and friable, and increase water absorption and retention. Since earthworms have gotten so fantastically expensive to purchase in recent years, gardeners and homesteaders nearly
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always grow their own stock, a process that is both economical, and educational. Most folks start a worm-raising venture by going out into the yard on a dark, rainy summer night and collecting their own broodstock. This is a big mistake, because Indiana nightcrawlers do not reproduce fast enough to be practical livestock. INSTEAD, REDWORMS OR African nightcrawlers should be purchased from ads in outdoor magazines specifying sales of broodstock particularly. The best order for small farmers is a “pit-run” lot of a thousand. This will be extremely less expensive than purchasing broodstock alone, while the pit-run contains an assortment of sizes of worms that will contain enough big ones for broodstock. Of course, if the worms are to be used or sold as fishing-bait or research stock, manure worms (available locally anywhere cattle and horses congregate) are the best stock, as they reproduce faster than almost any other breed of earthworm, and are quite
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farm
Evidence reported to be inconclusive
WASHINGTON (AP) - Scientific evidence linking routine use of antibiotics in animal feed to adverse human health effects is inconclusive and needs more detailed study, says a National Academy of Sciences report. The report written for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that after more than a decade of debate and study, existing evidence neither proves nor disproves a hazard to human health from the feeding practice. But the academy committee cautioned: “The lack of data linking human illness with this subtherapeutic use (of antibiotics) must not be equated with proof that the proposed hazards do not exist. “The research necessary to establish and measure a definite risk has not been conducted,” it concluded. The FDA in 1977 moved to restrict antibiotics in animal feed
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hardy in terms of environmental stress resistance. Once the broodstock has arrived and large breeders have been separated from the smaller worms, adults should be placed in a box, tub, or pit containing a fifty-fifty mixture of peat moss and compost. The proper stocking ratio will average around five hundred worms for a container the size of a number 2 washtub. The same container will hold more than three thousand mature worms before they must be separated. SINCE HEALTHY, MATURE brood worms can produce an egg capsule every seven to ten days, it is important to sift the culture media every two weeks, moving capsules to another container of peat and compost where they remain undisturbed (except for occasional feeding and watering), for ninety days, at which time the hatching container will be swarming with young worms. Each egg capsule produces four to twenty worms which will mature to breeding age (discernable by the presence of the ring
following reports that the practice increased the presence of drug resistant bacteria in animals. The livestock industry vigorously opposed the action. Congress suspended the FDA action until the National Academy of Sciences could evaluate existing scientific evidence, and lawmakers directed the FDA to spend $1.5 million for epidemiological studies of the problem. However, the new report said comprehensible studies to uncover human disease caused by drug-resistant microbes from livestock are impossible to conduct because of “insurmountable technical difficulties.” The major problem, the report said, is that therapeutic use of antibiotics for sick animals and subtherapeutic uses cannot be separated. This makes it almost impossible to determine the antibiotic history of an animal.
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Prospects of profitable hog production dim
WEST LAFAYETTE - Profitable hog production cannot be expected before 1981, says Jon Brandt, Purdue University extension agricultural economist. Market prices have already begun to move downward as the result of bearish news in the Marsh USDA hogs and pig report. Cash and futures prices in the low s3os are not unlikely, Brandt said, as the large number of hogs listed in the report as weighing more than 180 pounds are marketed in the next 30-45 days. Any liquidation of breeding stock would send cash prices even lower, he said. If demand for pork, which up to now has been strong, begins to fade, farm prices could plummet even more. Although some price recovery can be expected seasonally through the summer, current live inventories and planned sow farrowings over the next three to six months will likely be enough to keep hog production high. It is likely to remain high through early 1981, he said; and profitable production cannot be expected before that time. Brandt said that the large number of hogs remaining on farms, large December-to-
Pesticides in adequate supply, costs increase
WASHINGTON (AP) - Farmers will pay an average of about 10 percent more for chemicals to protect their crops this year than they did in 1979, says the Agriculture Department. Supplies of pesticides which include chemicals to kill weeds as well as insects and other pests are expected to be “adequate to meet overall farm needs,” a new report said Wednesday. “Manufacturers’ insecticide supplies are off by 3 perceno, but there are larger than normal stock carryovers for distributors, dealers and farmers,” it said. “Farmers’ herbicide requirements will rise about 2 to 5 percent this year. Insecticide use is likely to be up 8 to 10 percent over 1979’s abnormally low levels.”
or clitellum, a muscular band around the worm some one-half to one-third of the way down from the head end) in about sixty to ninety days. An earthworm may have a life span of ten to fifteen years, and processes its own weight in soil every twenty-four hours Therefore, a quarter-ounce worm will process almost six pounds of nutrient rich soil by himself in a year’s time. These calculations do not include coffee breaks or recreation time. MANY PEOPLE WONDER about the practicality of releasing expensive worms in the garden or field, in the belief that they will immediately pack up and head for the neighbors’ greener pastures. Such fears, however, are unfounded, as earthworms are notorious homebodies, and seldom roam more than fifteen or twenty feet from the spot where they were introduced. As always, consult a good book, some government leaflets, and the county agent before beginning any large-scale project that involves investment of either money or time.
February farrowings, and high March-to-May farrowing intentions are expected to lead to depression of hog prices over the next several months. The number of hogs and pigs on farms as of March 1 in the 14 major hog producing states was estimated at 54.7 million head, more than 7 per cent above a year earlier. Hogs kept for marketing were 48.6 million head, more than 9 per cent above the 1979 level. The report confirmed large farrowings in the December-to-February reporting period, according to Brandt. Estimated farrowings were 2.7 million head, three per cent higher than during the same period a year earlier. The deeember hogs and pigs report indicated that producers then intended to farrow about the same number as in the previous year. The embargo on grain shipments to the Russians and the mild winter likely led producers to increase farrowing levels, according to Brandt. Also, the number of pigs saved per litter was up 4 per cent over the same threemonth period a year ago. The increased farrowings coupled with the increased baby pig survival resulted in an overall increase in the pig crop of 7 per
The report, “Evaluation of Pesticide Supplies and Demand for 1980,” was issued by the department’s Economics. Statistics and Cooperatives Service. It was written by Theodore R. Eichers, an economist in the agency. “Pesticides account for only 3 or 4 percent of farmers’ production expenses, but they are essential tools in modern farming,” the report said. “Pesticides prevent major losses to insect and disease pests which could not otherwise be controlled, and they greatly reduce labor and machine time requied to control weeds." Environmental factors and federal restrictions are curbing the use of many pesticides including some, like DDT, that have been banned outright. Recent federal registration and re-registration procedures are expected to reduce the number of available pesticides further by 1985, when the process is expected to be completed. “In addition to the likely removal of some current pesticides or pesticide uses, new
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cent, Brandt said. These hogs will reach market in about six months, he noted Sow farrowing intentions for the March-to May period were set at 3.5 million head which would be about the same as in 1979. For the June-to-August period, producers indicate they plan to farrow 3.1 million sows or only 97 per cent of the high level of 1979. These farrowing intentions are somewhat higher than analysts had predicted prior to the release of the report. They do not indicate any major liquidation of breeding stock by producers, according to Brandt. Current inventories of pigs reflect the large farrowing rates of the past six months, he said. The number of pigs weighing more than 180 pounds is 14 per cent greater than on the same date in 1979. In the 60 to 119 pound group, the level is 9 per cent above last year. The 120-179 pound group is 12 per cent higher, he said. Pigs weighing less than 60 pounds are 6 per cent above year earlier levels. Most of these hogs will be marketed during the next several months, according to Brandt.
product introduction has been drastically reduced because of higher research and development costs and added registration requirements.” the report said. “Farmes will likely have a smaller selection of pesticides from which to choose. ” Meanwhile, those and other factors “all will tend to increase pesticide costs to farmers” in the next four or five years, it said. “There are some forces that will increase pesticide use. and others that will reduce it in the future.” For example, the “increasing adoption" of Integrated Pest whqanalement called IPM by its advocates, which includes the Agriculture Depatment and the Environmental Protection Agency and other nonchemical pest control techniques “will tend to rdduce the use of pesticides ” “On the other hand, increasing costs of fuel, labor and machinery may reduce the use of mechanical cultivation and increase the need forpesticides.”