55 years ago

The Soil Bank bill passed the House 314-78 and is now under consideration by the U.S. Senate. The bill authorizes the payment of $1.2 billion to farmers for taking land out of production at their next planting season, whether it is next fall or next spring.

Paul Crane of the Agronomy Department at the Purdue University agriculture experiment station announced a state corn hybrid demonstration plot will be planted on the Clarence Dyer farm in Center Township (Rush County) this year. The plot will contain 85 different hybrids, including Indiana-certified, experimental and many commercial hybrids.

Knightstown Sale Barn is under “new” management of A.J. Fairchild and Steve Harlan beginning in May, announced by former owner Carol Morrow.
An all-girl 4-H team from Greensburg won the dairy judging contest of the central district at Mooresville, beating out 21 other teams of boys. High individual was Betty White; her teammates were Patty Wiley, Della Wiley and Jean Bentley.

40 years ago

Dr. J.J. Stockton has been confirmed as the new dean of Purdue’s School of Veterinary Science and Medicine.
Knightstown Sale Barn, Knightstown, Ind.: Baby calves, $45; Holstein-Springer heifers, $324; cow and calf, $275; steers, $31.80; and feeder pigs, $8.25-$18.25.

Entries for the Indiana Hoosier Beef Show are being accepted, to the first 125 steers. The show will be at the Indianapolis Stock Yards on July 14. Wayne Haygood of New Harmony will be on-foot head judge, with Jim Gillooly of Washington and Bill Dugdale of Stark, Wetzel & Co. of Indianapolis, assisting. Carcass placings will be made by Edwin Kline of Iowa State University animal science, head judge, and Larry West of Preston’s Supermarkets, Indianapolis, as assistant.

Hog cholera cases are down 70 percent in the first quarter. Only 55 cases, including two in Indiana, were reported for the quarter, with Texas and North Carolina having the most cases.

25 years ago

Farm real estate values in the Eastern Corn Belt – Ohio, Indiana and Illinois – averages $1,071 per acre thus far, down from $1,233 a year earlier and 49 percent below the 1981 peak.

Case IH has announced plans to close manufacturing in its Terre Haute, Ind., facilities.

Terre Haute’s wheel loader production and large loader/backhoe plant employs 460 people.
Used equipment for sale
this week: 1985 AC 6070 FWA with cab, 150 hours, demo, $20,00; NH 770 chopper two-row N & H.H., $6,000; NH 489 9-foot haybine, $5,500; Wil-Rich 26-foot hydraulic fold chisel plow, $4,500 – North Star Implement of North Star, Ohio.

Sue Scott of Maysville and Darlene Martin of Mt. Vernon were honored as the top two Master Farm Homemakers in Kentucky, at the recent annual meeting of the Kentucky Extension Homemakers Assoc.
10 years ago

Energy woes are hitting farmers especially hard this year. Direct fuel, fertilizer and pesticide costs are expected to rise 7-10 percent, with fertilizer expenses accounting for much of the increase.

A relatively new course offered at Wilmington College in Wilmington, Ohio, is a two-year Equine Studies program as a minor, with 24 credits required for interested enrolled students.
Ohioans would have only 15 days t
o show their animals, cruise the midway and eat carnival treats under a state House budget that proposes shortening the Ohio State Fair by two days to save money.
After nine weeks in a row of below-normal rainfall, Kentucky has slipped into agricultural drought conditions, according to a University of Kentucky meteorologist. Windy conditions have also added to the woes of growers, drying topsoil.