A drought, which is now in its eighth year in the southwestern part of the United States, is driving many cattlemen in some areas to sell their herds and is seriously reducing capacity for future beef production.

Edwards Strahl, who farms in southern Hancock County, held a burglar at gunpoint on his place until sheriff’s deputies arrived. The burglar was spotted in the Strahl tool shed that evening attempting to dismantle a plow before loading it on his truck.

Harry Shafer and his son, Norman, of the Hagerstown area, operate a maple sugar camp consisting of about 300 maple trees, which they are preparing for the annual season starting in February.

Used equipment for sale: 1952 M-H 44-4 reconditioned, $1,595; 14-inch M-H slat bottom plow, demo, $325; M-H baler with motor, has starter, $1,995 – Fraley Truck and Implement Sales, Rushville, Ind.

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Cox of Knightstown, Ind., left on a “People-to-People” Goodwill Tour, arranged by Purdue University. Mrs. Cox is a feature editor for the Eastern Indiana Farmer and will be sending back reports of the various countries they visit. The tour will include Australia and other places in the South Pacific.

Brothers John A. and Gilman C. Stewart of Greensburg were recently nominated to the Hall of Fame portrait gallery of the Indiana Livestock Breeders Assoc. at Purdue. The Stewart Brothers, graduates of Purdue, raise purebred Angus cattle and are hybrid seed corn and small grain seed producers from Decatur County.

Newly elected officers of the Indiana Farm Management are Mark McKinney, Kempton, president; David White, Morristown, vice president; and Gerald Harrison, Purdue agricultural economist, secretary-treasurer.

Open House will be held at the newly constructed 22,000-bird growing house at the John Frahm Farm of Mercer County, Ohio. Tours of the 278-foot poultry structure will be given. Baby chicks are brought into the house and placed in 24-by-36-inch flat-deck cages at about one week of age, and will remain until they reach 20 weeks of age.

Public auction of farm machinery belonging to Lathan B. Heath estate, SW Metcalf, Ill.: tractors and combine, dryer, augers, camper, tillage, grain cart, trucks, wagons, planter, plows, hoe, mowers and miscellaneous – Auctioneers Col Merrill Anderson and Col Michael Stanfield.

Indiana had the largest delegation of any state for the American Farm Bureau Convention in Anaheim, Calif.; there were more than 500 people attending from Indiana. The state delegation was awarded three gold stars and three silver stars for performance in activities among farmers for the past year.

Orion Samuelson, radio broadcaster for WGN in Chicago, delivered the keynote address at the Great Lakes States Conservation Farming Expo in Ft. Wayne, Ind., recently. The key to his address was optimism – when you get up in the morning and plant your feet on the floor, say, “Good morning, God,” and not “Good God, morning.”

Belinda Jo Weaver, 18, Crawfordsville, was crowned the 1987 Indiana Pork Queen at the Indiana Pork Conference. Pork Princess was Amelia Prewett of Muncie and Miss Congeniality was Suzanne Sheldon of Remington.

10 years ago

Used farm equipment for sale: 1995 JD 7200 12 RN planter, $27,000; 1989 JD 7200, 12 RN $18,000; JD 7000 12 RN, $9,500; 1988 15-foot Great Plains no-till drill, $6,500 – Heartland New Holland, Pendleton, Ind.

A national wildlife refuge proposal that area farmers succeeded in blocking a year ago near London, Ohio, has been purchased by Vebr-Hoff’s, a large dairy operation company based out of Michigan. For the short term, the land will be leased to grain farmers for the coming year.

Wayne Yake of Salem, Ind., received the Indiana Livestock Breeders Assoc. Hall of Fame Recognition Award. Yake manages the breeding stock at Lynnwood Farms and Purdue’s Boar Test Station.

Two men have been arrested on charges that they set a fire that killed about 70,000 young pullets at Rose Acre Farms near Brownstown, Ind., last year. Damage to the building was estimated at $800,000, and the chickens were worth about $100,000, said Rose Acre Vice President Mark Whittington.