6—Lancaster Farming. Saturday, December 26.1970
Foremans Are Building a New Holstein Herd on an Old Farm
The Jaj Foieman farm at
Lititz R D 1 is centered around
a growing herd of Regis.eied
Holstein cows
The Foremans no.v are milking
arouna 45 cows and ha\e a total
of aoont 80 head of Holste.ns
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Jay Foreman surveys a pile of lightweight irrigation
pipe on his farm, wondering if next year will be the kind of
year that it will again make it an important part of his
farming operation
Foreman pals his top milk producer, Lj-nn The Regis
tered Holslem averages over 20,000 pounds per
The> aie in the,, process of
bui.d.ng a new SO b‘> 60 foot
block heifei bam foi flowing
; eplace nenl cahes A24bv 40
foot co.n bam was bunt two
\ea-s ago
Foiemm nopes to go to about
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? 65 to 70 cow’ milking held
within three oi four tears
Along with the mcieased held
he hopes to go to a high mois
tuie coin and hajlage sjstem
The 120 acies now being
fainted include about 40 acres of
coin, about half of which is bar
's ested as silage. 30 acies of hav.
15 of wheat and ballet and fne
of tooacco
The rest is meadow land
Foieman feels it does the cows
good to eat out and get fresh au
and grass in the summeitime
He feeds no silage in the sum
rnei, but does in the w intei He
raises 95 pei cent of his own le
placement cattle
The Foieman faim is a family
opeiation, which includes Ivs
wife, Joyce and fathei Veinon
ills Foieman does neailj all
the milking A vacuum tank was
installed in 1564 and a glass pipe
Lne sisteni including some 296
feet of glass pipeline in the bain,
was installed within the past
y eai
Due to changmg legulations
the Foiemans also added addi
tional si stems to stiam milk un
dei giav.ty lather than lacuum
The milk is shipped to Lehigh
Valley
Lehigh Valley pays an addi
tional 10 cents per hundred
pounds of milk each month to
produceis with less than a 20,000
bacteria count Since 1964, a
period of six yeais they have
received the bonus every time
except for five months
Foreman actually bought the
faim this year fiom the elder
Foreman, who bought it in 1962
The Foremans pride them
selves in doing most of the work
themselves With only a small
amount of help on the block lay
ing, they are building the new
calf barn themselves, using
boards sawed from trees grown
on their own farm
When the farm was originally
purchased in 1962, it contained
an old barn used for beef,
hoises and cows Foieman and
his fathei did 95 pei cent of the
work in converting it to a mod
em 40 stall cow' bain The woik
included removal of one section
of 22-inch stone wall
The entire property has a long
history as a farm
The house itself, a stone
house, w'as built in 1794 with a
frame addition about 100 years
old
The house is located only
about 100 leet fiom Snavely’s
Mill, r a well known landmark,
located on Hammei Cieek
Hammei Creek luns through
the Foieman propeuy and the
Foiemans take advantage of its
water for migation, mostly on
hay, with some on com and to
bacco
Lightweight 40-foot sections of
aluminum four to five inches in
diameter are used in the irriga
tion system
While irrigation hasn t been of
much use foi the past couple of
years, Foreman recalls when ir
rigation was very important
Last year the Foremans raised
nine acres of tobacco It s dowm
to five this year and he plans to
"slowly eliminate all of it ”
He explained, "It’s a nice pile
of money when it comes, but it's
a 12-month ordeal ”
Asked about his response to
the coin blight and his planting
intentions foi 1971, he said he
expects to plant about the same
acreage in coin, about 40 acres,
as in 1970
He said he experienced little
trouble with blight in 1970, but
had “some corn rootworm ’’ He
plans to use a chemical at plant
'ing time to combat lootworm
He also plans to no-ul some
coin again next year He thinks
no-til is “gieat in its place” but
doesn’t think it is adaptable to
all crops or to all types of farm
Joyce Foreman gets ready for the morning milking. She
does most of the milking and her care with cleanliness is
usually rewarded on the milk check. Daughter Vicki is help
ing.
operations Each farmer has to cows to drink moi e water The
decide if it fits into his owm w'ater consumption is supposed
farming operation, he believes, to mciease milk production.
He likes no-til because of the Foreman has been active in
slopes on his own farm. Much of the Manheim Young Farmers
the Foreman farm is class two since 1962, and was recently,
and three land. elected president.
He noted he had some barley This year he was elected treas
in no-til this year and had al- urer of the Pennsyhania Young
most no soil loss during the sum- Fanners Previously he had
mer’s extremely heavy lams seived tw'O years as state public
In his dairy feeding operation, relations dnector
he grinds and piocesses Ins own He is also active in the Bran
feed He buys oats concentiate nerville Fire Company
and beet pulp The Foremans hai e three clnl-
He explained that the beet dren Kenneth, se\en, Vicki,
pulp is a filler and causes the fcui, and Sidney, 20 months.
Foreman displays a lath of tobacco at his barn. He
had a five acre crop this year.
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