Keener Wins Corn Contests by 'Leaving Out Guesswork'
Clarence Keener Ji , Manheim
EDI, is used to winning corn
pioduction contests. *
He won the 25 acre or over
category in statewide competi
tion in both 1969 and 1970 He
has also won other awards
In winning last year, Keenei
had an outstanding aveiage ol
177 71 bushels pei acie on a
total of 25 89 acies This was
on non-irngated land
-While Pennsylvania is not
noted as a high coin yield area,
theie weis only a handful of the
535 contestants from 40 states
who had highei yields
Keener does not feel that his
high jields come from luck He
considers good management
practices and good soil as the
key
21 Cloister FFA
Boys Sell Labor
On March 12, the Cloister
FFA held a slave auction
The members were sold to the
Ephrata Area Young Farmers
for a minimum of four houis
to a maximum of eight hours-of
hard labor
The boys sold from $2 80 an
hour to $l5O an hour The
money the boys make will be
given to the FFA
There were 21 boys sold and
two teachers
The boys were- Lloyd Zeiset,
Jay Zimmerman, Robert Kart
ing, Dennis Palm, Rick Pfautz,
Richard Bollinger, Eric Copen
ttgypr, Dan Karting, Russel
Kline, Ken Long, Gerald Mus
ser, Marlin Smoker, Lester
Kurtz, Lynn Weaver, Donald
Bollinger, Richard Groff, Paul
Horning, Galen Martin, John
Mertz, John Weaver, Mel Weiler
The two teachers sold were
Robert Kramer, who was serv
ing tis student teacher, and Carl
Graybill, who is advisor.
After the slave auction the
slaves took on the Young Farm
ers in a few games of volley
ball. After the games refresh
ments were seived in the ag
shop.
Mrs. Akers Helps With Dairying, But Her Love Is Sewing
' .r « r
♦ v *.
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Hf *nr
Mrs. Akers just completed this flowered
and a plain one, as well as her two sofa slip
In particular, he emphasizes a
top-notch fertilization program
to keep the soil at the maximum
productive level
His thiee-stage fertilization
piogram begins with manure
from his 250 to 300 head feeder
cattle and 500 head hog opera
tion The raanme is phosphal
ed and plowed undei
This is followed with 200
pounds of stai ter fertilizer at
planting time
When the coin is high,
it gets a side diessing of an
hjdious ammonia
The entue fertilization pro
gram may vaiy somewhat from
jear to yeai, because Keener
bases his fertilization program
carefully on soil test recommen
dations These recommendations
take into account the content of
the manuie
As the corn reaches the silk
ing stage, a tissue test is taken
This involves taking corn leaves
and testing their content to see
it the plants aie actually getting
the proper balance of nutrients
If not, necessary changes are
made m the feiulization pro
gram the following year.
Keener also places strong em
phasis on a top-notch herbicide
program He doesn’t want weeds
competing with his com for the
nutrients in the soil
Commenting on Keener’s corn
piogram this week, Johp Weid
man, Pioneer Corn Company
Eastern Divisional sales man
ager, stated that Keener “leaves
out all of the guesswork”
Keener won the 25 acre con
test in both 1969 and 1970 with
Pioneer 3369 A
In IS7O. Keener farmed 265
acres, including 240 acres of
corn He put 130 acres of his
corn in silage and most of the
rest was picker-shelled
He feeds about 250 to 300
cattle at any given time. He
buys them at the 600 to 700
pound weight level and feeds
thenl fOr flVe td six ffibhths to
the 1,100 pound level, i With a
turnover of twice a year, he
feeds out about 600 cattle a
year.
In addition he feeds out about
500 hogs annually
' ,
Clarence Keener Jr., Manheim RDI.
receives an award this week from John
Weidman, Pioneer Corn Company, East
ern Divisional sales manager. Keener had
factor in his feed ration and adds Keener is a member of the
the urea tor its protein content Manfaeim Young Farmers Aaoth
He works with and Bus- elation He has been farmfelf
„ , , , , „ ~ hong (now Pennneld) to obtain tor 11 years
He had been before this year, t - ne necessar y supplements and
planting several acres of barley, prope iiy balanced feed Besides such basics as *
and second cropping his barley Whlle placing str£mg emphaS is sound fertilization and herbicide
ground with corn This year, he on a balanced ration._Keener P ro § ram and a balanced feed
will eliminate the second crop, a - s 0 stresses tb e importance of ratl( > n ’ urea and supple
coin, because of his concern „ row i no his own feed and keen- ments, Keener thinks such fac
about corn rootworm He found f ee d cStadowT tors as Z ood farm records “ d
last year that the corn rootworm “ farm-grown barlev a hel P ful wife and famil y “»
was a serious problem in the important in helping to make
a e corn. the Eastern Shore for 90 cents ends meet on the farm. iThe
a bushel As gram prices rose Keener family includes wife
substantially last ‘n re- chlldren James,
sponse to the corn blight scare, „ _ , „ . _
the Eastern Shore barley turned Steve, 14, and Bonnie Sue,
out to be a good buy 11.
He also glows about 12 acres
ol tobacco annually and several
acies of giam
Keener considers that a major
factor in the success of his feed
ing operation has been urea in
silage.
By Mrs. Charles G. McSparran
*
Mis Curtis E (Ruth) Akers,
Solanco Acres Faim neai Me
chanic Giove on Church Road
m East Drumoie Township, is a
life-time faim girl
She loves to work outdoors,
but her main talent and favorite
woik, 01 hobby is sewing
Mis Akeis received the Home
Economics awaid when she gra
duated fiom West Lampeter
High School and started sewing
foi others right aftei graduation
She makes diapes and slip
covers diesses, lobes, suits and
egats foi heiself and thiee daug
hter, and spoit coats for her
son This wintei she even made
a man’s suit This took con
siderable persuasion though A
lady had a nice piece of im
ported wool suiting which she
wanted made foi her husband’s
Ch’istmas gift She wouldn’t
even consent to his having a
fitting because she wanted to
surpnse him and Mis Akeis had
~i.ver seen him She couldn’t get
a man’s suit pattern She used
a pailtrn loi a pair of slacks and
a sport coat pattern and measur
ed it with one of his suits
She finished it completely and
when he tried it on Christmas
morning it fit to a T Even Mis
Akers, heiself, was proud ol
this suit
chair slip cover
covers
He uses silage as the energy
Farm Feature Writer
She does a lot of sewing and
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 20,1971 —17
the top yield in the 25 acre com produc
tion contest for the state of Pennsylvania
in 1970 with a yield of 177.71 bushels per
acre.
making alterations for other
people and helps people with
sewing problems such as putting
in set-in sleeves.
As far as sewing hints go, she
says, “a good way to set in
sleeves is to stitch not less than
two 01 three seams along the
armhole edge of the sleeve be
tween the notches, the thickei
the material—the bigger the
stitches, the thinner or softer the
matenal—the smaller the stitch
Diaw up the threads till the
sieeve fits the armhole ”
Mis Akeis has a sewing ma
chine which is 20 yeais old You
couldn’t do this with some of
the newei machines, but she
fastens a two inch strip of wool
matenal around the arm of hei
machine and sticks needles and
pms in it where they are always
ai her fingei tips
She gave a series of sewing
lessons at Quanyville Sewing
janaEaste^feEftrgntnq
SECOND SECTION
Center in 1954. She served on
the sewing committee of the
Southein Lancaster County Com
munity Fair two years and later
took chairmanship of the com
mittee She has been chairman
five years
Akers have lived on their 125
acre farm for 10 years and owned
it the past five years They have
remodeled and made extensive
repairs on their house and now
are in the process of enlarging
their dairy barn
They keep 36 Holstein cows
and on the average of 30 heifers,
but plan to increase their herd
eventually to 60 milking cows.
They grow corn, alfalfa and
wheat
Curtis is a son of Mr. and Mrs.
Marvin Akers, Clearville, Bed
ford County He became a DHIA
milk tester in Lancaster County
light attei graduation from
(Continued On Page 22)