—Lancaster farming, Saturday, March 18, 1972
26
Herdswoman , Sportswoman , Trainer , Nurse , Homemaker
Miss Shirley Dickel, A Versatile Farmerette
Happiness is tending to cattle,
burros, lambs, a goat dogs and
cats for farmerette Miss Shirley
A. Dickel, Willow Street RD2.
She says “It’s a good life, I really
enjoy it. I was always outdoors a
lot.”
Shirley farms on the halves for
Samuel K. Shotzberger who lives
on the farm. The 70 acre farm is
known as “Ebony Acres” and is
located on Shultz Road. Shirley
has been farming it for four
years.
How did Miss Dickel, a city
girl, take up farming? Shotz
berger went to the same church
as Dickels’, Otterbein United
Methodist Church in Lancaster.
She has belonged to the church
since 1949. Mr. Shotzberger
owned a farm at Palmyra and
Shirley used to go there to visit.
When she was there she would
go to the fields to pick stones,
bale hay, and so for
th. He sold that farm and bought
his farm where he now resides.
Three years later he wanted to
put on some cattle and asked her
is she would be interested in
farming it. She decided to try it
and loves it.
Her parents, Mr. and Mrs.
Erisman Dickel, who live near
Conestoga, thought she was
crazy. They said it was just a fad
and would never last. Now they
like to go there and her father,
especially, likes to help with the
work sometimes.
“Missy”, her registered
purebred German shepherd dog,
is always by her side She said “I
always wanted a German
shepherd dog and I wanted a good
one. I trained her. She was very
easy to train.” Missy seems to
know everything her mistress
says and is most obedient. She
had one litter of pups and Shirley
has the one registered male pup,
"Rex”, which is full grown now.
Missy has an ancestral
background from Roy Rodgers’
“Bullet” dog
Shirley does practically all the
farm work herself, keeps records
and does her own bookwork. She
has a boy to come in to help
sometimes Also her father and
Shotzberger help some.
She has really improved the
looks of the farm by cleaning out
a grove of pine trees beside the
house and cleaning out fence
rows all over the farm
She operates a medium sized
tractor with a front end loader, a
manure spreader and two
mowers. They have all 70 acres in
pasture where they graze 70 to 80
head of cows, heifers and bulls in
the summer
Last spring they bought a
whole herd of 120 and kept them
for one and a half months, then
**i* f' *. -
Miss Dickel and “Missy”, her German shepherd dog, are
constant companions.
Miss Shirley A. Dickel, Willow Street RD2, sits at the desk
she refinished to do her farm bookwork.
Shirley is more attached to this two year old bull “Shalco
Colossal 419", or “Big Fellow", than any animal on her farm.
sold half of them. They kept the
rest till the end of summer and
sold them. They are looking now
for cows to buy and pasture this
summer.
This winter they have 11
registered Black Angus cows,
seven heifers and three bulls. The
one bull “Shalco Colossal 419”
will be two years old in May.
Shirley calls him “Big Fellow.”
She says “I’ve gotten more
attached to him than any
animal.” He was three months
old when they bought him. They
went out to Nebraska August,
1970, and bought him at a sale as
a calf with his dam, and at the
same time bought another cow
with a heifer calf. He is a mill?
tempered bull and Shirley halter
broke him. They will use him as
their herd sire this year. He is a
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ZOOK'S
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on May Post Office Road
son of “Canadian Colossal”, the
highest priced selling Angus bull
ever sold.
They have one of Canadian
Colossal’s daughters that is one
year old and another six months
old heifer. They bred two cows
artificially to him when they
started farming. They still have
five of the original cows in their
herd. Two of their bulls are
yearlings.
Shirley is not afraid to tackle
any farm project.
She weans the calves at seven
months and halter breaks them
at eight months. She castrates
the bull calves, ear tags and
tattoos all the calves and
registers them.
She says “When the calves are
small it’s a 24 hour job. With
heifers freshening I check them
every two hours.” She was able to
save a breech birth heifer calf
and another heifer calf by being
on the scene at the right time to
assist the delivery. They treat 95
per cent of the cattle illnesses
themselves.
They sell the steer calves in the
fall. They sold three heifers last
year for breeding and expect to
sell two yearling heifers and one
yearling bull April 1 at the
Pennsylvania Angus Association
sale at Millarden Farm, Annville.
Shirley says she hopes to have 20
to 25 cows sometime, some
heifers and some bulls to keep
over.
Sfaotzberger is a member of the
Pennsylvania Angus Association
and the American Angus
Association. He and Shirley go to
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Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week
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25 North Duke St.
Phone 393-0601
iMOk*
.1111111* New Holland Branch
Vllllllf 100 E. Main St.
Ph ‘ 354 ' 2131
Mon. thro Thun.
9 to 4:30
the meetings, three or four shows
and about three sales a year.
They are held mostly at
Harrisburg. They attended a sale
last October at Penn State
University.
They have sold steers to FFA.
One of the steers came in first at
Manheim Fair.
They have two ram lambs and
a billy goat. Shirley says she’s
going- to get rid of the goat
becuase he’s a nuisance but she
would like to get a couple ewes
and raise some sheep.
Shirley had a few ducks one
year'. Last year she had some
geese. She didn’t like them
because they were dirty and ate
her flowers so she plans to get
ducks again this year.
She has a Cicilian burro mare
and filly. The mare is bred to foal
this fall. She has them halter
broke and is training the younger
one to pull a cart. She would like
to raise a few and sell some. She
thinks they are nicer and safer
for children than ponies.
There’s a story that goes with
these animals. They are taupe
colored and have a brown streak
that goes up the middle of their
back to their head and another
brown streak that goes across
their shoulders, thus forming a
cross. ‘Tis said that they did not
have these brown markings until
after Christ rode one on his
triumphant entry into Jerusalem
before his crucifixion.
Shirley had 30 guinea pigs at
one time and made pens for
them. They weren’t too profitable
(Continued on Page 27)
Frl.
9 to 8
Sat.
9 to noon