—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 16. 1973 22 r : * : * v, '.' V^>«<^'- .N^V' 1 "O The Graybill Family. . . They Practice Living, Working, Playing Together “Triple G Farm Dairy, Inc ” is the name of a large farming enterprise in East Cocalico Township on Stevens Road that represents one big happy family. Three brothers—Arthur, Irvin and Donald Graybill, their wives and children all banded together work amiably for the benefit of all The three brothers, sons of Farm Feature Writer Mrs. Charles McSparran Mrs and the late Irvin Graybill, grew up on the farm where Mrs Graybill lives in a new home and the Irvin Graybill Jr family lives m the farm house Arthur’s family lives in a house they built on the farm 20 years ago Donald’s family lives on the former George Root farm These brothers are the third generation to own and operate the original farm first owned by their grandfather Rubin Hertzog. Their mother lived on the farm since she was a baby. The dairy is the big item in their farming set-up Each Graybill brother is in charge of one phase of the -operation. Ar thur does most of the field work, the managing and has charge of the broilers. Irvin has charge of the cattle and Donald does the milk processing and makes ice cream for their dairy store. Triple G Farm Dairy built a dairy store six years ago which not only contains a sales room but a modern dairy processing plant, ice cream making facilities, 12 offices which are used for their offices and some office space Mrs. Arthur Graybill made a ceramic plate like she holds for each of her children. Other ceramic pieces are a yule log candle holder, Christmas tree, compote and candlestick set, jack-o’-lantern, pitcher and bowl, a matching set of ash tray, cigarette box and vase. \ v , s \ N \ A ' ' \ \ X- ' ' %i *s,' *'"#■* ** s •. v >\ < ' s Pat Erway, Editor '-V^J'j v\ i*. \ * *\* vs*. Wx & «v, ' > >V{\£ >&,>• »''&**s**&%* which they rent. The store handles nearly all the milk produced from their 200 Registered and grade Holstein milking cows Only once in a while do they need to take any surplus to a cheese factory. By the same token, once in a while they must go out and buy a half dozen cows to produce enough milk to run the store Graybills sell all their products except the broilers in their store. They do not standardize their milk by skimming off cream but sell it as whole milk which averages between 3 7 and 3.9 percent butterfat. They sell their milk n two quart glass bottles as whole milk, skim milk or chocolate milk They also process and sell cream, real orange juice, grapefruit juice, six fruit drinks and make 26 flavors of most delicious ice cream. They use all true fruit flavorings for their ice cream They sell about 30 dozen fresh eggs a week and, due to the demand of their customers, handle baked goods and such items as cold cuts, cheese, cot tage cheese, yogurt, butter, soups, potato chips, pickles, pretzels and candy. Donald works in the store and Monday, Wednesday and Friday processes the milk and fruit juices and drinks. He makes the ice cream Tuesdays and Thur sdays. The store is open from 9 a.m to 9 p.m Monday through Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. and employs 15 people, including their families. The Graybill women and children play a big part in operating the store. There is always one of the Graybill women in the store in the daytime. The Graybill children and the men are in the store from spm to 9 pm. Irvin’s wife, Grace is m the store two days a week, is the bookkeeper and in \ » 5 * N N «w» Notes & , \ Milk in two quart glass containers in right) Donald, Jane (Mrs. Irwin) and Mrs. sales case to left and ice cream in con- Mary Belle (Mrs. Arthur) Graybill. tainers in the case on the right. (Left to the office most of the time, does the banking and helps to milk. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs George Summy who for merly farmed at Mastersonville. Irvin’s son and daughter also work in the store. Mrs Arthur H. (Mary Belle) Graybill, daughter of Mrs. and the late Harry Honberger, grew up m Salunga. She never lived on the farm until after marriage. She works at the store ap proximately 25 hours a week and Thursdays she goes for the homemade pies, cookies and bread which a lady makes for their weekend business Their four children help in the store. Donald’s wife, Mary Jane, did work in the store two days a week but now has three small children so she isn’t working at the store Mary Jane, the daughter of Mr and Mrs Maurice Herr of Ref ton, was very active m 4-H She served as president' of the 4-H Baby Beef and Lamb Club and showed a total of 51 steers during the time she was in 4-H Triple G farm employs four men They are now farming 450 acres Of this amount 100 acres are in alfalfa, 275 acres m corn, 35 acres m Sudan grass and 40 acres in pasture Arthur, m charge of the field work, also manages the broilers They put in 30,000 broilers five times a year or a total of 150,000 are grown, in a year’s time They raise them on a contract basis. Graybills built a large free stall dairy barn four years ago with a milking parlor that milks nine cows at a time. They have a ppeline to a 2000 gallon bulk tank. The milk, however, is precooled before entering the bulk tank. Graybills were the first in the area to precool milk before it enters the milk holding tank. They also have a tank truck to transport their milk from the bulk tank to the processing plant. Three people do the milking. Besides the 200 milking cows they keep about 150 heifers and dry cows and about 65 head of bulls which they sell for beef at around 1300 pounds. They keep the calves at the barn where Donald lives. They raise most of Mrs. Arthur Graybilt crewel embroidered the pillow, knit the afghan and holds the red tote bag and grey poncho with red trim she took first prize on at Denver Jaycee Hobby Show. their own animals for herd replacement but sell a few calves. Irvin is in charge of milking and breeding through the Atlantic Breeders Cooperative. They do not go in for showing their animals. They use a liquid manure pump system from their stables to use on their farm land. Arthur, Irvin and Donald graduated from East Cocalico High School and were in 4-H Baby Beef Clubs two or three years. They were active in sports. They played ice hockey on the “Flying Dutchman” team at Hershey (Continued On Page 24)
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