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Vol. 19 No. 16
The Lancaster County 4-H Baby
Beef and Lamb Club met Wednesday
night at the Farm and Home Center
to for the coming year.
elected officers were In
stalled at the meeting. They are, from
•M ,v
(FARM
TRENDS
Time to Hit Garlicin Wheat
This is the year to knock garlic out of your wheat
acreage. Garlicky wheat isn’t much of p problem
locally in most years, with buyers here docking a
nickel or so for each bushel. Expectations are for a
bigger crop this year, with more garlic, and that could
push up dockage rates as buyers get more choosy.
One grain buyer we talked to said dockage could go to
10-, 15- or even 20-cents a bushe! this year.
Jf you’re docked on the basis of weight, garlic this
year will cost you more than last year simply because
wheat prices will likely be higher. And 3- or 4-percent
of $4.25 a bushel is more than 3- or 4-percent of
$3.00.
(Continued On Page 19)
.. . , . . . .... ,
Mrs. Margaret Jacobs has been milking goats since
1934, and is presently milking 15 head on her Chester
County farm.
left to right: Rick Hess, Strasburg
RDI, vice-president; Linda Good,
Lititz RD2,secretary; Gary Brubaker,
345 Running Pump Road, Lancaster,
treasurer, and Joseph Lefever,
Manheim RD4, president
by Dick
Wanner
Margaret Jacobs can
rattle off goat pedigrees
faster than most people can
say the alphabet. One of
Chester County’s premiere
goat boosters Mrs. Jacobs
has been milking goats since
1934. Her farm is just off
Route 23, near St. Peter’s
Village.
We visited Mrs. Jacobs
recently to find out a little bit
about her operation, and a
little bit about goats. We
asked her, first of all, why
she kept goats instead of
cows. “I like goats because
they’re easier for a woman
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 9, 1974
Farmland
Assessment
Meet Set
Farmland assessment
legislation will be the subject
of the second in a series of
educational seminars
presented by the Farm and
Home Foundation of Lan
caster County. Hiis public
seminar will be held Wed
nesday evening, March 13 at
7:30 p.m. in the auditorium
of the Farm' and Home
Center, 1383 Arcadia Road,
Lancaster.
The program will be
conducted as a panel
discussion including Reno
Thomas and Kent Shelhamer
from the Pennsylvania State
House Agriculture Com
mittee at Harrisburg;
Benjamin F. Weaver,
County Administrator of
Lancaster County and J.
Arthur Rohrer of Paradise,
RDI, farmer and member of
(Continued On Page 22)
Margaret Jacobs Claims . . .
‘Goats are Smarter than Cows’
*2021 Average
Bare Dispersal
A lot of good cows left
Pennsylvania on Monday
after the dispersal sale by
Lebanon County’s Bare
Brothers. The buyers,
though, both out-of-state as
well as Pennsylvanians,
parted with a lot of cash for
the privilege of trucking
away the cows. The brothers
took in close to $250,000 for
their 123 head of Registered
Holsteins, for a record-
Dairy Day speakers
Donald Ace, top, and
Jerry Dryer.
to handle. I’m a widow, and 1
do most of this work myself.
And then, you know, goats
are smarter than cows. And
they make wonderful pets.
Actually, I used to have
cows, but I sold them when I
ran into labor problems.”
There are presently 15
goats being milked on the
Jacobs farm. Mrs. Jacobs
milks twice a day, and her
best milker is currently
producing about 16.5 pounds
daily. All her producers get
grain in the milking parlor.
Modified milking
machines - with only two teat
breaking average of $2021
per cow. This is the highest
per cow average ever paid at
a complete dispersal in
Pennsylvania.
The previous average,
about $l7OO, was set just last
fall at a dispersal in Nor
thhampton County.
Hershey Bare told Lan
caster Panning on Thursday
that at least half the cows
went out-of-state to
1974 Dairy Day
Attendance Good
Close to 300 dairymen
crowded into the Lancaster
Farm and Home Center on
Tuesday for the 1974 Dairy
Day. program. They heard
from four main speakers
who talked about the
measurement of
management ability, dairy
imports, mastitis control and
dairy waste problems.
Ralene Harbold, reigning
Lancaster County Dairy
Princess, also addressed the
group.
Donald Ace, dairy ex
tensionist from Penn'State,
told the assembled milk
producers that if they
couldn’t make a living with
their forage programs, then
they wouldn’t be able to
balance their budgets with
purchased feed ingredients.
Penn State’s forage testing
service, Ace noted, has
shown that silage quality
across the state this year has
not been too good. “The
samples we’ve seen usually
look OK on a dry matter
basis,” Ace said, “but they
have more water than in
other years. Last yea’’, if you
fed a cow a bucketful of
silage with 60-percent
cups - are used to speed the
milking chore. “It really
takes more time to milk 20
goats than it does to milk 20
cows,” Mrs. Jacobs said.
“We work pretty hard for
our money.” Milk from Mrs.
Jacobs’ goats is sold on the
quota system, and she tries
to have her animals bred for
peak production over the
winter months. The herd is
on DHIA test, and Mrs.
Jacobs says she pays the
same testing fee for a 100-
pound goat that a dairyman
pays for a 1200-pound cow.
Production records for
$2.00 Per Year
at
California, Washington,
Canada, Virginia, Indiana,
Illinois, Ohio, New York,
Connecticut, Massachusetts
and New Jersey. The sale
was conducted by the R.
Austin Backus auctioneering
firm from Mexico, New
York.
The top price of the day
was paid for a two-year old
which milked 17,000 pounds
(Continued On Page 23)
moisture, she’s not going to
do as well this year on that
same bucketful of 76-percent
silage.”
Hay crops, in contrast to
'silage, were exceptionally
good this year, Ace said.
Especially in Lancaster
County.
Although he feels com
silage as a crop is un
surpassed for value and
energy, Ace cautioned the
dairymen on overfeeding the
material. “I've seen- some
(Continued On Page 22)
In This Issue
FARM CALENDAR 10
Markets 2-4
Sale Register 53
Farmers Almanac 6
Classified Ads 26
Editorials 10
Homestead Notes 34
Home on the Range 36
Thoughts in Passing 15
Organic Living 14
Twin Valley
FFA Banquet 48
DHIA Economics 8
Manheun Young v
Farmer Banquet 23
New Conservation Planner2l
goats are figured on a 305-
day lactation period, just as
for cows. A goat, however,
may continue producing for
anywhere from 12 to 18
months. In fact, one of the
Jacobs goats, a Tagenborg,
produced 4000 pounds of
milk, 120 of fat in one 305-day
lactation period, and didn’t
even pause for breath before
starting her second 305 days
in which she posted a 3000-
pound record. Mrs. Jacobs
has a son of that female,
Shagbark Erica’s Eric,
(Continued On Page 18)