2
A —l
■Lancaster Farming, Saturday. Mar. 16. 1974
Conservation Halves Soil Loss
The terraces have performed very well for Yost. “When
the terraces were being put in, I noticed that some of them
were really high, and I didn’t think I’d ever need that much of
a terrace. But I’ve seen my fields after a heavy rain, with
some of those terraces nearly full to the top.”
Terraces slow the runoff water enough so that it doesn’t
carry soil away from the farm. In slow-moving water, soil
simply sinks to the bottom. Fast water, though, will erode it.
Terraces conserve moisture, too, in addition to soil. On
Yost’s farm, there was an area at the foot of a hill that was
marshy part of the year and dry enough to drive a tractor on
the rest of the year. Now that area is a pond. The terraces
helped create a constant flow of ground water seeping down
through Yost’s fields. This ground water now feeds the
springs all year, instead of just in wet periods.
Yost figures it will be a few years before he recoups the
expense of his diversion terraces, but he’s glad he got them
installed. “By 1977, everybody’s going to need some con
servation planning for their farms, and I’m way ahead of the
game. I’m sure if I’d sell my farm now. I’d get the money I
paid for terraces.”
The Rural Environmental Assistance Program (REAP)
helped pay for much of the work Yost had done. REAP has
since been replaced by a similar program, Rural En
vironmental Conservation Program (RECP). “But even if
the government hadn’t helped me pay for these practices, I
still would have put them in. Not only am I saving soil, water
and fertilizer, I’m being a better steward of the soil, too.
Fanners in Lancaster County usually consider themselves a
pretty conservative bunch. And I think we’ve all got to think
about conserving the farmland that’s here.”
Alfalfa is grown on about 45 of Yost’s acres, corn on
another 35 and there’s also some 12 acres of pasture for his 35
head of Holstein cows. Yost raises all his own replacements,
as well as some breeder bulls.
With so much of his land in alfalfa, Yost could probably
have solved his soil loss problems with fewer terraces. “I
wanted the whole farm terraced,” he pointed out, “because I
was interested in conserving water, too, not just soil. Also, if I
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CHARLESE SAUDER
& SONS
RD l,East Earl
HERSHEY BROS.
Remholds
BRANDT’S MILL
SADDLERY SHOP
830 Maple St
Lebanon, Pa 17042
STEVENS FEED MILL,
INC.
Stevens, Pa
PARADISE SUPPLY
Paradise
FOWL'S FEED SERVICE DUTCHMAN FEED
R D 2, Peach Bottom MILLS, INC.
R,D 1, Stevens
GRUBB SUPPLY CO
Elizabethtown
(Continued from Pagt 1|
H. M. bTAUFFER
& SONS, INC.
Witmer
JE’MAR FARM
SUPPLY INC.
Lawn—Ph 964-3444
ROHRER’S MILL
R.D 1, Ronks
HAROLD H. GOOD
Terre Hill
MOUNTVILLE
FEED SERVICE
R D 2, Columbia
WHITE OAK MILL
R D 4 Manheim
wanted to, I could plant the whole farm in continuous com. I
don't think I’m going to do that, though, because I never fell
in love with the cornstalk.”
He never fell in love with the cornstalk? “No, I think the
alfalfa stem has a lot more feeding value than cornstalks. I
crib most of my com, all but maybe five or six acres which I
cut for silage. I chop just about all the alfalfa for haylage. My
haylage samples run anywhere from 18- to 22-percent
protein, so I buy very little additional protein with my
feeding program.”
Last year Yost’s cows had Lancaster County’s highest
DHIA herd average. In the past four years, Yost said his
production has averaged about 15,500 pounds of milk and
about 635 pounds of fat.
Yost cuts his alfalfa in the bud stage. “I don’t like to see
any flowers at all,” he said. “I may be sacrificing some
tonnage by not waiting until some of the plants are in bloom,
but I feel I makeit up in quality.”
He chops his crop when it’s at 50-percent moisture, and
says he very rarely suffers rain damage with any of his hay
fields. “The only time you’ll damage hay is when you start
caking it at about 40-percent moisture.”
Alfalfa fields are top-dressed with whatever soil tests in
dicate is needed. Per acre yields run about five to six tons per
year, with even new seedings coming through with as high as
four tons the first year. Y ost sprays his alfalfa for chickweed,
and sprays after the second, third and fourth cuttings for leaf
hoppers. He hasn’t experienced many problems with
weevils, mostly because he has his first cutting off by May 30,
a schedule which interrupts that pest’s life cycle. He does
spray for weevil after the first cutting.
Yost is an enthusiastic dairyman who’d rather work with
cows than in the field. He thinks there’s a good future in
dairying for the farmer who’s willing to keep up with the
times. “I don’t think we’re going to see the end of the family
farm,” he said, “but I do think we’re going to have to operate
differently in fnany ways.”
Yost and his wife, Rhoda, have four daughters, Debbie,
Beth, Lori and Tammy. Yost is a member of the Penn
sylvania Farmers Association, the Garden Spot Young
Farmers, Red Rose DHIA, and the local, state and national
Holstein clubs.
—-Aa.^
Early Egyptians pictured the earth as the bottom of an
oblong box whose top was the sky.
Keep Tree Seedlings
Moist
Tree seedlings must be
kept moist from the time
they leave the nursery until
they are planted, says Ed
ward P. Farrand, Extension
forester at The Pennsylvania
State A good root
system is necessary for
successful planting.
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