Meet the Man (Continued from Page 1] Harrisburg, and' when the council was formed, he was offered the chair. ' The referendum defeat was a disappointment to Kooker. “If we don’t promote milk to con sumers,” Kooker said, Awe’ll never convince them that they’ve got to pay a good price for a quality product.” Kooker is an independent, selling his milk in the A MILKMOVER SYSTEM sets you out c( the horn sooner-with more money in your packet! It saves your lutginc heavy pails of milk from bam to cooler • HAS MORE MILK CAPACITY • PERMITS FASTER MILKING • ELIMINATES EXTRA HELP • PROTECTS MILK QUALITY • IS 100% SELF CLEANING • HAS ELECTRIC CONTROLS • FITS INTO ALL BARNS • EASILY INSTALLED Available thru your local dairy equipment dealer or call the fac tory collect to arrange for a free demonstration on your farm. Manufactured by d/oug M INDUSTRIES, INC WOHNSON P.0.80X 283, ELKTON.MD. 21921- Phone 301-398-3451 SEE US FOR OUR SPECIALS ON HAY and FORAGE EQUIPMENT Maw Holland Sugar 717 with Windrow Pickup CALL US FOR DEMONSTRATION 808 GANTZ - HOME 653-5020 OFFICE - 397-5179 OR 687-6002 Full Line of Simplicity & A.C.Lown and Garden Equipment - WE ARE A FULL SERVICE DEALER ON STARLINE PARTS 350 Strasburg Pike \ Reading area. Along with some 125 other Reading area independents, Kooker belongs to the Berks County Dairy Farmers Association. Kooker is president of that group, as well as a board member of the American Dairy Association, and a director of the Berks County Farmers Association. Unlike most dairy far mers, Kooker wasn’t reared on a farm but in a small town. His '' interest in agriculture began when he was a 16-year-old eagle scout. That year, just after World War 11, he was selected to accompany a group of other eagle scouts on a mission of agricultural aid to war-torn Poland. Kooker was assigned as a crew member on a cattle boat bound for Danzig, laden with draft horses. “I went along to take one of the horses to an older farmer and his wife. The Germans or the Russians - I forget which - had cut the legs off Thought For Food Chicken Trinidad Brown one 2-pound quartered fryer in Ms cup Spanish olive oil, brown 2 cups rice, Vi cup minced onion, and Vi cup minced, green pepper. Transfer to iron kettle or Dutch oven, with rice mixture on bottom layer. Add one, 4-oz can mushrooms and broth. Dis solve Vz teaspoon saffron in 1 cup chicken bullion, add 1 tea spoon aromatic bitters, and pour m kettle Cook over low heat, covered, without stimng After ten minutes, add a second cup of chicken bouillon. Cook an ad ditional ten minutes until rice is dry and fluffy Serves 4. BRUBAKER, H. I. AUTHORIZED DEALERS FOR ALUS CHALMERS I NEW HOLLAND FARM EQUIPMENT L. H. Brubaker, Inc. Who the wife, but she was gracious and cheerful. They were both wonderful people, and after they’d lost everything in the war. Yet they wanted to go back to ; farming. It made me realize how important farming is to people and the world.” After he graduated from high school, and while he was in college, Kooker picked up practical ex perience working on a Wisconsin dairy faim. He graduated from Penn State in 1951 with a degree in animal husbandry. As an ROTC graduate, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force and served four years of active duty during the Korean war. In 1955, he moved his family to the farm which is their present home. Presently, Kooker is milking 100 head of Registered Holsteins. He maintains his herd average of 14,500 pounds of milk and 3.9 percent butterfat with a feeding program that’s heavy in haylage and com silage. Production is up from about two years ago, Kooker said, when he changed from tie stalls and milkers with dump stations to his present free stall and milk parlor setup. “The changeover is always a problem,” Kooker A crop of thick-skinned on ions is said to be a sign of a severe winter. We Have a Good Selection of New & Used Equipment Nm Holland Modal <7* Haybira® Mowar-Condrtionar Ph. 397-5179 Jack Kooker ponders the quality of the ration in the feed trough of his free stall dairy barn, in the near said, “but I think we’ve got things pretty well in shape-' now. One of the big reasons I made the change was so that I could have more to get involved in farm activities. I wanted more free time, too. I get every other Sunday off now, something I didn’t have before.” Along with the change, Kooker expanded the herd from 60 to 100 cows. There are two grown Kooker sons, but neither is interested in dairying as a career. Jim Paine, the full-time hired man, lives in a mobile home in back of Hooker’s house. “He didn’t grow up on a farm, either,” Kooker said, “and it’s really working out well. He didn’t come here with any bad habits to unlearn.” 4' r <st Y' r Jack Kooker, the dairyman, has had a profitable career as a milk ts is \ Inc. Lancaster, Pa. Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 22.1974 future, he’d like to problems involved state’s department producer. Whether or not he seen. There can be no can enjoy a similar success doubting, though, the as politician and agriculture seriousness of his quest for secretary, remains to be Jim McHale’s job. m SPECIALIZE IN ASPHALT yjSM PAVING We specialize in Digging, Grading, Backfilling to your specification -nra.® ftflßi TT^rJ^Li-o WE HAVE GRADER, ROLLER, DUMP TRUCK SERVICES TO YOUR SPECIFICATION. FOR FREE ESTIMATES, CALL 626-4705 Binkley & Hurst FARM MACHINERY ond EXCAVATING Lititz RD4, Pa. be pondering the in running the of agriculture. BULLDOZER . WORK ACKHOE WORK InstuHotion of Septic Tanks and Drainfields We Do AH Types of Diggings Rothsville Station Road 37 *« v» Bros.
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