Vol. 19 No. 43
Dr. Thomas Conrad led nearly a
hundred cattlemen and guests on a
tour of Beechdale Farms where the
Crowd of 600 Attend
Rae Hix Open House
“How many of you cattle
producers out there are
making money?” Les
Burdette asked a sometimes
shivering Berks County
audience on Wednesday
afternoon. To no one’s
surprise, not a single hand
went up. Burdette threw out
his query at an open house on
the Rae Hix farm near
Mohrsville.
A crowd of more than 600
people attended to see Hix’s
dairy-bc ef confinement
operation, his dairy barn,
broiler house, modern calf
barn, and a hog finishing
Busy Young Farmer
by: Melissa Piper
Uoyd Hoover, is a young
man who has been awarded
many honors this summer
for his work in FFA and as a
young farmer.
Uoyd lives on a farm in
Leola with his parents Mr.
and Mrs. Elmer Hoover and
while he helps his father do
the farm chores he has also
been busy with his own veal
calves and market hogs.
The president of the
Grassland FFA Chapter,
Uoyd has been active in
FFA activities on the local
and state level.
Early this summer he was
named Poultryman of the
Year by the Victor Weaver
Company in New Holland
and also earned a trip to the
National Co-op Conference in
Manhattan, Kansas; for
showing outstanding
first Pa. Simmental Cattle Field Day
was held on Wednesday.
hoijise' which is now under
construction.
Burdette is an extension
beef specialist at Penn State,
and he came to the meeting
with two of his Penn State
colleagues, Dr. Samuel B.
Guss, extension
veterinarian, and H. Louis
Moore, extension livestock
economist.
Burdette’s remarks
centered around the need to
feed cattle as economically
as possible, and he discussed
the methods producers use to
keep from throwing away
feed dollars.
abilities in the co-op
program.
When asked what his
feelings were concerning the
co-op program Uoyd ex
plained, “learning about
farmer’s Co-ops gives you an
idea of what business is
really like especially in
agriculture.”
As with the case of many
other FFA members, Uoyd
got his start in raising
market hogs by winning a
county “chain animal”.
From that time on he has
built up his herd of Durocs
and shows them at numerous
fairs and shows in the area.
When Uoyd realized that
he would need more room for
his operation, he bought a
mobile home that had been
gutted by fire and remodeled
it using half for his veal
| Continued OnPajelS]
Lancaster Farming. Saturday, September 7, 1974
“The biggest mistake
cattlemen make is in feeding
too much protein,” Burdette
said. “For top efficiency,
you must take into account
the age of the animal, its
size, rate of gain and even
the breed. A 900-pound
Angus, for example, gaining
at the rate of two to two-and
a-half pounds a day doesn’t
need as high a percentage of
protein as a Holstein of the
same weight.”
The reason for that,
Burdette noted, is that the
English beef breeds like the
| Continued on Page 20]
Lloyd bought a trailer that had been damaged by
fire and converted it into a housing facility for his veal
calves and hogs. He also included a office where he
keeps his records.
Large Crowd
Simmental Field Day
by; Melissa Piper
Nearly a hundred in
terested cattlemen and
guests convened Wednesday
at the Beechdale Farms in
Bird-in-Hand for the first Pa.
Simmental Cattle
Association Field Day.
Beechdale Farms, located
in the center of the Dutch
Country, is owned by Dr.
Thomas Conrad, who was
recently elected as president
of the Pa. Simmental Cattle
Association.
Dr. Conrad lead the
visitors on a guided tour of
the farm in the morning
explaining about the Sim
mental Breed of Cattle and
showing his own herd of 90
Simmental Crossbred
animals.
A unique judging contest
was the next activity on the
adjenda.
Contestants were asked to
judge six cows not on their
physical appearance as in
In This Issue
FARM CALENDAR 10
Markets 24
Sale Register 57
Farmers Almanac 6
Classified Ads 24
Editorials 10
Homestead Notes 34
Home on the Range 38
Organic Living 40
Farm Women Calendar 39
Jr. Cooking Edition 39
many other judging contests,
but rather on their calf
producing ability. An im
portant aspect of the contest
was to judge the cow which
had produced the heaviest
calf at weaning.
First place honors in the
judging competition went to
E. G. Schubert,
Canajohabie, New York;
with second place honors
going to Randolph Kohr,
Dallastown, Pa.
Vernon and Allegra Leininger own and operate
the Ko-Ka-Le-Ko Egg Ranch at Denver RD2. Mr.
Leininger is currently serving as president of thd
Pennsylvania Poultry Federation.
Denver Man Heads
Poultry Federation
Poultrymen account for
the second largest farming
enterprise m Pennsylvania,
and the Commonwealth
iteself is one of the nation’s
top poultry states, standing
fourth in egg income and
tenth in broiler output.
Lancaster County is the most
productive poultry county in
the state and ranks seventh
m the nation in terms of
poultry products produced.
It’s not too surprising,
then, to learn that a Lan
caster County poultryman
has been elected to head the
Pennsylvania Poultry
Federation. He’s Vernon
Leininger, owner-operator of
the Ko-Ka-Le-Ko Egg Ranch
at Denver RD2.
leininger runs a diver
sified family farm operation,
with a beef and hog feeding
operation in addition to the
layei houses. Just three
years ago. the I-einingers
'% Z tn Per Year
Following a noon lun
cheon, Dr. Lowell Wilson,
Professor of Animal Science
at Penn State and well
known animal researcher
spoke on the advantages of
crossbreeding cattle.
Wilson pointed out that
Simmental cattle would be of
good quality to use m a
crossbreeding program
especially since they have
I Continued on Page 161
sold their dairy cows t<
concentrate on eg|
production. That was tht
year they stopped beinj
producers only to becomt
producer-packers.
Leinmger, his wih
Allegra, and their children
David, Phillip, Michael am
Rose Ann, are all involved 11
the farming operation Si
are Leminger’s father, C
Warren Leinmger, and a fev
other relatives. Eggs fron
some 30,000 caged layers an
processed and packed dail;
in the airy packing room a
the farm. The eggs are soli
locally to restaurants am
retail stores, and wholesale!
through a cooperativi
marketing agreement witl
Plain and Fancy Egg Ranch
Elizabethtown.
All the feed for tin
chickens is bought, as is th<
hog feed. The steers are fe<
I Continued on Page 14|