76 (ancaitpr Farming. Saturday Oct 2. 19/0 & A ; .v Dale has 12 acres of potatoes as part of his farming operation Siegfried talks about star farmer competition By JUDY MITCHELL Berks Co. Reporter MERTZTOWN - Dale Siegfried appears to be a man of few words, but his words were obviously well chosen when he came up against the intensive questioning of a panel of agriculture experts in Springfield, Mass., recently, to capture the title of 1976 Eastern Regional FFA State Star Fanner. Home on the farm in Mertztown R 2, the quiet, softspoken young man did not remember the 15-rmnute, rapidfire questioning of the educace pop sapecy JB ending tool ana equipment mm onta / 12th & Spring Streets Reading (215) 376-3896 OPEN FOR BUSINESS ALL THE EQUIPMENT YOU NEED FOR REPAIRS - REMODELING CONSTRUCTION TWO OTHER CONVENIENT LOCATIONS ACE RENTS RENTALS UNLIMITED 720 N. Prince St. 940 Cornwall Rd. Lancaster, PA Lebanon, PA PH: 717-393-1701 PH: 717-272-4658 “We Rent Most Everything” seven judges as particularly unsettling Commenting on his experience in Springfield, he simply recalls that “it was fun ’’ Dale does not display the kind of outward agressiveness one might expect of a competitir, but rather a kind of quiet assurance. With that assurance goes a firm sense of responsibility and future direction. Described as “in dustrious” by his former agriculture instructor,, Ben Newcomer, Dale has come a long way in farming since he enrolled in Vo-Ag the beginning of his ninth grade year at Kutzlown Area High School. Having started with one dairy calf, three acres of corn, and a quarter-acre garden, Dale now runs a major farm operation which includes 16 head of breeding swine, 152 head of fat hogs, 13 head of fat cattle, and 59 turkeys. He has 12 acres in potatoes, 87 acres of com gram, 51 acres of wheat, 16 acres of oats, and 15 acres of soybeans and wheat which was double cropped. Asked what he thinks the officials look for first in a regional star fanner, Dale’s immediate response is “record keeping.” Although it’s apparent by his tone that that particular aspect of farming is not exactly lus favorite, Dale has earned a number of FFA honors for project bookkeeping, in cluding a gold medal in the FFA State Record Book contest; and his diligence in the area of record keeping most certainly aided him in the submission of a 20 to 30 page application which - -u. : 5 - *'*' v T . i ' •"“, ■ ,V- ' V- #r\ f - -■ -■ M . jr~■ -i*, **- ! 1 - • * • ,-. :•’ ::v- v ;,. *'■- ■ •-'-" ’ ■■‘»*- -' s "• ■LV'- . sc f w >}