and Southeastern Pennsylvania Areas - Also Maryland, New Jersey and Delaware VOL 23 No. 4 irothers win [istrict tides it beef show By JOANNE SPAHR LANCASTER - Chester Lunty 4-H’ers swept bmpetition at the feutheastem Pennsylvania H beef show on Tuesday at fe Lancaster Stock Yards [anks to the talents of two [others - Ed and David [ylie of Octoraro Farm, ottingham R 2. Sixteen-year-old Ed bowed his 1125 pound lontana-bred smokey ilored Simmental-Angus oss to the championship of ie show while his 16-year d brother Dave took the serve title. Dave’s steer ighed in at 1265 pounds. as the same cross as bis -other’s, and was bred by mdeir Farm, aGrangeville, N.Y. The eers had been penmates hile the boys were raising lem. I For both brothers, the pmpionship titles were fcpeat performances of per district showing years, five years ago Ed garnered lie grand championship title jnd in the past Dave has jeen in the reserve spot. Two per brothers, Sill and Jim, pmplete the list of Wylie mners at the district show nth Jim earning the toptitle 1 1967 and Bill in 1974. They re the sons of Mr. and Mrs. amuelJ. Wylie. In Tuesday’s tri-county competition judges Henry Iruber, chief of livestock rocurement for Arbogast md Bastian, Inc., Allen own, and Randall Updike rom the Virginia Depart aent of Agriculture, chose Sd’s lightweight champion iver the heavyweight champ inmarily because of the mish over the loin. “The champion was a real op calf - modem and with [ood finish - with more hickness to the loin,” stated Iruber. “It may hang up a nore desirable carcass than he reserve.” This district placing was ust the reverse of the tester County show the day icfore where Dave had aken the championship and 2d the reserve. The Wylie’s made it a ■lean sweep of the district how when Dave captured he champion showman ward with Eileen Fair lairn, another Chester fountain from West Chester, aking the reserve berth in tluscompeition. Rounding out the list of the champions garnered by the Wylie family was the reserve heavyweight champion, a purebred Angus t>red at Octoraro Farm, and hown by Linda Martin, of Now that the holiday season is upon us, many of these gobblers will end up gracing tables in homes over the Christmas and New Years holidays. Holidays are big business for Wegman turkey operation ByLAURELSCHAEFFER JACKSONWALD - For most farm people, the first fallen leaves and cool crisp breezes of Autumn signify the beginning of the busy harvest season which lies ahead. And, for people everywhere, these events are reminders of the on coming holidays, a time to New outbreak of poultry disease reported in Lancaster County By KENDACE BORRY HARRISBURG - A new outbreak of the poultry disease laryngotracheitis has been reported in Eastern Lancaster County with three cases diagnosed in the past ten days, according to Dr. E. T. Mallinson, chief of the Avian Health Division, Pa. Dept, of Agriculture. This infection, which has a mortality rate among birds averaging between five and 20 per cent, but as high as 70 per cent in some cases, has the potential to spread to other flocks, and more cases are expected to be found now that an investigation has been started. Symptoms of laryngotracheitus, which is an acute respiratory in Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 26,1977 visit with friends and family, and to indulge in those large specially planned meals which can’t be compared to any other time of year. However, for people such as Ronald and William, Wegman of Reading R 7, preparing for the harvesting and the holidays is their business, which they have sneezing and coughing, gurgling sounds, chickens stretching their necks often, and sometimes blood being coughed. It appears to be a In this issue Editorials 10 Letter to the Editor 10 Farm Calendar 10 Medicine and Mgmt. 16 Berks Farm-City Wk. 30 Calf care 35 Homestead Notes 42 Home on the Range 44 Farm Women Calendar 44 Junior Cooking Edition 46 Kendy’sKollum . 46 Joyce Bupp 48 Tda’c ItJnfohnAlr Aft already begun during the second week of August. It is during this week that their busy season really starts, because at that time they begin operating their turkey dressing plant.. 1 The Wegmans raise 50,000 turkeys a year and operate a plant where they kill, dress, cut-up, or bone up to 100,000 bad cold that comes on suddenly. The disease may start in a mild form, and then get worse. The disease is not con- Farm Women Societies 49 Plant Lover’s Comer 51 Ladies Have You Heard? 52 Leb. Co. mall promo 54 Dairy seminar 55 Classifieds 57 Mailbox market 79 Lancaster DHIA 82 Red China explored 87 Eastern Pa. show 95 Lane, beef roundup 103 York farm tour 105 Facts for dairymen 108 Sale reports 110 turkeys. An estimated 25 per cent of these are sold for Thanksgiving alone. What the Wegmans don’t grow themselves are bought from other local growers. The plant, which processes between 2000 and 3000 turkeys a day is manned by approximately 30 part time (Continued on Page 25) tagious to humans or other animals, but can be spread through contamination and contact with carrier healthy birds that have recovered from infection. Preventive steps to stop this should be followed. Poultrymen should always report outbreaks of the respiratory illness, taking the birds to a laboratory at the first sign of illness. Visitors should be kept out of buildings, as people can carry the disease on their clothes from place to place. Ninety per cent of the time, Dr. Mahinson estimates, the disease is spread by people. Poultrymen should insist that pullets are hauled in cleaned and disinfected crates and trucks. These too $6.00 Per Year 61 families earn Century Farm honors By JOANNE SPAHR WEST CHESTER - Today the John and Harlan Speakman farm near Chatham in Chester County consists of 63 acres sup porting' a modern dairy operation and two mushroom houses rented out to a grower. However, there was a time when it was more than twice its size and supported only a simple log house beside a clear, fresh stream. That was 265 years ago when the virgin property was deeded from William , Penn to the first Speakman family member to come to America -- Thomas Speakman. Seven generations have owned the farm since the time of Thomas Speakman and last Monday evening, the seventh generation-John and Harlan-were honored along with 60 other Chester County Century Farms at the 19th annual Farm-City dinner sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of West Chester and the Chamber of Commerce of Greater West Chester. A “Century Farm” is one which has been owned by the same family for a continuous period of 100 years or more, and must be at least 10 acres in size or gross over $lOOO a year in farm income. According to records, the Speakman farm may well be the oldest Century Farm in the county. Speakman History Thomas Speakman came to the London Grove area of Chester county in 1712 from England, and about a year later, married a local girl Ann Harry. The 200-acre tract near Chatham which eventually became the Speakman home was sur veyed in 1718 but, probably due to lack of money, Speakman did not take ownership until 1722. According to tradition, Speakman built his first house near a stream a good distance from where later farm buildings and a second house were erected. Shortly before his death in 1732, a log house was built and remained the Speakman residence into this century. Today, the log house is gone, but the present far mhouse stands on the same site. According to John Speakman, the dairy operation consists of 80 to 90 head of milking cows with about as many young stock. Run by John’s son Donald, the farm may some day be passed to the eighth generation of Speakmans.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers