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.