—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, December 23,1978
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Holiday meeting features feed,
By KENDACE BORRY
LANCASTER Close to
500 people gathered last
Thursday at the Landis
Valley Inn, Lancaster to
hear about feeds, finances,
and fun. The event was
sponsored by the Penn-
Jersey Harvestore Systems
Inc., New Holland.
Robert Caister, a
Michigan farmer who works
1300 acres, and has had 20
years experience with
Harvestore, spoke at the
meeting.
He told his audience that
tradition doesn’t mean as
much in Michigan as it
seems to in this part of the
country.
He stated that today he has
110 cows, and is still working
to make his farming
operation more efficient.
He told of his start in 1944
when his father bought a
farm. The family decided
that they didn’t like using
com cnbs, and were sear
ching tor another way to
store 'their crops. After
seeing different systems,
they bought two Harvestore
silos, and had the distinction
Robert Caister
finances and fun
of having the first two at one
place in the “Thumb of
Michigan”. This was in 1958.
They used the one silo for
haylage, then filled both
silos for haylage, and built a
third silo for com. By 1961,
the fourth silo was built, and
finally the fifth- one was
added with a feedhouse
inbetween.
Meanwhile another farm
was bought, and the sixth
silo was put up on it.
In 1967, a liquid manure
system was built on the
farm.
Caister told that his cows
average 16,676 pounds of
milk with 610 pounds of
butterfat.
He told the group that he
thinks that everyone should
make a new year resolution
now to decide when they are
going to start cutting next
year’s hay and then keep it.
He thought that May-21 is
supposed to be a good date,
and he said by then every
farmer should have his
equipment ready to go. Good
farming, he stated takes
good planning.
And when you cut your
hay, he added, don’t look
back and don’t look up. Just
keep cutting.
The important thing, he
noted, is to get the hay cut,
and not to pay attention to
the weather. Too much feed
value and too many
nutrients are lost waiting on
the weather.
To get four cuttings of
alfalfa m, hay management
is very important, he
stressed. The first cutting is
critical and that' one treek
can make the year. If it is
done right, he can guarantee
a good second cutting.
One thing to remember
about hay, he commented,
is, he who hesitates is lost.
And, he added, never miss
an opportunity, or you’ll be
left behind in farming.
(TurntoPageSS)
Cotton Ivy entertained his Harvestore audience
with country quips and stories of life in the hill
country.
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#•
r
AN L.P. GAS BROODER
THAT DOES A BETTER JOB
ON BABY PIGS & CHICKS
AARON S. GROFF i SON
FARM & DAIRY STORE
RD3 Ephrata PA 17522 (Hmkletown) Phone (717) 354-4631
Store Hours 7 A M to 9PM
Closed Tues Wed & Sat at 5 30 P M
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