1 y-i lTrlgTg -- Thomas Kirk likes life on the dairy By SUSAN KAUFFMAN Staff Writer PEACH BOTTOM - Recent recipient of the Keystone Degree, Thomas Kirk, will soon be leaving his formal education days behind to continue his career in agriculture. In June, Tom will graduate from Solanco High School and relinquish the office of president of the local Chapter of Future Farmers of America. His intentions for the immediate future upon graduation are to continue working at home with his parents and eventually go into partnership with them. Tom’s parents, Francis and Ethel Kirk, own and operate a 375 acre dairy fanning enterprise in Fulton Township, Southern Lan caster County. The family’s dairy herd consists of 135 registered Guernsey cows and 106 young stock. The family farm raises feed for the herd in the form of hay, corn and some small grains. They raise their own replacement animals and generally have three purchased bulls on the farm to use with heifers, cows that have not settled with artificial insemination, and with other than top cows, Tom explained. Public presentation training night set FLEMINGTON, N.J. - How to make a public presentation will be the sub ject of a workshop sponsored by the 4-H Program on February 23 at the Cooperative Extension Ser vice Center. Flemington. beginning at 7:30 pjn. Ray Nichols, County 4-H Agent will demonstrate various ways to speak before a group, including il lustrated talks and demonstrations. This program is designed KELLER BROS. TRACTOR CO. root COMHEIE DUCIOt t EQUIP. DEALER Ford Farm Tractors & Equip. Ford Industrial Tractors & Equip Ford Garden Tractors & Equip Ford Rider Mowers Ford Tillers Ford Walk Behind Mowers Kubota Tractors & Equip EgM Good Selection from KS* Large Inventory Sales Parts Service j KELLER BROS. TRACTOR CO. I • Buffalo Springs Call (717) 949-6501 • • 10 Miles North of Lititz • While Tom is completing his senior year at Solanco, he is part of the work ex perience program in wind) he works at home the first half of the school day, then goes to school in the af ternoon for formal classes. His chores during the morning hours include feeding the heifers, scraping manure, bedding and doing “any odds and ends that need to be done,” he added. Tom says he enjoys working with the dairy end of the operation, but likes to have a mixture of fieldwork and dairy work. His younger brother, Robert, a freshman at Solanco, prefers the fieldwork so the two seem to have a good combination forming. Tom’s mother does most of the milking and takes care of the calves until they are six weeks old, when Tom and Robert take over. Although Tom has bad the benefit of being reared on a dairy farm all Ws life he said his'experience as an FFA member in school has given him additional insight into agriculture as a career. “I think FFA is wor thwhile for anyone in terested in any area of agriculture,” he stated. “It gives you a chance to be involved even in school. It is a good opportunity for to teach young people the basics of public speaking. This workshop is open to the public, free of charge. 'dejpfcf Sr 5S> Cm) anyone interested in agriculture,” he em phasized. This year Tom presided over meetings of the local chapter which includes a membership of from 100 to 120 members. “We have less members than in years past, but we tried to weed out some-who were not really interested in ag. It has worked out real good, though,” he explained. Previous to being the chapter president, Tom served as secretary during his junior year. He also worked as a part of the parliamentary procedure team for two years and four years as a member of the Solanco Dairy Club. In addition to the local involvement, Tom also holds membership in the American Guernsey Cattle dub and the State Junior Guernsey Breeders Club. During his FFA in volvement the last several years, Tom has had projects in dairy herd and com. As a greenhand, he worked with the dairy herd project which consisted of six animals both young and milking stock. In his sophomore year he added three or four young animals to the previous project and expanded into a second project of two acres of com. With five more animals added to the dairy herd project the next year, Tom once again raised com as a second project. Yields for the two years showed a decrease in the second year which Tom attributes to a change in soil preparation. “We used a heavy disc the second year rather than conventional plowing. The disc left ridges and the com' was not covered, up as well. My yields dropped from 175 bushels acre to 146“ bushels’ v *per acre,” he recalled. With a slight change in individual animals, Tom has a senior year project m dairy herd with eight cows and r * (1 T “ * /■*.* <.,■* ■*< * ■'H *'t Tps MORTON BUILDINGS OFFER QUALITY MATERIALS, EXPERIENCED CREWS, AND NOW WINTER DISCOUNTS. j/yiOHTOftl BUILDINGS Serving Central Pa. and Maryland RD4. Box 34A Gettysburg, PA 17325 PH- 717-334-2168 Serving North Cental Pa Area P.O. Box 937 State College, PA 16801' Ph: 814-383-4355 seven open and bred heifers. He bred one-third of them and the other two-thirds were bred in the family herd. Having shown in a number CHOOSE THE MODEL FOR YOUR NEED St 1-2 & 3-4V2 - 35 hp. HR 2-3-4 & 6-17-113 hp.. SR 2-12 hp. As is $550 Completely rebuilt $1350 SMUCKER’S ENGINE SHOP RD 1, GORDONVILLE, PA. m Winter TO FIND OUT... WRITE OR CALL TODAY! 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