Dl2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 26,1980
Spring
BY SHEILA MILLER
FAIRFIELD - This
year’s top selling Polled
Hereford at the Maryland
Association’s Black-Eyed
Susan Sale was consigned by
one of Pennsylvania’s top
breeders. Spring Bottom
Farm.
Spring Bottom Farm
began its quest for the top
about ten years ago, ac
cording to Frank Darcey, Jr.
the owner of the operation.
And, like every other suc
cess story, there were some
rough times and growing
pains in this one, too.
Not always in the cattle
business, Darcey worked in
commercial construction
before coming to Adams
County.
“I used to come to Adams
County to go bunting,” be
said, “and I always liked the
Marking the farm lane entrance, Darcey's sign
let’s everyone know which breed he likes the best.
Becky's Shropshire sheep are following in the hoof-steps of the farm's Polled
Herefords, winning ribbons and trophies at local fairs.
Spring Bottom Farm exhibited the grand champion female in the Polled
Hereford shows at Farm Show and the Keystone.
Bottom Farm goes
area. My wife, Becky, and I
decided to look around for a
farm and when we found this
one, we made our decision to
buy it the day that we saw it.
“We used to come up on
week ends from Rockville,
Md. and we leased out the
land to a local fanner. He
would turn his cows out on
the farm in Spring and pick
them up in Fall.
“Well, one weekend, when
it was about time to head
back to Maryland, Becky
said, T wish we didn’t have
to go back’, and I had the
same feeling. That’s when
we made the decision to
move up to the farm per
manently.
“We got into fanning by’
coming in the back door,
really. When we moved up
here for good, we found the
farmer that had been renting
the land bad abandoned four
Hereford calves. They were
running loose over the farm,
too wild to catch.
“I asked the farmer if he
wanted to sell the calves,
and I gave him $5O a piece.
Then came the task of trying
to tame them.”
Darcey recalled that a
local livestock dealer told
him to take a piece of
plywood and tie a rope to it.
Then, each day, he said,
Darcey was to put feed on
the plywood and keep
moving it closer to the bam
each time.
Within four days, Darcey
said, he had the calves to the
bam. But, when he and
Becky tried to shut them in
the barnyard, they broke
through the fence.
“After they had broken
through the gate for the
second time, we put up
brand new fence and a good
strong gate. But, by this
time, whenever they’d , see
Becky and me outside, they
wouldn’t come in the bar
nyard to eat.
“So, we bad to out smart
them. We decided that
Becky would walk back into
the house, and I would hide
by the bam. Banking on the
fact that the calves couldn’t
count, I waited until they
sneaked into the barnyard
and slammed the gate
behind them. We had them
finally.”
Since his original purchase
of the four wild Herefords,
Darcey has kept on buying
cows. Next .Spring, Darcey
noted, he will have 52 cows
that will he calving. He said
he has had as high as 80 head
of cows, but since he has
from wild
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Darcey takes time out of his busy schedule to show off his prize-winning herd
to a visiting cattleman.
been culling bis herd, his
cow numbers have gone
down. He added the original
four Herefords are no longer
on the farm.
. “After I started culling, in
three years my herd average
has risen over 150 pounds in
weaning weights,” Darcey
said. “My bulls average 595
pounds and my heifers
average around 476 pounds.”
Darcey is a firm believer
in performance testing. He
pulled out a thick volume of
computer print outs of the
Polled Hereford
Association’s Guidelines
Program.
“I cull the cows in my herd
with less than a 100 ratio,”
Pa. Polled Hereford
selling cow at Md. sale
FREDERICK, Md. - The
highest grading and highest
selling Polled Hereford
consigned at the Maryland
Polled Hereford
Association’s Spring Sale
came from Spring Bottom
Farm, Fairfield, Penn
sylvania.
The cow,calf pair sold to
Pleasant Knoll Farms,
Libertytown, Maryland for
$l6OO. This high selling
female is a Citation
daughter, and recently
dropped a calf bred by Royal
Leige, the 1978 Farm Show
champion bull.
The average price for the
51 lots sold at Saturday's
sale, held at the Frederick
Fair Grounds, was $706.
According to Thelma Mills,
secretary of the Maryland
Polled Hereford Association,
this sale was down in prices
paid for cattle from last
year.
“The bulls were a big
disappointment,” she said.
“We just don’t have a bull
market in Maryland, and the
buyers weren’t there.”
The top bull at the sale was
a Gilead 24A son consigned
by Huckleberry Hall Farms,
Smithsburg, Md. He sold to
Valley Brook Farm,
Stevenson, Md. for $1275.
Mills pointed out the top
' X \
v . 1
he said. “I’ve gotten my
herd ratio up so high, that to
keep improving it, I’ve got to
have ratios over 100.”
He added that each herd
record is a reflection of only
that one herd. It can’t be
used to compare two herds
from two different farms.
“In a herd with a very high
herd ratio, a cow that is
ranked with a ratio of 99 may
in fact be better than a cow
in another herd with a ratio
of 110.
Darcey said his philosophy
is that you have to take a
hard look at your own herd in
order to compete with
yourself. Points he uses,
when determining which
selling animals went better
than the top cattle sold at
last year’s sale. But the few
junior calves that brought
less than $4OO brought the
sale average below the
previous year’s figure.
A Pennsylvania farm
bought the top senior heifer.
JDH Polled Herefords,
Dover, , brought a
Huckleberry Hall heifer
back across the Mason-
Dixon line for $1375.
The top junior heifer went
to the volume buyer at
This Spring Bottom Farm cow and calf brought
the highest bid at Saturday's Maryland Polled
Hereford Sale.
to winning
-X
cows to keep and which to
cull focus' on whether the
cow has had a calf every
year.
Darcey said he also looks
at the cow’s milking ability,
her mothering ability, and
her ease in calving father
than her size when deciding
onto culls.
> Ease m calvingls an area
" where Ddrcey puts a lot of
emphasis. He noted that you
don’t want to have to help the
cows and heifers calve if you
don’t have to. But, he said,
he has an agreement with his
local veterinarian that a
heifer gets help if she hasn’t
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is fop
Saturday’s sale, Pleasant
Knoll Farms. Mills said this
Maryland farm has finished
up its herd building, stopping
at around 100 cows.
farm, which has been m
operation for about one year,
couldn’t pass up the
tremendous buys at this
year’s sale, she added. They
purchased.the Walnut Hill
Farm heifer for $l5OO.
The cattle were judged by
Connie Grove, general
manager of Bevreau-Soleil
Farm, Downingtown.
t