B4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 28,1980
Bags give starting dairyman economical storage option
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
KISSEL HILL Twenty
six-year-old Lester Landis,
Jr., R 3 Lititz, thinks he may
have found an economical
option to help him get
started m dairy fanning.
With continually rising
costs involved in building a
new stanchion barn and the
purchase of milking stock,
Landis will be utilizing the
new Ag-Bag concept for the
storage of most of his
baylage and silage.
Already, he has about 160
tons of first-cutting alfalfa
haylage in one of the long
plastic bags lying in a sec
tion of pasture on the farm
located along Kissel Hill
Road behind the Lancaster
Airport.
This fall, he’ll be filling
about three more bags with
corn silage. Each bag can
hold between 175 and 220
tons.
A custom harvester with a
self-propelled chopper,
Landis hopes to be m the
dairy business by Novem
ber.
Construction will begin
shortly on a 38 by 140-foot
one-story cement block
stanchion bam with pipeline
Schuylkill
winners
SCHUYLKILL HAVEN -
Many area youngsters ages
5-12 competed m the annual
dairy art contest last
Saturday at Fairlane Village
Mall. Milk’s The One was the
theme for this contest which
is held each year in con
junction with the Schuylkill
County dairy promotion day.
The winners in the age
category kindergarten to
grade 3 were: best use of
theme - Chris Ferrence,
Summit Station; and
Christine Roberts, Schuylkill
Haven; and best over-all
design - Kann Heffner, Pine
Grove.
Lester Landis Jr., R 3 Lititz, stands by large Ag-Bag containing about 160 tons
of haylage for his first cutting of alfalfa.
milking system.
The stanchion bam will be
equipped with 56 stalls.
Landis hopes to begin with a
herd of about 50 Holstems.
The youthful farmer opted
for the Ag-Bag storage
system rather than make a
substantial investment in
upright silos.
“I figured that adequate
dairy art
chosen
The winners in the age
category grade 4-6 were:
best use of theme - Liane
Roberts, Schuylkill Haven;
and Nelson Moyer,
Schuylkill Haven; and best
over-all design - Loretta
Mestishen, Pottsville.
Winners will receive a
Milk’s The One T-shirt. Each
child received a Milk’s The
One button for participating.
Annie Heffner and Judi
Keefer, co-chairmen of the
art contest, reported that
participation was good, and
they hope for more next
year. Doris Brown served as
judge for the contest.
silo capacity would have cost
about $30,000 more,” he said.
“With the cost of renting
the equipment for filling and
the bags, it will run me about
one-tenth that amount for
my first year.”
Landis has a 16 by 40-foot
conventional silo on the
farm, along with a smaller
10 by 40-foot facility. Second
and third cutting alfalfa will
be put in the larger silo.
“This will give me a
chance to make some
comparisons concerning the
feed stored in the silo versus
that in the bag,” he said.
The first-cutting alfalfa in
the first bag was tested at
about 18 percent protein.
Landis has done quite a bit
of custom harvesting with
his self-propelled machine.
In the past few years, he’s
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averaged about 400 hours a
season on it.
“Going into dairy farming.
I’ll be cutting down quite a
bit on the custom work,” he
said.
“Primarily, I’ll continue
cutting on those farms on
which I can see the silos
from here.”
Landis rents the farm
from his father, who
operated it since the 1950’5.
He and his wife, Judy, now
live on it with their two-year
old daughter, Julie.
The farm includes about 70
acres and Landis rents
another 30. He raises
primarily alfalfa and com
with a little barley and
wheat. He also has a few
brood beef cows which were
a fill-in before planning to go
into the dany business.
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“The Ag-Bag storage has
given me some extra
operational flexibility,
particularly in just getting
started,” he said.
“I’ll be using a tractor
loader to remove the
haylage or silage and then
feed with a used mixer
wagon.”
Eliminating the need for
construction of additional
silo capacity, Landis ex
plained he was able to
concentrate more on other
phases of his plans, such as
barn construction and
acquiring stock.
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The Ag-Bag storage
concept features the
sausage-shaped plastic
bags, which measure nine
feet in diameter and 135 feet
long.
They are described as a
management tool in which
feed can be tested coming
out of the bag and consistent
crop from specific fields can
be kept in individual bags.
The bags can be filled
partially or entirely to keep
crop harvests separate.
Rations can be mixed from
several bags containing
haylage, silage, high
moisture com or gram.
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