>l6—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 17,1981
D
WHAT MAKES A
MASTER FARMER?
The Pennsylvania Master
Farmer program each year
recognizes a few farm
operators who stand head
and shoulders above the
crowd. Five of the 1981
winners are dairy farmers
Are they extraordinary
people? Are they doing an
extraordinary job? Winners
must surely be doing many
things right, so lets see what
we can learn from these top
notch farmers
First of all, a Master
Farmer has to be a big
operator, right 9 Not at all —,
the 43 milkers in the E
Wayne Beshore herd would
be disqualified on the basis
of numbers alone In today's
world it would be considered
a small herd. The point is
quickly made that it’s not the
cow numbers that guarantee
success in the business or
that impresses the neigh-
Tl>e
Dairy
Business
By
Newton Bair
hors, the bankers and the
judges
It’s the quality of the
product that counts The
20,000 pound herd average is
one testimony to the superior
ability of the Beshore
management
A Master Farmer should
own lots of land 7 False
The classic example of a
very successful dairy
operation is Galen Crouse,
Lancaster County farmer
who doesn’t own a single
acre'
He has an agreement with
the owner of the land he
farms that permits him to
erect needed buildings and
write them off in 20 years
He’s usirg the land to
produce the feed he needs at
a reasonable price The
economics of trying to buy
$4OOO an acre land at 12
percent interest is very
questionable In fact, it’s
downright ridiculous to
expect com and alfalfa to
pay off that kind of a mor
tgage
Anyway, Galen Crouse is
one good example that
proves you don’t need to be a
landowner to be a Master
Farmer
A Master Farmer should
be a man, preferably with
a good strong back Well,
take another look at the list
Mary Rice, of Blame,
Perry County, has been the
mainstay and prune mover
at Blame-View Farm for
over 50 years, and I don't
think she owes her Master
Farmer award to Womens
Lab She earned it by simply
practicing a whole list of
very simple and sound
business principles, backed
up by a strong faith that
surmounted many dif
ficulties down through the
years
She has earned a good
reputation as a top Holstein
breeder, family financial
manager and community
leader
Master Farmer Nevin
Rice is a top notch crops
man, which is also an
essential ingredient of
success in the dairy
business Good crops and
good cows go hand m hand
But I’m sure that Nevm
would be first to credit the
guiding spirit of his mother,
Mary Rice, for the success of
Blame-View Farm
A Master Farmer doesn’t
need outside help or in
formation after all, he’s a
smart cookie and therefore
very self reliant. This may
be quite true, but look
closely at how Bill Sutton of
Kent County, Maryland,
operates and you’ll see the
reason for his shrewdness
He uses every available
source of good information
he can get
His dad was a County
Agent (I hope that this was
an asset), he uses the Ex
tension Service program, is
active in Soil Conservation,
Holstein Association and
Resource Development
Council And he’s not alone
in this kind of activity
Every Master Farmer is
active in these and other
good organizations, and
recognizes the value of
keeping up-to-date on the
best in modem farming
technology
Now, the list of qualities
and attributes which are
needed to become a Master
Farmer can go on and on I
haven’t even attempted to
recite the many individual
accomplishments of this
year’s winners
We can always point
proudly at the 20,000 pound
herd average, bull stud
contracts, embryo tran
splants, 200 bushel com
yields, etc These are
exemplary of the use of
modern technology Many
progressive farmers are
using them to good ad
vantage
The only thing that really
sets the Master Farmer
apart and above his (or her)
fertilizer tanks
to a Calumet vacuum tank
Liquid hog manure can save thousands of dollars in
commercial fertilizer costs So it makes sense to
preserve that value with good management.
That's why Calumet recommends pairing our
vacuum tank with a 2 or 4-shank Calumet soil injector.
Soil plow down retains about four times the nitrogen
lost with surface spreading, plus reduces odor and runoff.
Stop in to see the full line of
Calumet vacuum tanks in
capacities from 1180 to 4500 gallons
and choice of two vacuum pumps.
And ask about the benefits of using
a Calumet 2 or 4-shank soil injector
The Calumet Company, Inc.
CALUMET &
NESSETH
DISTRIBUTOR
F. ERNEST SNOOK
3 - Box 84. Miffllnburg, Pa. 17844- Phone: 717-966-2736
fellows is that he (or she)
has learned how to put a lot
of very important little
practices together into a
very significant bundle.
To be a Master Farmer,
you don’t have to be a big
operator, you don’t need a lot
of land, you don’t
necessarily need a college
degree, and you don’t even
have to be a man One or
more of these qualities
might help, but as we’ve
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So, study the success
stones of the Master Far
mers Glean from them the
more evident ingredients,
and look deeper for the less
conspicuous but significant
actions and attitudes Put
them together in a way that
registers a measurable
unpact on your fellowxnen,
and you too will be a Master
Farmer
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