A26—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 17,1981
Dairyman’s 24-year-old pledge comes true
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
LYNNVILLE - “When our first
son was born, I told my wife that, if
it was within my power, I would
give all of my children the chance
to farm if they wanted it.
“I told her we’d try no matter
how many children we had.
“But also, I wasn’t going to force
them into it. The decision was
entirely up to them.
“And I also promised myself
that if the children didn’t go into
fanning, I wasn’t going to still be
milking cows all alone when 1 was
70 years old.”
These were the words spoken by
Russell Dietrich, R 1 New Tripoli,
to, his wife, Elaine, back in 1957.
That was quite a challenge the
young couple was establishing for
themselves.
Russell was still on his father,
William’s, farm. It was still a year
away from the time he and his wife
would take over operation of the 35-
cow farm. And three years away
from the time they would purchase
the farm.
There were few conveniences on
the farm that are often taken for
granted these days. The barn had
no cleaner. The house had no
central heat. There were only two
earthen trench silos.
But today, an open house on the
Lynnacres farm, nestled in the
Kistler Valley of northwestern
Lehigh County, shows how the
Dietrichs have lived up to that 24-
year-old pledge.
And not only for the first born,
son. Bill, who is married with two
children, but for three other
children as well.
Feature of the open house is the
massive 210-cow free stall barn,
new milking parlor, gravity flow
manure system and other facilities
that will permit herd expansion to
eventually provide mutual
operation and the opportunity for a
chosen dairy livelihood for five
families.
For on the farm now are not only
Russell and Elaine and the eldest
son, Bill, and his wife, Imogene,
and their two children; but also
son, Curt, and his wife, Brenda;
daughter Robin, who graduated
from high school last year, and
son, Brian, who is a senior and
president of the Lehigh FFA
chapter.
And it’s been quite a span of
nearly two, and a half decades
between the time the pledge was
first made and now is being
fulfilled.
“People often ask how I was able
to keep all of the children on the
farm,” Dietrich said.
“Well, first, a lot of credit must
be given to them.
“I remember one day when he
. farm. js, from the left, a - Jgei . their children,
Russell; son, Curt; Elaine: son, Brian; Steve and Stacey. Missing from photo is Curt’s
daughter, Robin; and in right foreground, son, w 'l e > Brenda.
Lynnacres Farm nestles ,in the Kistler Valley of nor- loafing barn and new gravity flow manure storage system,
thwestern Lehigh County near Lynnville. Large 268-foot-long which also features gravity loadout. - •'
free-stall barn is located in background. Just to left of silos is
was 13 Bill came in and said he was
going to do all of the plowing and
fieldwork.
“He’d be on the tractor before
going to school and right back on it
as soon as he got home.
“Then, Curt was different. He
was always in the barn. When he
started to talk, he learned the
names of the cows.”.
Thus, the division of respon
sibility that is necessary for a
large family operation began to
form itself early. Now, Bill, is a
partner and directs the field work.
Curt, who graduated from Penn
State m dairy science and will soon
become another partner, is
specializing in the herd
management.
Robin is the calf expert and
works in the parlor. Brian hasn’t
really specialized yet and enjoys
all of the tasks.
“All along, I tried to involve the
children in the decision making,”
Dietrich said.
“We’d sit around the table and
discuss things and arrive at an
answer.”
And with involvement in the
decision making came increasing
responsibility.
This is interior of large free-stall barn with is done with mixer wagon,
capacity for 210 cows. Drive-through feeding
And there’s plenty of respon
sibility to go around.
Bill has some 350 acres of
cropland to handle - about 180 in
com, 125 in alfalfa and 50 in wheat.
There’s also about 50 acres of
pasture and woodland. All but 129
acres are rented, too.
As the finishing touches were
being put on the expansion this
week. Bill was busy with the
sidehill John Deere combine
harvesting corn off the sloping
fields.
“The com is spotty this year m
this shale soil, but still a lot better
than last year,’ ’ Bill explains.
“I didn’t measure it, but it’s
likely running about 100 to 110
bushels an acre. And in one of the
low fields, probably higher.
“The high moisture shelled corn
goes into the 20X60 Harvestore.
The 90-foot Harvestore is already
filled with haylage. The two
concrete silos have silage.
"We also feed long-stem hay and
bale the second cutting, probably
about 200 tons.” ,
Now, with the new facilities, the
herd is gradually being increased.
In the old stanchion, pipeline barn,
the Dietrichs were milking about
90 cows. With only 40 stalls, it was
done in shifts, of course. Milking
ran sometimes to three hours.
Already, there are about 125
milkers, mostly home-bred ad
ditions, well on the way to the
eventual capacity of 210. Stock also
includes about 125 heifers and
calves, too.
The influence of son, Curt’s,
dairy science training is evident.
The gravity flow manure system
featuring earthen bank storage
and gravity loadout is a favorite of
recently retired Penn State ag
engineer Roger Grout.
And the 268-foot-long free-stall
barn has rubber mats in each of
the stalls - a bit unusual for a
facility that large.
“It probably added at least $5O a
cow to the cost,” Curt Dietrich
explains.
• “But iye think it will be worth it
in the long run. After all, a cow is
designed for a pasture en
vironment. We’re just trying to get
as close as possible to that en
vironment with modern
technology.
(Turn to Page A 29)