Krall Open House
(Continued from Page A2O)
man in the group cued the young
man. Then, as the basket’s arc
became shorter and shorter, the
operator disembarked with a quick
jump.
As the crowd broke up, I headed
straight for Tom and some an
swers to questions about this new
“machine.”
I found out that Tom was one of
John Krall’s sons. Both Tom, 22,
and brother Tim, 24, work on the
farm. Younger brother Brian, 20,
lives on the farm but is employed
as a car salesman, and sister
Rosella, 19, is living in Texas.
This newfangled machine was
actually called a “swing gym”,
said Tom, with a grin. He said he
built it for exercise and recreation.
“That’s what putting up those
Harvesters can do for you,”
chimed in one of the departing
onlookers. “They give you time to
do this.”
Still not 100 percent sure I was
understanding this story, I asked
Tom again why and how he built it.
“I had seen a similar type of
gym at the Lebanon Fair this year
and decided I’d like to try and build
one,” recalled Tom. “I figured
exercising with this would be a lot
better for you than running it's
not as hard on your knees because
there’s no jarring.
“The gym is like a swing until
you’re halfway around. It helps to
develop your legs and arms, along
with the cardiovascular system. ”
Tom explained how he built the
gym using materials he found on
sie farm, like bearings out of old
car spindles and parts of an old silo
unluader. He stressed that tus
model is purely ‘ ‘experimental. ’ ’
Since they began using the gym a
short while ago, Tom said, he a
his brothers have had contests to
see who can make the most
revolutions in a certain period of
time. Smiling, modestly, Tom
confessed he holds the record to
date —lOO revolutions in 4 minutes
and that’s from a dead stop.
T’m dead alter that,” Tom
admitted.
Keeping physically fit is im
-portant to this young dairy fanner,
and he stressed staying in shape is
important tor all farmers, '‘you’ve
got to take care of yourself as well
as feeding your cows the best to
stay on top of this business.”
The Kralls have Tom’s invention
to help them out with keeping their
muscles toned, and the .help of
their two new upright silos and a
new rotary batch mixer to keep
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their 140 head of grade Holsteins
eating right.
To show their ‘appreciation’, the
100 head of cows on the milking
string are pumping out an average
of 54 pounds of milk a day with a 3.7
percent test.
There’s a saying, “You are what
you eat.’’ And to help their cows be
the best they can be, the Kralls
place great importance on
growing, harvesting and storing
food.
Fifty acres of alfalfa are cut and
blown into the 20 x 90 foot Har
vestore, and the 20 x 80 silo is filled
with high moisure ground ear com.
Corn silage is stored in the con
crete stave silo.’ Altogether, the
Kralls plant and harvest 120 acres
of com for feed.
The com is double cropped with
rye, Tom explained. As soon as the
com is taken off, rye is sown and
provides a winter cover for the
fields. Then, the next spring! the
rye is harvested as ryelage, the
ground is turned and com is
planted.
“Last spring we filled 80 feet of
the 90-foot silo with ryelage,” said
Tom. “That’s a lot of feed.” He
pointed, out the family has been
double cropping corn and rye for
the past 5 years.
Inside the feed shed, the proof of -
the pudding is determined as
conveyor belts carry the finished
products of the four silos to the
cows. But before the sweet
smelling, fermented feed is tasted
by any of the Kralls’ cows, it goes
through a thorough mixing.
* Twenty-three-year-old Jim
Zimmerman of Farmersville,
Lancaster County invented this
special rotary batch mixer where
the com and silage mingle with
soybean meal protein supplement
and minerals before being served
to the waiting cattle at the rate of
50 pounds per head.
Flipping a switch to show how
the mixer operates, Tom explained
that the feed comes out “tastier,”
and is since everything -is mixed,
together, the cows can’t push it
around and nose out what they
don’t like. He noted their top
producers get a little extra grain
while they’re in the milking parlor
a double-six herringbone built in
1968.
According to Zimmerman, he
invented this mixer after having
built another auger-type mixer. “I
figured there had to be a better
way to mix feed with less wear
and tear on parts and less power. ’ ’
The outcome is this rotary batch
pftzer
The hard-working Krall family, Lois, John, County’s Jim Zimmerman of Farmersville
Tom, and Tim, pose next to their new rotary Manufacturing. The mixer pours out a
batch mixer, designed and built by Lancaster “tastier” feed, claims son Tom
mixer, patent-pending, that ’ runs „ wasn’t quite full at the time. His
off a 3 HP motor one-half the enthusiam for the storage and
power needed to run the other injection of manure was hard to
auger-type mixers. hide as he reported how neighbors
“This mixer needs less main- never noticed the smell. “This way
tenance because there’s -fewer you don’t have that daily hauling,
moving parts,” stressed Zim- and you don’t see or smell the
merman. “It saves energy.” manure,” he remarked.
The other new addition to the The manure scraped from the
farm’s operation is the new freestall bam is stored in an un
manure storage structure put up derground pit for a month before
last December. The 62 x 19 being agitated and pumped into the
Slurrystore holds a half year’s Slurrystore. This year the Kralls
buildup of manure. The Kralls use are trying out a bedding of finely
a Calumet injector to incorporate chopped, dry corn todder stored in
the manure before seeding rye and an old tile silo instead ot sawdust,
alter the winter gram is taken ott ’•Hopefully, the todder
in the spring. will cut down on the mastitis that
"It took us 30 hours this spring to comes with using sawdust for
unload it, ” said Tom, noting that it bedding, ” expressed Tom
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Tom’s hope for the future is not
limited to herd health, alone.
Looking at the future of the dairy
business on which his tamily
depends for their livelihood and
‘recreation’, Tom stated, “A dairy
farmer today has to stay on top of
things with newer and better
equipment. It becomes more of a
challenge to make a go of it when
the price of milk doesn’t rise.”
With the new silos, mixer, and
manure storage, the Kralls have a
helping hand in staying ahead of
the game. When things get tough,
Tom can always work out the
frustrations’ of fanning and stay on
top with his “aerobic” gym that
keeps his feet 12 feet off the
ground.
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