E3o—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 9,1982
BY PATTY GROSS
Staff Correspondent
SPRUCE CREEK - The Her
man Espy farm has gone from a
part-time job and Boy Scout camp
to a large scale beef operation.
Herman says his father ran the
110-acre farm at the same time he
worked for the railroad. That was
years ago, before Herman took
over and added 256 more acres.
The huge sign on the barn reads
“Camp Espy Farms." The Hun
tingdon County farmer remembers
nearly 900 Boy Scouts coming to
his father’s camp every summer
until the 1936 flood.
A DHIA supervisor for 18 years,
Herman began farming with a few
beef, which he could work around
an other job. The herd now has
grown to a full-time job.
Herman buys feeder calves at
550 - 750 pounds and fattens them
out to 1,200 pounds. His herd stands
at 431 now, but he usually fattens
out 650 steers in a year.
Large beef operations run m the
Espy family. Herman’s brother,
Paul, has been active as
president of the Pa. Beef Council.
The Espys have two of the three
sizable beef operations in Hun
tingdon County. There also are a
had a dozen smaller set-ups in the
primarily dairy farm area.
Because of the availability,
Herman usually buys his feeder
calves in Virginia, West Virginia
and some in Lancaster. Most of his
beef is marketed in Lancaster
County.
The Espy operation can’t be
overlooked as you travel through
Huntingdon County. The Juniata
River flows adjacent to the farm,
through the narrow Spruce Creek
Valley.
Herman and his wite Connie,
who is a CPN at J.C. Blair Hospital
in Huntingdon, were recently
honored as the 1981 grand
champion alfalfa growers in the
state. Espy’s crop competed with
77 others. The award was
presented for an all-time high yield
of 10.7 tons per acre by Penn State,
the Pa. Seedsmen’s Association
and the Pa. Forage & Grassland
Council.
He began preparing for the
competition in the spring of 1980
in he spread 40 tons ot steer
Hire per acre and 500 pounds
acre of 10-20-20 fertilizer. In
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Huntingdon County alfalfa grower and and corn raised on the family °P eration goes
cattleman Herman Espy checks his cattle in into producing top quality beef,
one of the farms’ feedlots. Most of the alfalfa
Champion alfalfa grower enters com
in Farm Show competition
two applications he applied 225
pounds of phosphorus and 335
pounds of potash.
Herman says the field won’t see
any more steer manure for four or
five years, when it goes back to
corn. Prior to the new seeding with
Saranac AR alfalfa and Pennlate
orchardgrass, the field was in
corn. Herman uses a companion
crop of oats to keep his rohng fields
from eroding.
He admits that he experiments
alot on his fields. “You really
shouldn’t put so much on. 1 was
just seeing how many tons 1 could
get to the acre,” referring to the
mixtures of fertilizers that went on
prior to seeding.
The Huntingdon County farmer
took 4 cuttings from his cham
pionship field. The crop had 3,590
pounds of crude protein and over
11,700 pounds of total digestible
nutrients.
This year Herman soil tested 44
fields. He follows the recom
mendations of Penn State, but in
most cases exceeds them in trying
to get more yield on the deep
Hagerstown limestone soil.
He said he plans to enter the
competition again next year. “I’m
going to try to top that 10.7 tons. I
have another field primed.’’
Heman confessed he ‘saw the
award coming.’ “I’ve raised hay
for 20 years. We’ve had yields
probably that good before.’’
Competition isn’t new for Espy.
Every year he finishes high on the
list in the 5-acre com contest. For
1980 he had an average yield of
173.5 bushels per acre, placing him -
eighth in the state. In past years
Herman has been ranked third.
At Farm Show time he will find
out how this year’s 202 bushel to
the acre rates. For six years he has
received corn-growing cham
pionship awards, and in 1964 he
was given the DHIA Supervisor
award.
The Espy children are winners
too in 4-H, Windy, Herman, Lisa
and Kristie have taken their beef to
the Huntingdon County Fair and
have won 2 grand champion, 3
reserved grand champions, and 2
grand champion fitter honors.
Espy proudly explains, ■ ‘That’s
usually in a Held ot 70 par
ticipants.”
Former Boy Scout camp is leading bee
(Turn to Page E 32)
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Silos and feediots under roof mark the Espy a Boy Scout camp. It is now one of the top
farm which once was a part-time operation and three beef operations in Huntingdon County.
Espy says he’s not particular to color when it
comes to feeding cattle. Their price tag seems
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’’ operation
to be the deciding factor for the cattle he ships
in from Virginia.
The high yielding soils which produce Espy's
championship corn and alfalfa crops is
Hagerstown limestone. The family homestead
is an architectural clue that this land has some
of nature’s most productive soils, with chiseled
limestone rocks serving as its building blocks.
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