A22—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, January 9,1982
B V DONNA TOMMELLEO
BERNVILLE - For some
Pennsylvanians, the 1982 Farm
Show will be a new experience, but
'or the children of John and Rita
Stump, the agricultural ex
travaganza is just another notch in
their belt.
No strangers to the awesome
Farm Show Complex, the Stump
clan and appointed Holsteins have
made the hour-long drive for the
jast six years.
The oldest, Debbie (now married
o Mark Johns) was the first to
ake halter in hand and parade her
egistered Holstein around the
ing. Not unlike dominos, the rest
f the family fell in line with the
arm show tradition. Behind
)ebbie came Donna, 18, Doyle, 15,
>oris, 13 and Denise, 12. Little
rother Duane, 9, will make the
'ip, but as a spectator this time.
This year, Stumpland Farm will
e represented by six registered
lolsteins all cows except for a
red 2-year-old. The show string is
omprised of three Glendell
Although this turkey may have eluded the Thanksgiving
table, he couldn’t slip past the grasp of the youngest member
of Stumpland—9-year-old Diane.
Debbie Stump Johns, family’s A.I. named according to the year o) -leir birtn.
echnician, looks over many of the animals “We don’t have any problem remembering
.he’s bred. All of the Stumpland animals are who they're out of," Debbie remarks.
Berks Co. dairy family recalls
Farm Show memories, mix-ups
daughters, one Arlinda Chief, and
two by a homebred bull, one of
which was sold to an A.I. stud in
Germany.
Although several of the animals
placed first in 1981 shows at
Kutztown, Reading, Allentown and
Harrisburg, the Stumps will be
looking for their first blue ribbon at
Farm Show.
What they probably won’t be
looking for is the “good old worn
out feeling” they experience
following the big event.
“You’re up at 4:30 in the mor
ning and asleep by midnight. By
the end of the week you’re good
and tired,” noted Debbie, who has
spent many a short night nestled
beneath a bovine’s brisket.
For the Stump children, the
Farm Show will offer more .than
just show day jitters and ex
citement. The two youngest girls,
Doris and Denise explained they
are captivated by the small bird
display and especially enjoy
watching ducklings use the “duck
slide”. And although the children
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>ne ne-up for the 19; irm Creamie, Candie, Brandi, Susan, and Ursie.
Show includes from left to right Debbie, Doris. The sixth entry is currently housed at another
Denise, Doyle and Donna with their entries farm.
have spent all their lives on a farm,
where births are common oc
curences, they admitted the chick
hatching display never fails to
fascinate them.
Although the 14-acre Farm Show
Complex is “complex” enough to
confuse even the Merrill Lynch
bull, Duane Stump has earned the
distinction of “family
bloodhound.” According to his
siblings, the youngest member of
-the'Stump clan can find his way
around the agricultural maze like
a seasoned veteran.
However, the family admitted
that although 9-year-old Duane is ''
adept at being in the right spot at
the right time, the youngster also
has the magical ability to disap
pear during chores.
If Duane could have used his
magical powers to make a certain
Holstein disappear some years
ago, he might have saved sister
Debbie from embarrassment.
Debbie recalled the year when
her 4-year-old Holstein, “Rhoda,”
refused to be led back to her stall
and would conveniently make
herself at home in the first stall she
saw, even if it, already was oc
cupied. For the duration of the that
Farm Show, Debbie found herself
apologizing to other exhibitors
everytime the stubborn Black and
White went “visiting.”
Farm Show spectators pitched in
one year to make a little more
work for the Stump girls during the
Holstein show. Debbie explained
■ft <
> *■
she was at the halter of an ex
citable animal when paper air
planes descended from the crowd
perched above the large arena.
Needless to say, Debbie found
herself empty-handed as her entry
loped around the ring.
Most of their half-dozen years of
showing has been at 4-H events.
The Stumps, all members of the
Western Berks 4-H* Dairy Club
have relied on the help they’ve
received from their club leader
their father John. As a youngster
John never showed cattle and
remarked that his years as a .4-H
leader provided him with an
education, as well as helped his
family.
Athough the Stumps will enter
six. animals this year, as many as
15 Stumpland Holsteins have been
exhibited in the past. Preparing for
shows may seem second nature to
the Berks County family but as
mother Rita pointed out, "> few
important items usually get
overlooked.
“It seems that someone always
fogets the manure fork and the
feed scoop,’ ’ she laughed.
When the family is not disap
pearing, chasing cows or forget
ting equipment they’re usually
hard at work at their 140-acre
dairy-
Mornings begin around 5:30
when Donna, Doris and Denise
begin milking the 55 Black and
Whites, which push an average of
16,400 pounds of milk and 586
pounds of fat through the around
the-barn pipeline.
Doyle and brother-in-law Mark
take care the bovines’ breakfast of
HARRISBURG Rules were
made to be broken so this year
Farm Show says good-bye to a 30-
year rule which appears on page 51
in the premium book.
According to the dairy caretaker
rule in the youth classes, “each
club, school or county unit must
provide one caretaker for each ten
or less animals and make
provision for his expenses. Girls or
women must not be sent as
caretakers.”
Farm Show commissioners and
even- Secretary Hallowell were
JU e A
' -
a, 5
You’ve come a long way, baby
•
mixed haylage served via an
electric silage cart.
Later in the day, the herd
receives com silage top dressed
with high moisture com and a 32
percent protein mix winch is
mostly soybean meal. A mixture of
alfalfa and orchardgrass hay tops
-off the evening meal. ■
Debbie chooses bulls for the
Stumpland breeding program and
is the family’s A.I. technician. A
peek into the Stump’s semen tank
reveals some of the top breed sires
such as Glendell, Pabst, Creek,
Astronaut, Pete and Milestone. '
WMemost IT.S. farmers are
aware of the current milk surplus,
John Stump explained that his
method of feeding whole milk to his
calves helps curb his dairy’s
surplus.
“I only buy a couple bags of milk
replacer said Stump, who
also raises all his bull calves until
service age.
Calves are started on equal
amounts of high protein pellets,
crimped corn and oats.
John and Rita Stump moved to
Bemville from their original York
County farm in 1963. They brought
50 head of dairy animals and two
children. Today, four children
later, the Stumps have watched
their operation spill across three
different farms. They’ve seen
Stumpland animals marketed in
Europe and they’ve gathered
memories with each passing year.
The theme of this year’s. Farm
Show is, “PA Agriculture We’re
Growing Better,” something the
John Stumps have been doing for
19 years.
surprised the outdated rule, which
appears only in the dairy section,
still remained in the book.
“You can be sure it won’t be
there next year,” Hallowell
declared.
Lancaster Farming tried to
contact a few young women on
dairy farms to get their reaction to
the rule, but they could not be
reached.
It seems they all were in the
barn, “taking care” of business.
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