VOL 27 No. 25
Md . couple earns nat’l Farm Bureau award
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
WALKERSVILLE, Md. - Gary
and Cindy Grossnickle, Devilbiss
Bridge Road, one of three out
standing Young Farmer and
Randier couples named by the
American Farm Bureau
federation in their awards
-program, are the first Maryland
couple to attain this honor. The
Grossmckles traveled to San
Diego, California m January to
represent that state and par
ticipate with 35 other couples.
The award is sponsored by Alhs-
Chalmers which donates the use of
a tractor for one year to each of the
winning couples. The Grossmckles
selected an 8039 model, ordered
through the Vernon E. Stup
dealership in Frederick. The
tractor is equipped to their
specifications, including 132 PTO
hp, air conditioned and heated cab,
luxury seating and 12-speed power
shift transmission.
The tractor arrived at the
Grossmckle farm earlier this
month, and they have been en
joying its. use in their dairy
.operation. After one year, they will
)have the option to purchase the
tractor.
The Grossmckles both
acknowledge that they were
astonished, but pleased, to be
named one of the three top couples
in the country. The other two were
from Colorado and lowa.
Gary recalls, “We were the last
couple announced - it was won
derful!”
Cindy adds, “We were excited
and nervous - and bad a lot of
mixed emotions.”
The Groasnickles farm 450 acres
and own about 175 milk cows and
125 replacement heifers on their
dairy operation in Frederick
County, Maryland. Field crops
Index ,
Page 3
New market feature stresses
Va. feeder cattle, pig report
LANCASTER A current, up
to-date consolidated report on
feeder cattle and feeder pig sales
m Virginia is the latest market and
auction feature to be found in this
week’s Lancaster Fanning.
The first Virginia auction repeat
is on Page A 9.
This week’s repeat features a
summary of 19 feeder cattle
auctions held from Thursday,
April 8, through Wednesday, April
14, in the southern, northern and
southwestern sections of Virginia
1 and a number of special individual
graded feeder cattle and feeder pig
sales.
The feeder cattle sales include
the Marshall exotic auction,
Thursday, April 8; Narrows cattle,
Tuesday, April 13; Harrisonburg
yearling and calf, Wednesday,
indude 170 acres of corn, plus
alfalfa, mixed hay and barley.
They have two full-time em
ployees, and Gary’s dad, from
whom they rent the farm, helps out
as needed. In addition to the nome
farm, they rent two additional
farms and own 52 acres.
Part of the competition induded
how the operation has changed
over the years and Grossnickle has
had several changes in his thirteen
years of farming. He began a fifty
fifty partnership with his father in
1969, with Gary owning 20 cows. In
1970 they formed a family cor
poration, but one year later started
buying his father’s shares when
the elder Grossmckle decided it
was time for semi-retirement.
Grossnickle didn’t always want
to be a farmer, but says a teacher
who urged him to join FFA made
the difference. “From tenth or
eleventh grade I wanted to be a
farmer,” he says. He served-as
chapter president and. state vice
president in his FFA career," and in
1972 won .the Farm. Bureau
Discussion Meet.
The cows are now producing
about 16,000 pounds of milk, and
are milked in a 41-cow stanchion
bam where they are fed a gram
ration with 19 percent protein. Hay
and silage are fed outside, offering
all the silage they caneat.
The Grossmckles produce all
their own forage, but purchase a
ready mixed grain ration con
centrate. They have capacity for
2,000 ton of silage in upright silos,
and feed it year round.
(Turn to Page A 34)
Stray voltage sparks research funding plea
BY SHEILA MILLER
HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania
Rural Electric Association general
manager William F. Matson called
it “one of the world’s great
mysteries the classic ‘Who done
it?’ story.”
Penn State’s Joseph McCurdy,
April 14; Dublin yearling, Wed
nesday, April 14; and Staunton
Union calf and yearling, Wed
nesday, April 14.
The feeder pig sales include
Courtland, Thursday, April 8;
Blackstone, Monday, April 12; and
Harrisonburg, Tuesday, April 13.
This weekly market feature is
being provided directly through
the cooperation of the USDA
Livestock and Gram Market News
and Grading Service inVirginia.
It is being included in Lancaster
Farming’s extensive market and
coverage as an added
service to the numerous readers
who utilize the Virginia auctions,
particularly during the special
graded sale schedule m the spring
and fall.
Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, April 17,1952
Gary and Cindy Grossnickle of Walkersville,
Maryland, hold the plaque they received for
beinc one of three farm and ranch couples in
the United States to win the national Farm
Extension agricultural engineer
couldn’t make up his mind what to
call it.
But, finding a definition for a
problem that has been confronting
Pennsylvania fanners for many
years was the purpose of a meeting
which involved electric company
representatives, milk producers’
cooperative staff, Penn State and
University of Pennsylvania
professors, farmers and even
legislative staff on Tuesday.
Gathering here at the Hanover
Restaurant, the group shared facts
and fallacies of a phenomenon
called by many names stray
voltage, transient voltage, tingle
voltage, stray current, or neutral
to-earth voltage. The educational
seminar was sponsored by the
Pennsylvania State Grange.
According to State Grange
Master Charles Wismer, the
purpose of' the session was to
“bring out the importance of the
need to continue stray voltage
research because the problem’s
not solved.”
Funds to carry out this research,
he said, will be running out in July
1982. He shared his concern
about reduced allocations for
agricultural research since
Harness Racing revenues dropped
from about |400,000 last year to to
less than $lOO,OOO this year. A
percentage of these "after-
Bureau federation competition. In addition to
the honor, the Grossnickles receive the use of
a new Allis Chalmers tractor lor one year. For
a picture of the tractor, turn to Pafe A 34.
expenses” funds provide the
financial resources for ag
research.
The solution to the problem of
stray voltage is just as s elusive as
the necessary research funds. And
Penn State agricultural engineer
Joe McCurdy admitted be wishes
he’d never beard of the term.
Explaining that he preferred to
call the problem neutraMo-earth
voltage, McCurdy said the
phenonenon varies with the level of
the ground water table and a
farm’s electrical use.
Focusing on the dairy situation,
McCurdy pointed out that modern
dairy farmers are exposing cows
more than ever before to “almost
everything electrical on the farm”
when they are hooked up to the
pipeline and milk is flowing.
Modern milking parlors with their
inherently wet floors set the bare
foot cow up for an unforgettable
shock.
A cow’s reaction to this shocking
experience was explained by Or.
John Fetrow of the University of
Pennsylvania School
of Veterinary Medicine. Although
it came as no surprise, Fetrow said
"Cows quickly leam what not to do
if it hurts. Wien something hurts
them, they get excited and
adrenalin is produced This hor
mone interferes with the milk
letdown hormone called oxytocin
$7.50 par year
As a result, the cow boMs her
milk up and either has to be milked
longer or doesn’t milk out
Subsequently, the cow produces
less and has a higher incidence of
m««titix with increased leucocyte
counts winding up in the bulk tank.
McCurdy conceded there never
will be a way to eliminate all stray
voltage on a farm. However, be
said, farmers have to be able to
deal with it when voltage levels
become high enough to be felt by
the cows. He emphasized that a
cow might be able to feel the tingle
and discomfort of stray voltage
even though the person milking her
doesn’t detect it.
“Cows are 10 times more sen
sitive to stray voltage than
humans,” said McCurdy. He ex
plained that a cow will show a
definite response to a level of 1 volt
or more. Less than 0.5 V usually
causes no problem, he said. And
the levels between 0.5 V and IV
need to be watched and monitored,
McQurdy said, calling this the
“gray area.”
If a human can’t feel the stray
voltage a cow does, how then can a
farmer determine if stray voltage
is affecting the milking string?
McCurdy listed several symp
toms cows might exhibit which
(Turn to Page Al 7)