D2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 24,1982
Kellys call Spring Lane Farm “home”
BY PATTY GROSS
Staff Correspondent
SINKING VALLEY - Spring
Lane Farm, nestled in northern
Blair County, sends an inviting
message to passersby. With its
•long, winding lane leading to a
large, friendly farmhouse, the
Tom Kelly dairy farm joins its
owner in sending out a heart-felt
welcome to all who happen past.
Friends and visitors are urged
many times by the Kelly family to
stop and visit. The 235-acre
Hosltein farm is known for
cooperating with area groups to
help further the industry. The most
recent outing to the R 1 Tyrone
farm was for the Central Penn
sylvania Junior Judging School.
On the agenda: lemonade and
watermelon served under the large
shade trees. However, life on
Spring Lane Farm isn’t all play, as
the students soon discovered. The
Kellys brought out some of their
best registered Holsteins for the
young farmers to evaluate.
Tom believes farming is ex
cellent for young people and he
wants to do all he can to help. “It’s
difficult to start from scratch,
which is basically what we did,” he
confessed. “I’m glad we started
when we did.”
“You’ve got to like it, to do it.
There are many long work hours
involved.” He’s a farmer who is
sure of what he wants out of life for
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Kelly, left, discusses farming with two Penn State Agriculture Programs, says his son
students from Virginia Tech; Tim Gano and will be joining the visitors this fall as a Dairy
Keith Long, right. Tom, a strong supporter of Science student in Virginia.
It s milking time at Farm, R.D. 1 size of 140. The 65 cows milking produce a
Tyrone. The herd has grown from 27. when herd average of over 19.000 lb.
Tom Kelly began farming in 1974, to a present
himself, his family and his farm.'
However that conclusion comes
after testing the waters elsewhere.
Some would say Tom is a farmer
who has tried many things and has
been many places. When he
-graduated from Penn State, he
took a county agent position in
Blair County. After 3% years he
left the county to become a
fieldman for the Pennsylvania
Holstein Association.
Although he enjoyed what he was
doing at the time, Tom said he
knew it wasn’t permanent. He
proved that five years later, when
he changed jobs again. As a young
man, he spent the next two years
as a district manager with Curtis
Breeding Service, and for 5 years
following that position, managed
the livestock shows at toe Farm
Show Budding for the Penn
sylvania Department of
Agriculture.
“Different tones I thought maybe
I should be farming because I was
raised on a farm in Southwest
Pennsylvania,” continued Tom.
“We always had lots of work and I
wasn’t sure I wanted to continue
that way.”'
“It’s permanent now,” he
smiled. “I didn’t know what I was
to do, but God made it clear that I
was definitely a farmer.”
Tom is the first to admit that
becoming a farmer is easier said
than done. He and his wife, Peg,
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Spring Lane Farm in northern Blair County They are known for welcoming grouj
has an inviting look to it. Tom and Peg Kelly, farm to promote the ag industry.
had no family farm to take over.
Initial attempts at finding a place
suitable for the Kelly family failed.
But the deeply religious farmer
said God led them to the-pic
turesque farm and made the land
available to them.
The native of Eighty Four,
Washington County, doesn’t regret
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Tom and Peg Kelly.with their youngest daughter. Rebecca,
are old hands at farming. The Kellys were both raised on
farms, but did not decide they were “farmers’’ until 1974
when they purchased over 200 acres in Blair County.
the many jobs he held before
taking up fanning. Tom chalks
them up to good experience.
Spring Lane Farm began with
one bam and 27 cows. Today is has
grown to a 140-head herd. In 1974
when the Kellys moved back to
Blair County and began fanning,
they added 2 silos, a heifer bam, a
bulk feeder and 32 more stalls onto
the 72-foot dairy bam. Just
recently the family expanded the
farmhouse, giving Peg a larger
kitchen and Tom an office.
The 65 milking cows produce a
herd average of over 19,000
pounds. Tom said they are working
on strengthening the herd even
more. For the past three years the
farm has been participating in the
embryo transfer program. In
about a month the group will start
to calve. He hopes to see the value
of his herd increase as they
produce better animals.
Milk production is most im
portant to the Kellys, however
Tom claimed his registered
Holsteins are worth much more
because of their showing records.
He attributed the farm’s survival
to selling excellent breeding stock.
It would have been difficult, he
said, to stay in business if they had
depended entirely on the milk
check.
The Kellys aren’t loyal to one
bull. They try to leam as much as
they can about the different bulls
and select them on that basis.
The show-oriented farm is
continually preparing for the next
event. Holsteins from Spring Lane
Farm are regulars at the Morrison
Cove Dairy Show in Martinsburg,
Hosltein Championship Show in
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Huntingdon, the Pennsylvania All-
American Dairy Show and the 4-H
district and state competitions.
Three of the Kelly children,
Brian, 17, Susanne, 15, and
Miriam-9, ace active showmen.
The two younger children, 6-year
old Rebecca and John David, 3, are
still too young to be working on the
farm.
Miriam is new to the 4-H scene,
but the two older children are
recognized as outstanding
achievers. Two years ago, Brian,
and this year, Susanne, won
Pennsylvania Distinquished
Junior Mdmber in the state
Holstein Association’s Junior
They, also are
representatives on the Penn
sylvania Junior Holstein
Association’s Executive Com
mittee.
The Tyrone Area School District
students take after their father
when it comes to organization
memberships. The director of the
Blair County Holstein Club and the'
Blair County Farmers’ Association
chairman of the Grassroots
Committee for Penn State and is
involved in Penn State dairy
organizations.
Peg, a Blair County native, also
graduated from Penn State,
making the Kellys strong sup
porters of the University. They
were surprised, but now pleased
that Brian selected Virginia Tech.
He will leave the farm in the fall to
major in dairy science.
Most of the time the Kelly family
can. be found at home, because
they decided eight years ago that
Spring Lane Farm is “home”. A
farm, where they belong.
to their