>22-u„c«t.r r.rn«, s.ttinu,. i.m.r, 22. mb T Guernsey herd in Pa.
BY DONNA TOMMELLEO
PEACH BOTTOM - Ethel Kirk
can remember attending Lan
caster County Guernsey banquets
and watching other breeders walk
to the podium for the high herd
award.
“1 used to wonder if we would
ever do it,” exclaims the Peach
Bottom woman. But in the year of
her silver anniversary in marriage
to dairyman Francis Kirk, Ethel
stopped wondering.
During the 1982 Lancaster
County Guernsey banquet, the
Kirk’s Cedar-Fringed prefix
popped up more times than
mushrooms after rain. Ethel
walked to the awards table so
much, there probably will be an
irrepairable path in the Hefton
Fire Hall from now on.
When the evening ended, the
Kirks walked off with the following
awards; high 3-year-old for milk at
22,607 pounds; high 3-year-old for
fat at 965 pounds; high 4-year-old
for fat at 952 pounds; high aged
cow for milk at 22,267 pounds; high
aged cow for fat at 1,033 pounds.
In all, the Kirk’s 113 registered
Guernseys pumped out an average
of 15,329 pounds of milk and 687
pounds of butterfat.
The golden girls not only suc
ceeded in driving the Kirks to the
top of Lancaster County charts for
milk, but the rumble from State
College confirmed the Peach
Bottom family had the highest
Guernsey milk figures for the
state.
At one point, the herd had grown
to 130 milking cows but after a
heavy cull of any animal milking
less than 12,000, the Kirks have
whittled the “wet brigade” down to
79 head.
And while Francis and Ethel
hauled home the numerous
awards, last year, the other half of
the work force was back at Cedar
Fringed Farm, tending to the top
herd.
“Tom deserves the credit,”
Ethel says of her eldest son. "He’s
in charge of the feeding and
breeding.”
Ethel recalls watching Tom,
when he was a 4-year-old toddler,
run out to the barnyard to bring in
that stray cow who missed her call
for milking.
All together the Cedar Fringed
work force includes Francis and
Ethel, their sons Tom and Robert
and two full-time employees.
The Kirks’ daughter Mary, was
The Cedar-Fringed work force flanks one of its “wetter" members, who hv pt
the Peach Bottom family to the top of the OHIA chart for high Guernsey herd for milk in
the state, at 15,329 pounds. Flanking Cedar-Fringed Moon Glow is the Kirk family, from
left: Tom, Robert, Ethel and Francis.
Kirks pan for golden glory
active in the farm while growing
up but is now a nursing student at
Thomas Jefferson University in
Philadelphia.
Tom explains the Cedar Fringed
herd (so named because the
homestead is settled among cedar
tree barrens) is fed com silage
year round. A twice a day ration
includes com silage, an 18 percent
protein ear com supplement and
alfalfa-grass hay. Cows producing
more than 60 pounds daily earn the
right to munch on a 20 percent
protein feed.
Guernsey sires must have a
predicted difference for milk of not
less than +BOO pounds. Bulls like
Big Tex, Admiral, Telestar and
Top Hornet sons boast the figures
that Tom likes to use. The herd’s
calving interval ranges from 12.9
to 13 months, says Tom.
“We breed a cow three times. If
she isn’t caught we turn her in with
the bull,” he explains.
The Kirks’ heifers run with bulls
for their first breeding. The
current service sire is out of 19,000
pounddam.
While her sons are busy taking
care of the adult animals, Ethel
expends her efforts in the calf
building with the future herd.
When it comes time for field
work, the man that knows the land
best is in the tractor seat.
“I know about every soft spot on
the farm,” Francis notes.
When his father Howard Kirk
purchased the 165-acre farm in
1943 for a sum of $lO,OOO, Francis
remembers the land’s condition.
“Everything was in bad shape,”
he says. “There were gullies so
big, you could bury a tractor in
them."
In the 1960 s Francis began
working with soil conservationists
in the county and developed a plan.
Several waterways and terraces
later, the plan was completed in
1982.
On the surface, the Kirks’ land
annually yield alfalfa, orchard
grass, reed canary grass and corn.
But Francis notes that there is
more to the land that meets the
eye.
Farming a mixture oLChester
loam. Serpentine rock and soap
stone, the Peach Bottom farmer
can survey a swath of ground and
point to stones that contain iron
ore, chromium and other semi
precious stones.
(Turn to PageA2s)
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Francis spends a few minutes with Tom Johnston, Lancaster County Conservation
District Administrator, while inspecting one of the many terraces on the Kirk farm. The
family recently completed their conservation plan with the LCCD.
Cedar-Fringed Farm, home of the top Guernsey herd in the state, rests bn a mixture of
unique soils. Yielding corn and alfalfa for herd needs, the serpentine rock and soap
stone, on the Peach Bottom Farm, have captured the interest of gem and artifact en
thusiasts, who have uncovered everything from iron ore to crude hand tools.
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History and antique buff, Francis can turn back the hands
of time as he jogs his memory and knowledge generations
back into the Kirk family and its land.
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