El2—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, June 4,1983
Pamper yourself with a dairy delight
BY ROBIN PHILLIPS
Staff Correspondent
BERNVILLE Give yourself a
treat. Hop in you car and take a
trip up Rt. 183 from Bemville
towards Strausstown.
As the sun glistens on the hood of
your car, you look across the
meadows lining the road and
realize that this is going to be one
of those perfect kind of days - one
of relaxing and enjoying God’s
gifts to man.
You mind begins to conjure up
one of those delectable kinds of
desserts, heaped with toppings and
a luscious mound of whipped
cream, accompanied by an ice
cold, thick, creamy, chocolate
milkshake. Your foot
automatically increases its
pressure on the gas pedal, and in
your anticipation, you can already
taste those delightful calories
sliding down your throat. Pamper
yourself. You deserve it.
Just as you make up your mind
that your diet can resume tom
morrow and you are not going to
live another minute without an ice
cream sundae, a milk shake, an ice
cream cone, or pehaps an ice cold
glass of milk on the side, you
glance to the right and there it is,
the answer to your dreams - Way-
Franklin Stein explains processing and bagging of milk in
special Way-Har containers.
Promotion of milk is practiced on sign in front of Way-Har Farm.
Har Farms Dairy Store and Ice
Cream Parlor with that “fresh
from the farm” goodness made
into all their dairy delights.
Way-Har Farms and Dairy Store
is owned by Wayne and Harold
Lesher, R 1 BernvUle, two brothers
who wanted a better way to market
their milk. Smce 1966, the two
brothers were in partnership,
milking 60 cows on their parents
farm. Everything worked well as
their cow numbers and acrerage
increased, but they knew that
there had to be a better, more
profitable way to market their
product.
“At that time, milk was around
$5.00 a hundred,” Wayne stated.
So, tor the next two years, the two
dairymen traveled around and
looked at different jugging
operations and dairy store set-ups.
Stating that they had some ideas as
to what they wanted, Wayne said
they did a lot of studying before
taking the first step. Listening to
many others telling them the many
mistakes to be made, and gleaning
the best ideas from the operations
that they liked, the Leshers also
got the Pennsylvania Department
of Transportation to do a traffic
survey at the planned site of their
enterprise.
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Way-Har Farms Store
The planned site for their store
along Rt. 183, just north of Bern
ville, proved to be an excellent
choice. The present store attracts
many local customers living within
the 10-mile radius that the Leshers
were told would be the extent that
most people will drive for their
products, but it also attracts many
customers from the surrounding
towns who are willing to drive
further for the better quart of milk
or container of ice cream.
Because of the commuter traffic
on this busy route, the Leshers also
employed a novel idea into their
store. They package their milk in
plastic bags. This way there are no
bottles to return. Milk is bagged in
2 quart sizes and a special pitcher
is available to slip the bag into and
pour right from the bag.
Milk is also bagged in pint
weights and sold with a special
type of straw that punctures the
bag and the milk can be consumed
right from the bag. This seems to
be popular with workers on their
lunch breaks and small children
since it is easy to buy and have
with the noon lunch. Lesher stated
that the only others to sell their
milk like this, that he is aware of,
are several operations in Mon
tgomery and Lebanon Counties.
The Way-Har store was one of the
first in the state to use this ap
proach. The state approved this
practice m July and the store
opened in September of that same
year, 1970.
The Way-Har bovmes supply all
the milk that the dairy store needs.
Presently milking approximately
100 cows with 75% of them
registered, the Leshers can be
assured of good quality of milk by
knowing their own operation which
includes top animals such* as
"Woodward Della Filbert”, the
1970 and 1971 top DHIA cow for fat
in Berks County with 1091 pounds
Way-Har Farms is a well-kept picturesque dairy operation.
of fat. Most animals are bred added to the original farm in 1967.
artificially with Harold and the The old barn was remodeled to
herdsman, Glen Davis, doing the include heifer pens and a con
inserainatmg. Their present barn, trolled environment area for
which features a double six calves. It was after several un
hernngbone milking parlor, successful years of raising calves
maternity and hospital area with in this type of set-up, that Wayne’s
box stalls, and barn office, was (Turn to Page El 4)
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School children make themselves comfortable in middle of
store with milk and cookies.
Wayne Lesher manages store from his office.