*26—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, October 29,1983
GRANTVILLE - Ben
Burkholder of Victor F. Weaver
Inc., New Holland, received the
1983 Broiler Industryman of the
Year Award from the Penn
sylvania Poultry Federation at its
banquet Wednesday night.
Making the presentation at the
Holiday Inn, Grantville, was Jay
Irwin, 1982 Broiler Industryman.
Irwin presented Burkholder and
his wife, Grace, their plaque and
filled in the audience on
Burkholder’s success.
The old expression “Local Boy
makes Good’’ applies to
Burkholder who was one of the
first employees of Victor Weaver
in 1983, Irwin said. As a young boy
of 16, Burkholder spent two days a
week dressing chickens, killing
and picking them by hand with
Victor and Edith Weaver as they
prepared for the Philadelphia
market in Sharon Hill.
One day, as Irwin explained,
they were scalding by hand, and a
1983
GRANTVILLE - The 1983 Egg
Industryman of the Year Award,
presented by the Pennsylvania
Poultry Federation Wednesday
night, went to Raymond W.
Sauder.
Sauder, according to award
presenter Bob Bucher, 1982 Egg
Industryman, has two names in
Pennsylvania - R.W. or Raymond,
and is known for his concerns for
quality.
Sauder is the son of the late
Frank and Susie (Weaver) Sauder.
He was bom on a farm one mile
south of New Holland and is the
youngest of nine children. When he
was still quite young, the family
moved to FarmersviUe, where he
grew up.
Sauder got his introduction to the
egg business when at the age of 12
he went with his father to
Philadelphia and sold eggs from
door to door. Tins he did for a
number of years.
Sauder and Marguerite
(Stauffer) were married Oct. 5.
1983 Turkey Industryman
GRANTSVILLE - The founder
and president of Round Hill Foods,
New Oxford, was honored as the
1983 Turkey Industryman of the
Year by the Pennsylvania Poultry
Federation Wednesday night.
Tom Bross Jr. and his wife,
Jean, were introduced by the 1982
Turkey Industryman George
Wentz, who then presented them a
plaque. Bross has been in the
The 1983 Turkey Industryman of the Year Award was
presented to Tom Bross Jr., left, and his wife, Jean, by
George Wentz, the 1982 Turkey Industryman.
1983 Broiler Industryman - Ben Burkholder
traveling salesman passed by,
showing them a new contraption to
pick the feathers. It was a round
drum with rubber fingers and it
would clean three chickens at
once! This was such a “modem
wonder of technology” that before
the peddler left, Burkholder was
humming happily and watching
feathers fly on their new machine,
Irwin added.
This new operation helped the
Weavers process 200 chickens a
week, and when the German town
market operation was added, sales
rose to 500 chickens on a three day
workweek.
Except for the period from 1942
to 1946 when he was in the Civilian
Public Service in the Virginia
Mountains for prevention of forest
fires, Burkholder has been with
Victor F. Weaver since 1938.
Throughout his years of
association with Weaver,
Burkholder has worn numerous
managerial hats including: plant
Egg Industryman - Raymond W. Sauder
1940. Marguerite comes from the
Hammercreek area, and Sauder
says he gives a great deal of credit
to her for his success in the egg
business, Bucher said.
His next venture in the egg
business was in January, 1941, in
New Holland. In October, 1943,
Sauder was drafted during World
War 11. He served in Civilian
Public Service being assigned to
the work of the Dairy Herd Im
provement Association in
Somerset County.
In March, 1947, the family
moved to Brownstown and
resumed the egg business. Five
years later the business was
moved to the present location.
During April, 1971, Glenn became
a partner in the business and in
March, 1973, Paul became a
partner.
Raymond and Marguerite are
the parents of four sons.
Sauder started his business in a
facility not larger than a two car
garage. Because of his small
- Tom Bross Jr.
business for 37 years, and in that
time his dedication to his
customers never wavered, Wentz
said.
Bross started in the business in
1946, after serving in the Air Force
during World War 11. He pur
chased a locker plant in New
Oxford and converted it into a
combination grocery store and
butcher shop. By the following
manager, manager of Weaver
Quality Eggs (mostly wholesale
eggs in New Jersey, New York,
and Pennsylvania market areas)
and director of purchasing (in
cluding Supplies, Commodity and
Maintenance). He attends courses
and seminars on management and
training and his ability has led him
into many positions, Irwin said.
Burkholder was president of the
Pennsylvania Egg Marketing
Association for two terms;
president of Pennsylvania State
Agricultural Advisory Council; is a
representative of Victor F. Weaver
on the Department of Agriculture;
is serving on the Processing
Committee for the Poultry and
Egg Institute; is active in at
tendance at the Lancaster Chapter
Society for the Advancement of
Management; and is now a School
Board Director and a Sunday
School teacher in his home church.
Currently, Burkholder is vice
president of Manufacturing, a
stature, Bucher saia. Sauder
became more difficult to find in the
plant as his business grew. But a
good friend said “you could always
count on him showing up at meal
time,” Bucher added.
Currently, R.W. Sauder Inc.,
processes and markets 19,000 to
20,000 cases of local eggs from
independent farms. They also
raise 150,000 chicks from one day
to 20 weeks for their fanners.
Sauder is a member of Hess
Mennonite Church and serves on
the Board of Lititz Area Mennonite
School Board. He is a past
president of the Pennsylvania Egg
Marketing Association and one of
the founders of the Pennsylvania
Egg Service Exchange.
One of the primary reasons for
honoring Sauder. Bucher said is
his concern for quality. “Sauder
has always believed in a quality
product and there was a time when
he requested state inspection,
although not required, to be
assured he was getting that
quality,” Bucher said.
year, Brass’ five employees were
processing 500 locally grown birds
annually.
The rapid growth of Brass’
business resulted in construction of
a processing plant in 1952, and by
now he was concentrating his
business on turkey processing,
although no orders were refused.
The eagerness to serve his
customers was one of Brass’
priorities, Wentz said. One time
when his supply was short, he
bought some turkeys from a
grower located on an island in the
Susquehanna. He eventually ended
up putting live turkeys in a
rowboat and rawing them to shore,
Wentz said.
By 1961, Bross had added a large
freezer building, increasing his
capacity to the six-figure level.
The 75,000 birds he was growing
were now not nearly enough to
?over demand, so he began to buy
on a large scale from independent
growers in surrounding counties.
In 1966, Central Soya Inc.,
bought the freezer building from
Bross and added a 30,000 square
foot processing plant. Bross was
named general manager of that
plant, and under his leadership,
Central Soya experienced a rapid
and dramatic growth. Ths initial
grow-out started in 1969 with five
outside growers. Bross’ success
earned him the job as turkey sales
(lurn'to Page A 27)
Ben Burkholder, left, the 1983 Broiler Industryman of the
Year, and his wife, Grace, receive a plaque from the 1972
winner Jay Irwin.
member of the Corporate
Management Group, and a
member of the Board of Directors
of Victor F. Weaver, Inc. He and
Bob Bucher, right, presents the 1983 Egg Industryman of
the Year award to Raymond W. Sauder and his wife,
Marguerite.
Poultry
(Continued from Page Al)
received honorary memberships.
These included; George Anthony,
a former producer and breeder
fromStrausstown; Glenn Bressler,
a retired Penn State Poultry
Science faculty member; George
Hauer, former sales manager for
C.F. Manbeck Inc.; Russel! 1-at
shaw, a former producer and
pullet grower and Pennfield em
ployee: Ed Lawless, a 59-year
employee of the state Department
of Agriculture who also served as
an egg inspector: and Dave
Lehman, founder of Lehman’s Egg
Service, Greencastle.
Also: Horace Longacre, founder
of Horace W. Longacre Inc.;
retired state Senator Clarence
Manbeck, former owner of C.F.
Manbeck Inc.; Claude Miller and
P.H. Seitz, former poultry
pathologists at the state Depart
ment of Agriculture’s labs m
Summerdale; Victor F. Weaver,
founder of Victor F. Weaver Inc. ;
and Henk Wentink, Pa. Poultry
Federation board member and
officer and a leader in the fight
concerning eggs and cholesterol.
In other business, John Hoffman,
the Federation’s executive
director, was presented a watch
for his 10 years of service to the
organization. Also recognized was
Dale M. Weaver, out-going
chairman of the board of directors,
who then introduced new chair
man, S. Ricnard Moyer.
Moyer told the crowd of 290
people that several tasks await the
Federation in the coming year. On
a state level, Moyer outlined
concerns such as egg promotion,
avian diseases, the right to know
bill on chemicals, poultry jesearch
and the scholarship fund. National
his wife, Grace, have five
daughters - Lynette, Brenda,
Glenda, Leone, and June.
industrymen
concerns are larvauex approval,
food safety legislation and im
ports/exports.
Progress on the scholarship fund
was reported by Bill Carlin, who
said money is allocated in the
budget to the fund. Scholarships
are awarded annually at $l,BOO per
year, he added.
Carlin said a program has been
designed to recognize monetary
donors to the fund. A bronze
certificate will be awarded to those
donating $5OO, a silver for
donations of $5OO to $2,000, and a
gold for over $2,000. Donors have
until Oct. 26, 1985, to reach their
pledge level, Carlin said.
To kick off the scholarship fund
drive, the Northeast Pa. Poultry
Producers Federation presented a
$1,500 check to Carlin. The check
was towards the association’s
$7,500 pledge.
The awards banquet was part of
the Pa. Poultry Federation’s
annual convention, Oct. 26 and 27.
which included sessions from
industry leaders. Topics, which
will appear in next week’s
livestock session, included: the
price outlook for broilers, eggs,
turkeys and feed; agricultural
lending outlook and major
financial trends; and agricultural
trends and consumer eating
trends.
Other topics were the con
troversial egg issues, given by
United Egg Producers president A 1
Pope, and egg marketing trends
and techniques by Dr. Eric
Oesterle of Purdue University.
Rounding up the convention's
sessions was Bill Monroe of “Meet
the Press,” who gave an account of
his profession as the show’s
moderator.