A26—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, October 20,1984
Dairyman and utility head exchange jobs
BY ROBIN PHILLIPS
Staff Correspondent
WOMELSDORF - “There’s a
lot more to this than meets the
eye,” stated Floyd Smith,
president of Metropolitan Edison
Company, Reading. Smith started
working before the sun came up
one day last week as he arrived at
the farm of Clarence Sattazahn,
Rl, Womelsdorf, to participate in
the exchange set up for Farm-City
Relations by the Berks County
Extension Service.
Smith arrived at the farm to
begin milking the 100 Holstems
that the Sattazahns maintain on
their 300-acre dairy farm. They
milk them in an eight-cow carousel
milking parlor with Mrs. Sat
tazahn, and 21-year-old son, Kevin,
- ! Jr""
-■*«, »yd Smith became more adept at
removing milkers on the Sattazahn dairy farm.
Floyd Smith, president of Metropolitan Edison Company,
Reading, helps Clarence Sattazahn, R 1 Womelsdorf, feed
replacement heifers and feeder bulls.
doing much of the milking chores.
“I’m a little more familiar with
the engineering,” Smith stated
about the clean and efficient
carousel parlor. “I can understand
more about how the carousel
works than how the cow works,” he
explained with a smile.
Smith confessed that he was not
accustomed to getting out of bed
this early, but added that it took
him about an hour to drive to the
farm. He added that he looked
forward to this "short course on
farming to fill up some of the
vacuum I have about agriculture.”
No farm experience
As President of Met-Ed, a
subsidiary of GPU, (General
Public Utilities), Smith oversees
the entire operations of the four
Country breakfast is enjoyed by, from the left, Floyd Smith, president of Met Ed;
Clarence and Kevin Sattazahn.
divisions and the corporate
division of Met-Ed that services
Eastern Pennsylvania. “My job
does not get me as close to our
work as his does,” Smith said
about Sattazahn’s dairy operation
as compared to his occupation.
Although Smith replied that he
visited farms before, he has no
farm work experience and often
took agricultural products for
granted.
After learning the milking
procedure and short explanations
about udders, milking machines,
and milk sanitation, Smith ac
companied Sattazahn through the
daily routine of feeding heifers,
mixing gram and silage for the
cows, and cleaning up after
milking. He also was able to see
Kevin artificially inseminate a cow
and witness the proper procedures
in handling a semen tank and
frozen semen.
Visitors to the farm that morning
included the milk truck driver to
pick up Sattazahn’s milk, the milk
inspector from Freemans Dairy
where Sattazahn sells his milk, and
several feed salesman who for
mulate the feed rations for the
Sattazahn herd.
Milk auditor
"He’s like our auditor,” Smith
compared the milk inspector to his
own operation. The feed salesmen
also enjoyed explaining their
services to Smith who replied,
“We’re always trying to improve
our services.”
“It’s not what it used to be,”
Sattazahn commented about dairy
farming and its complexities.
'lnflation is killing everybody,”
Smith added Concerning the
current surcharge that Med Ed
includes in their monthly bills.
Smith added, I’d like to stop being
a tax collector ”
Some things c oine quicker than
others," Smith said about the skills
required for the many farm
chores When it was time to load
the wheelbarrel to feed the heifers,
Smith said, “this is one of the
things I know how to do.”
Enjoys Tractor
He also enjoyed learning to drive
the 4640 John Deere fully equipped
tractor that Sattazahn uses in his
daily operations.
Along with a slurrystore, free
stalls, and the carousel milking
parlor, trench silos are also
utilized on- the Sattazahn farm.
Haylage, corn silage, high
moisture shelled corn, along with
supplement and buffers are used in
a total mixed ration to feed the 80
percent registered Holstein herd.
DHIA records, in addition to
registration papers, and a daily
gestation wheel were explained to
Smith by Kevin who oversees the
dairy part of the farm.
"I don’t think I’d want to trade
jobs, but I have a better ap
preciation for it,” Smith concluded
Utility president Floyd Smi enjoys driving Deere 4640,
with Clarence Sattazahn explaining controls.
after his day on the farm. He was
also treated to a ‘farmer’s
breakfast” by Mrs. Sattazahn who
had the table set and waiting when
the men arrived from the barn
after milking.
'We take a lot of these things for
gi anted,” Smith stated about milk
and cheese
To The Office-
to complete the exchange
progiaui, Sattazahn and his wife,
Marlene, and oldest son, Kevin,
were invited by Smith into the
Central office of Met Ed to see the
daily operations "We had no idea
that Met Ed had so many facets,”
the Sattazahns exclaimed after
viewing the extensive operations
at the central office in Reading
recently. Smith explained that
many professions are employed by
Met Ed in their services.
The Sattazahns arrived in mid
mormng after milking chores.
After being served milk in a
"gigantic office”, they were able
to meet the various officers that
have charge of the divisions of Met
Ed.
“The day went so fast,” a
secretary explained as the Sat
tazahns were ushered through
many of the process centers in the
office. They were introduced to the
Remittance Center where 600
djecks are processed each hour.
were also able to view the
J l£* ’ m, #**
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records of their own account in the
Customer Inquiry Center that
houses a computerized system for
the records Rate of payment,
location of property and electrical
poles and lines are displayed on a
screen to facilitate viewing
On the da> of the visit, a
lineman’s training session was
also being conducted on the
grounds and Sattazahn and Kevin
vv ere hoisted in a bucket truck.
Safety demo
One of the most interesting
demonstrations of the day, ac
cording to the Sattazahns was the
safety demonstration given to
them in the office. Using models
including a "live” wire on scaled
down poles, and a hot dog with pipe
cleaners attached to resemble a
lineman, the Sattazahns witnessed
the effects of touching a "hot
wire.” The hot dog burned im
mediately and created quite an
impression. Safety factors and
measures were also demonstrated
along with the many con
siderations an electric company
must take when installing elec
trical service.
The Sattazahns were treated to
lunch by Smith and were reluctant
to leave when it came time to
returning back to the farm for
evening chores.
When Smith replied that a lot of
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