A32-Lanc«sttr Farming, Saturday, June 1,1985
by Montie Tak
Staff Correspondent
CARLISLE - “I think it’s a
worthwhile project to have our
urban neighbors understand a
little more about farm life,” says
Mabel Strock.
“Now that they have been made
more aware of the problems of
farming I think people need to
understand and know the facts.”
Mrs. Strock, her husband Clyde
and their family are just a few of
the people who decided to act on
that thought. The result is the first
Cumberland County Farm Tour,
scheduled for June 8, from 10 a.m.
to 3 p.m., sponsored by the
Cumberland County Farmers
Association.
Members of the public will have
an opportunity to visit two
Mechanicsburg area farms,
Ashcombe Farm Dairy and
Strockland Farms. Parking is
available at Mechanicsburg High
School, where shuttle buses will
run to both farms.
“This is a way to show people
about farm life,” says Kate Mains.
“The women’s committee of the
Cumberland County Farmers
Association sponsored mall
promotions in previous years. But
this year the suggestion was made
within the group and we thought it
was time we had a farm tour.”
Mains contacted all the county
schools and visited elementary
school supervisors because she felt
this was an educational experience
children don’t have every day. But
the tour, she notes, is not primarily
for school children. “It is a public
relations venture to show people
what happens on a farm. It is
geared to adult interest as well.”
Visitors to Ashcombe’s will be
able to see the milk house and
parlor facilities and hear an ex
planation of milking equipment.
The processing plant will be in
operation so people can see-and
sample-ice cream being made.
4-H and FFA members will have
projects on display in a large tent
provided by Purina. Antique farm
machinery and tools owned by
Fred and Rose Dillner, Ship
pensburg, will also be on display.
Atlantic Breeders Coop will have
Cumberland farm tour set
a representative at Ashcomb’s to
explain artificial insemination and
representatives from feed com
panies will explain how feeds are
formulated to give cows a
balanced ration and to maximize
health and production.
At Strockland Farms visitors
will see young turkeys and the area
where they are processed. There
will be a slide presentation on
farrowing and the nursery area of
the swine facility. Since the
KUTZTOWN - Four field days
are scheduled this summer at the
305-acre Rodale Research Center
here. The number of field days was
increased from one in previous
years to four this year to ac
commodate surging interest in the
Center’s research which is
primarily focused on identifying
ways for farmers to reduce their
input costs and simultaneously
maintain or boost their profits.
The dates for the field days are
June 25 and Aug. 7 for Farmers’
Field Days and Aug. 8 and Sept. 14
for Researchers’ Field days. The
Farmers’ Field days will feature
identical morning and afternoon
sessions beginning at 9:30 a.m. and
1:00 p.m. each day with hay
Strocks raise, process and store
their own feeds, there will also be a
tour of the grain drying facility.
During the farm tour, food
samples will be offered by various
firms. Hatfield’s Packing, Hat
field, Pa., will make a giant pork
burger. The burger, about six feet
in diameter, uses about 100 pounds
of pork and will be cooked in a
special wire rack.
Kay and Ray’s, Newville, will
Rodale sets
wagons taking visitors through the
research fields. The Researchers’
Field Days will run from 10:00
a.m. until about 3:00 p.m. each day
and will include field tours as well
as data presentations for
university and government
scientists. The media is invited to
all of the days.
Featured on the tours will be the
wrap-up of the five-year Con
version Project which compares
three side-by-side farming
systems to identify the best crops
and practices to maintain yields
and income during the conversion
from chemical-intensive to low
input production.
Overseeding, a promising
technique which seeds legumes or
THIS TIME
FOR THE DAIRYMAN
Farmer’s Cheese Co-Op Association of New Wilmington,
wants to inform you of a way to get more for your milk.
• With the use of analytical and computer technology, we will
pay you (based on the cheese and cream market) what a
hundred pounds of your milk will yield in cheese and cream.
• Farmer’s Cheese CO-OP will be paying its farmers on a bi
monthly basis, plus offering a Group Hospital Insurance.
If You Would Like To Know What Your Milk Is Worth, Please Call
FARMER'S CHEESE CO-OP ASS'N.
P.O. Box 198 New Wilmington, PA 16142
(412) 946-8729
furnish potato chips. People can
sample milk provided by the
Hershey Milk Plant, apple juice
from Lucky Leaf and cheese from
Phillips in Lancaster. Harrison
Farms, Littlestown, will provide
pork roll samples.
A number of local farm
machinery dealers will have
exhibits on the tour, including H.
R. Gutshall, Peterman Farm
Equipment, Ernest Shover, Pdul
Shover Farm Equipment and
Field Days
grasses into row crops for nitrogen
production and weed and erosion
control, will also figure
prominently. Several related
projects are being initiated in 1985,
with farmers’ immediate needs in
mind. They will examine aspects
of the overseeding technology such
as the effect of densities of
legumes and com and timing of
plow down on maximum N
production.
Other projects to be included for
the first time on the tour are inter
cropping of com and beans,
perennial polycultures for
marginal lands, grain amaranth
variety development, and ob
servations on ridge-tilling and
conservation tillage without
herbicides for weed r '''".tro'
W A CHAMP!
(412) 946-8729
Carlisle Equipment.
Mains and at least 20 other
organizers of the tour have worked
on the project six months. She
says, “I think the work farmers do
and the problems they have are
unique. The percentage of fanners
in the county is diminishing each
year. As we become more and
more of a minority it becomes
important for people who are not
farming to understand thfe
problems we face.”
This season will be the fourth
year the RRC has held field days
for farmers. Last year over 150
people attended the field day on
August 15.
The Research Center is located
six miles northeast of Kutztown on
Siegfnedale Road off Grim Road
in Maxatawny Township, Berks
County, Pa. Signs are located
along Route 222 to indicate where
to turn coming from either
Allentown or Reading.
Reservations should be made for
any of the field days by contacting
Nancy Nickum Bailey or Stephanie
G. Doyle at the Rodale Research
Center, Box 323, RD #l, Kutztown,
Pa. 19530 (215)683-6302. There is no
charge for the tours.
Jack
Pa.