AlB-Lanca>ter Farming, Saturday, May 31,1986
Moser Named National Finalist in Holstein Competition
BALLY Long distance is the
next best thing to being there.-This
statement is especially true for
Sandy Moser of Berks County, as
she has been receiving good news
by the phone lately.
At thp beginning of May she
received a long distance phone call
at her college in Baltimore. Her
mother was on the line to inform
her that the Pennsylvania State
Holstein office had just called to
congratulate her on being named a
semi-finalist in the National
Distinguished Junior Member
Awards competition.
Sandy Moser began her trek to
the final 12 by winning the Penn
sylvania title in February. Due to
college commitments, however,
She was unable to attend the State
Holstein Convention, and the news
of her winning was also relayed by
a long distance call.
Moser recently completed her
freshman year at Loyola College
where she is majoring in
English/creative writing, which is
one of her loves.
Another one of her loves has
been her Holsteins.
Upon learning of her prestigious
accomplishment, Moser explains
she was “really surprised.” She
thought that it was necessary to
follow a prescribed list of
achievements to be a national
finalist. Moser was simply too busy
with numerous other activities to
complete the menu.
“Once I stopped thinking about
it, that’s when it happened; and I
never expected Nationals,” she
relates.
“The book” was the basis for the
judges’ selection of Moser. “My
book is always a little more per
sonal than everybody else’s,” she
said.
She credits her art background
in creating a consistent, unique
layout for her junior scrapbook. On
the back of every separation for
each section was a geometric
design with black, white and red;
giving her book that extra touch,
the fruits of much labor. The
finishing touches for her book was
the tost page where she included a
story she had written.
Moser almost didn’t compete
this year, due to the extensive
amount of time needed to compile
a winning book. This required time
to come home from college and fill
in the book.
It was her list of published
Stories that Moser thinks might
have swayed the judges in her
Sandy reviews the scrapbook which contains clippings of
the approximately ISO times her work has been published.
Her writing has earned her such names as "Barnyard Poet,”
“Rural Rhymer," and “Bally Balladeer." -
favor. “I think they looked at my
book and said ‘This is something
different that we’ve never seen
before.’ ”
Her Holsteins, the subject of
“the book” and a source for her
writing, have also provided college
tuition dollars.
Reluctantly, Moser has sold
some of her Holsteins to finance
her education. Plans are being
made to sell a very good Pete
daughter out of a Bootnik which
Moser originally bought at the
Exclusive Sale.
The Futurity is the next
challenge for Moser during her
tenure in the Junior Holstein
Association. She is planning to win
the Futurity with a recently fresh
Cittamatt daughter from the Pete
cow. “It’s the last thing I want to
do as a junior,” Moser notes.
In addition to winning county
and district’ shows with her
Holsteins, Moser was a member of
the Berks County 4-H Dairy Bowl
team that won the National
Championship in Kentucky last
year.
“I guess we tried to psyche
everyone out. It was our last year
and we decided no one was stealing
it from us since we couldn’t come
back again,” she reflected.
Contests, such as dairy bowl and
judging, have provided her with
pleasant memories of her 4-H
career. “There’s just something,
when you’re all in it together, and
you all know that one of us can win
and I’m not going to care if it’s not
me and it’s you. You even forget
after awhile who won, and of
course it doesn’t matter because
you’re happy enough,” Moser
commented.
While still busy with the Dairy
Bowl, Moser began her freshman
year at college, which proved to be
anything but dull. Next year, she
adds, promises to be “a great and
busy year.”
Rising from the ranks of staff
writer this past year, she will be an
associate editor of Green and
Gray, the college newspaper.
Moser was on the editorial board
for the Garland, a collegiate
literary magazine, as well as a
contributor to the Forum, a bi
yearly magazine that publishes the
best essays of the semester.
Moser also finds time to work in
the public relations department,
which led to working on the
volunteer chore and manning the
phones during the college’s
phonathon.
A phone call led to another piece
of good news for Moser at the end
of the spring semester. An essay
which she had prepared for the
Baltimore Sun was accepted and
printed on the Op-Ed page.
Publication of this essay, which
deals with attics and their con
tents, fills a goal Moser established
for herself at the start of the
semester. It will rank her as the
youngest member of Loyola
College to have something printed
on that page.
This year she also broke “a
biggie” with publication in Farm
Journal. Other periodicals which
have printed her poetry and short
stories are Lancaster Fanning,
Hoard’s Dairyman, Farm Women
News, Dairy Illustrated, and the
various local newspapers. This
names just a few of the ap
proximately 150 times she has been
published.
Her farm oriented stories have
drawn letters providing advice,
compliments and an occassional
request to correspond or marry,
Moser mentioned. “It’s fun. I get
letters addressed to Mrs. Moser
since I never make the distinction
and I often talk about Dad
referring to him as the man who
shares my name,” she added.
Moser originally started writing
at age 5 “to make my dad laugh.
When I was little, I always thought
he worked too hard,” she explains.
One of her early subjects was a
heifer that was “pretty stupid”
and provided sufficient subject
matter.
She writes when the idea strikes
and records it on whatever is
handy. At times, her writing
equipment consists of cow towels
and a breeding chart pen or an old
newspaper. In the midst of a
college party, or in the early hours
of a day, she can be found penning
a new idea.
In tenth grade Moser became
serious about her writing. She
credits her family for making
writing “easy” and for their en
couragement. Her father,
LaVerne, has been a topic for
many essays and her mother,
Linda, first suggested Moeer
submit her works. '
Last summer, she sang her way
through Europe after winning a
place with the American Music
Abroad organization. She has
continued her singing career by
participating in the college choir
for two semesters.
Prior to college, she and her
brother, Mark, did all of the
milking. Control of the breeding
decisions for her cows remains
with Moser, but she will accept her
family’s judgement when she is
away.
Lalisa Holsteins is a family farm
in the strictest sense. Major
decisions are discussed by the
entire family and the family works
together to get the work done.
“Our family works together
Acreage Reduction Programs Post
CREAMERY - Calling the
preliminary figures “a near record
signup,” Eugene F. Thompson,
ASCS state executive director,
announced that over a quarter of
the eligible farms in Pennsylvania
have signed up 588,332 acres of
feed grain and wheat bases under
the 1986 acreage reduction
programs.
The acreage required to be taken
out of production and devoted to
the Acreage Conservation Reserve
totals 122,174 acres.
The enrolled acreage represents
46 percent of the 1,289,497 acres of
total crop acreage bases
established for these commodities.
For the 1985 programs, 36 7 per
Sandy Moser, a national finalist for the Distinguished
Junior Member of the Holstein Association, proudly shows
one of her 4-H projects. Sandy plans to sell this very good
Pete daughter, who has records up to 20,000, later this
summer.
herd.
really well. I don’t think wwcooW
complement each other anymore
than we do now.” she said, com
menting on the individual talents
of each family member.
Reflecting on her ac
complishments, “I don’t think I’ve
ever done anything that I can say I
wish I wouldn’t have,” Moser
stated.
The following is a sample of
Moser’s writing expertise:
The Pain of Rain
The baler is all ready
to make its journey to the
field;
the hay is rolled and drying
and it looks like a promising
yield.
‘Near Record’ Signup
cent of the 1,244,822 acre crop
acreage base was enrolled.
Base acreage enrolled in the
program includes 499,079 acres of
com, 51,423 acres of wheat, 7,496
acres of barley, 28,065 of oats and
2,269 acres of grain sorghum.
Producers who participate in the
acreage limitation programs
agree to reduce their plantings by
at least 20 percent for feed grains
or 107 thousand acres; 25 percent
for wheat, or 12.9 thousand acres.
Winter wheat producers also had
the options of reducing their wheat
acreage by an additional five or
ten percent for diversion
payments. The special wheat
diversion will take an additional
“Eight or nine wagons,”
Dad had said,
and here I must confess:
I hate putting hay away
but Dad likes buying it even
less.
It’s been sunny for three
days straight
that’s why we decided to
mow it.
When the hay was fit to bale,
Mother Nature made plans
to blow it.
So the hay lays in the field
at least until this rainfall
stops.
Noah may have had it bad,
but he wasn’t harvesting
crops.
2,274 acres out of wheat produc
tion. This acreage must also be
devoted to an acreage con
servation reserve.
Nationally, producers have
signed contracts to place 186.3
million acres of upland cotton,
extra long staple cotton, feed
grain, rice and wheat crop acreage
bases in the 1986 programs.
The acreage to be taken out of
production and devoted to the
Acreage Conservation Reserve
totals 43.9 million acres. The final
ACR may be smaller, since total
requirements are based on actual
plantings. A final report of total
acreage enrollment will be issued
after June 1,1986.
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