BY BARBARA MILLER The Cooleys, Sharon and Dale, Lycoming County Correspondent and their children, Beth, IS, Brian, WILLIAMSPORT - Beth Cooley 12, and Jason, 11, farm 100 acres may be the only ninth grader in and milk 40 Holsteins a few miles Pennsylvania who routinely south of Williamsport. Their most selects bulls to artificially in- recent DHIA printout listed their seminate a dairy herd. herd average at 20,164 M and 708 F. For the past few years Beth has Beth did quite well in the spring been performing this function for dairy judging competition at Penn her father. Dale Cooley of Allen- Square according to Bob Cross, her wood. Beth says her father, dairy judging team instructor, sometimes uses a mating service, “Her score put her in a tie for the but her suggestions often override top 20 in reason scores, and she those of the service. missed being the top 20 by three Beth has accumulated numerous ribbons and trophies during her years of competition. Some are displayed from lampshades, while others hang from the living room curtains. Lycoming Co. Correspondent Barbara Miller, Lycoming County correspondent, is the fourth generation to live on the farm where she and her family now reside. Although the Millers no longer farm the homestead, Barbara says, they thoroughly enjoy the rural setting. A 1960 graduate of Hughesville High School, Hughesville, Barbara spent the next 14 years as a housewife. In 1974 she enrolled at Bloomsburg State College, Bloomsburg, and graduated in 1978 with a degree in secondary education, English. However, about halfway through college, Barbara notes, she “fell in love with writing.” From that time there was no question that writing would play a major part in her life. After college graduation Barbara worked for an agricultural weekly for four years in the nor thern part of the state and freelanced for various local papers in addition to doing oc casionally publicity. She has published a few of her poems. Barbara has been a staff correspondent for Lancaster Farming since September. Barbara and her lyeoming County Toon Knows Bull Traits, Pedigrees Barbara Millar fm-t* f ¥ jj, , ~ 4 * # . 4 • H , * \ «> 1 1 | * )> » Is I * * Barbara Miller husband, John, are the parents of two children, Monique, 21, who is a licensed practical nurse, and BUly Joe, 18. The Millers are active in their local church, serving through the years in various capacities as Sunday School teachers, youth group leaders, and Sunday school superintendent. A great fan of the outdoors, Barbara says she attempts to walk three miles a day, rain or shine. She enjoys reading and writing poetry and has a great interest in meeting people. points in the overall score. I’m real impressed with her abilities. She is consistently able to find what it takes to make a good cow a good cow. Not only does she know the traits of the bulls, but she also knows the pedigrees on the bulls... She’s gone a long way for someone her age,” Cross observed ad miringly. Last year Beth took the grand champion prize at the Lycoming County Fair Youth Show by showing her cow, Bald Eagle Creek Wanda; she placed second in the senior two-year-old class in district competition and then won ninth in her class at the state 4-H competition at Harrisburg. She was awarded a blue ribbon for senior division showmanship at the Lycoming County Fair. Beth chose Wanda when not yet a two-year-old from a group of heifers belonging to a neighbor with an excellent herd, Franklin Finck. “Dad paid the bill, but I made the decision,” she explains. Wanda recently classified VG-86 at three years, Beth proudly reports, and is currently giving 19,807Mand706F. It is evident Mr. Cooley is con fident of his daughter’s ability. “She knows quite a lot about bulls,” he observes. “At nights she reads all the sire summaries and she keeps up on them.” “I digest bull books,” Beth says. “I am known to know the bulls better than some around,” she admits. She observes that others, in cluding her instructors, frequently rely on her for information about bulls. Usually she is able to answer them immediately, but if she doesn’t know the answer, she searches the bull books until she finds it. As for'matching a cow to a bull, Beth says, it is accomplished by “picking out the faults you like to correct in a cow and picking out a bull that will correct the faults. For example, if you have a cow that is low in milk, you breed with a bull that is high in milk, etc. ” Lime-Hollow-Elevation Mars is one of Beth’s favorite bulls. His progency, she reports, are high in milk production and are good type animals. Beth spends a substantial amount of time involved in 4-H activities. She joined the Bald Lampman Is Potter County's First Daily Princess ULYSSES Potter County has its first dairy princess following a pageant at the Ulysses Community Building May 30. She is Dawn Lampman, the 17-year-old daughter Dean and Arlene Lampman, Ulysses. Alternate dairy princess is Ann Douglass, the daughter of Charles and Bernita Douglass of Sabin sville. Dawn is a junior at Northern Potter High School. She enjoys ceramics, horseback riding and riding her three-wheeler. Ann is a senior at Galeton High School. She plans to attend Elizabeth College this fall to study law. Ann has been very active in school activities, including chorus, language club, National Honor Society, volleyball, enrichment program, junior and senior plays, speech plays and was VFW essay winner. She enjoys public speaking, reading, writing, cooking and baking. Each contestant was in terviewed by the judges prior to the start of the program. During the program, each contestant gave a three- to five-minute presen tation. Other contestants were Rita Freeman, the daughter of Almon and Irene Freeman of Ulysses, a Karmen Tomb, the daughter of *’ w » , Beth poses with her cow, Bald Eagle Creek Wanda. Eagle 4-H Club seven years ago at the insistent of a friend and her father who, she says, “kept bugging me.” She’s an active participant in dairy, cooking and sewing clubs. For awhile, she reports with a giggle, she even belonged to an additional club in a neighboring county. And for the past two years she has been sharpening her dairy judging skills as a member of the Lycoming County dairy judging team. Having trained 14 or 15 Holsteins while participating in 4-H projects, Beth says her secret of handling them is simply working with them and learning to trust them. “You have to leam to trust them. Keep them exercised so they’re not rambunctious so they handle better. You have to trust the cow and make the cow respect you,” she said. And the most enjoyable part of showing animals? “Winning!” Beth responds. “I really felt good placing ninth at *. Dawn Lampman, right, was selected 1986 Potter County dairy princess, and Ann Douglass, left, alternate princess. Alfred and Eleanor Tomb of of ceremonies. Judges were Tom Ulysses. Bowman, Potter County com- Guest speaker for the evening missioner; Florence Fuller, was Karen Babbitt, 1985 Allegany Allegany County dairy princess County, New York dairy princess, committee; and George Fuller, who talked about a dairy princess’ secretary, Eastern Milk responsibilities. Producers. Marie Ackley, 1983 Allegany County daipr princess, crowned Dawn. Marie is a member of the Dairy Promotion Committee. Sam Crossley, Potter County extension agent, served as master state (competition) because hardly anybody from Lycoming County can plbce that high with a Holstein.” Showing the animals, according to Beth, is the least enjoyable segment of working with them. “It’s so tiring, especially the showmanship class. It takes so long.” Feeding the calves and heifers and helping milk when needed are chores Beth performs on a daily basis at home. Enrolling in the dairy science program at Penn State is something Beth has been con sidering got the future. She says she’d also like to win the grand champion prize again at this year’s Lycoming County Fair. Mr. Cooley sums up his daughter’s personality by noting that although she was shy, she has overcome much of her shyness since joining the dairy judging team. “But she enjoys the dairy life -1 know that! ” he concluded. ihk The contest was followed by a dessert turreen. The 100 guests who attended the contest brought plenty of delicious desserts. Milk punch and coffee were also served.
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