AIS-Lmcasttr Fanning, Saturday, July 5,1986
15.5 Percent Fat Ice Cream, Creams Competitors
BY BARBARA MILLER
Lycoming Co. Correspondent
SHAVERTOWN - Four
generations of Conynghams have
owned what is now Hillside Farms,
Inc., Shavertown, for over 100
years. During this time many
changes have occurred. The farm
has grown from 100 to 500 acres,
the herd has increased to 93
registered Holsteins, and the farm
now features a dairy store that
sells Hillside Farms milk and ice
cream.
Throughout the years one factor
has remained constant; the
Conynghams of today are as
farsighted and innovative as their
predecessors.
William L. Conyngham, grand
father of the present owner,
William L. Conyngham, and owner
of a hardware company purchased
the farm in 1881 as a summer
home. Eventually, the farm was
inherited by his sons, John and
William H.
William H., father of the present
William L., bought his brother’s
interest in the farm in 1932 wherein
it became Hillside Farms, Inc.
Principal stockholders of the
farm today are William L. and his
two brothers and their families.
William L., who lives near the
farm, has always managed the
farm while his brothers tend other
family business. William L.’s sons,
William H. who is known as Will,
and Frank, manage the retail
operation at the farm.
Will (left), William L. and Warren Sutton relax in the new ice
cream parlor at Hillside Farms. Will manage the dairy store,
which includes the ice cream parlor; Warren Sutton manages
the actual farming and dairy operation for the Conynghams.
William L. is the general manager of the entire operation.
Will Conyngham stacks gallons of Hillside Farms milk for
sale to customers in the dairy store.
“We’ve been breeding Holsteins
for 101 years and can trace our
pedigree back to the first calf in
1885,” says William L. proudly.
“We used enough homebred bull
that, that drop of original blood is
still there.”
Always progressive with his
farming practices, William L. says
they started on the DHIA testing
program over 50 years ago and
classifying over 30 years ago.
The Conynghams current herd
average is 15,918 pounds of milk
and 587 pounds of fat. Their most
recent B.A.A. score is 103, ac
cording to William L. They raise
their own replacement stock, and
William L. notes they haven’t
bought a cow for five or six years.
Their milking herd is situated in
a tie-stall bam located a short
distance across the highway from
the store. According to Ward
Sutton, herdsman, the cows are fed
18 percent protein peliets, hay and
pasture, and com silage in the
winter. Dry cows and bred heifers
get a homemixed feed.
Cattle are pastured, William L.
comments, because much of their
land is composed of steep hills
from which the farm takes its
name. The herd is daily turned out
on pasture for exercise.
Cal-Clark Board Chairman,
Carlin M Ivanhoe Bell are two
bulls they are currently using and
they are milking a number of
Jemini and Elevation daughters.
The Conyngham’s farm 250
Hillside Farms
acres and will harvest 170 aces of
alfalfa and 80 acres of com this
year.
Historically the Conynghams
have taken an active interest in the
dairy industry and William L. is no
exception. When he was elected a
director of the Holstein-Friesian
Association of America in 1962, it
was the first time in the history of
the organization that two relatives
had been elected to the 16-member
board. John Conyngham, his uncle,
had served a term as director in
1913.
During the 1986 Farm Show, at
the Pennsylvania Dairymen’s
Association Banquet, William L.
received the Charles P. Cowan
Award, presented in recognition of
his leadership and concern in
promoting the dairy industry.
Currently a director of the
Columbia-Luzeme County Holstein
Club, William L. is a past
president of the Pennsylvania
Holstein Association.
Although William L. enjoys
talking about the past and other
aspects of the farm, it is when he
speaks of the retail store, built in
1977, that his eyes light up. It was
something he’d always had in
mind, he says, but never had the
time or the energy to get done until
his sons joined the management of
the farm.
On the advice of a friend, they
built the store considerably larger
than they had need for at the time,
he reports, but now they could use
even more space.
In the rear of the store milk is
processed and ice cream is
manufactured. According to Will,
federal law dictates that for a
product to be sold as ice cream, it
must contain at least 10 percent
milkfat. Hillside Farms exceeds
this lower limit in their ice cream,
which contains 15.5 percent
milkfat, giving it a much creamier
texture than most ice creams.
“We started out hoping to sell ice
cream to our milk customers,”
William L. observes, “but now it is
the other way around.”
' Ice cream sales have taken a
jump for several reasons. One
contributing factor to increased
sales is the fact that the dairy store
is located just six miles from
downtown Wilkes-Barre.
Another factor is an ice cream
truck. A few years after the store
was built, William L. recalls, they
bought a truck and equipped it to
sell their own hand-dipped ice
cream. The truck makes' regular
trips on Thursdays to the public
square in Wilkes-Barre and is
available for company parties,
fund raisers and other gatherings.
In the Luzerne County area. Will
says, selling hard ice cream from a
truck is a novel idea. The truck not
only boosted ice cream sales by
direct selling, but it also served as
a promotion tool.
“It’s nice that in promoting we
can make money,” observes Will.
Noticing the truck in the square
in Wilkes-Barre, A 1 Boscov, owner
of Boscov’s, a chain of department
stores, promptly negotiated with
Hillside Farms to install an ice
cream parlor in his downtown
Wilkes-Barre store. This ice cream
parlor scoops only Hillside Farms
ice cream.
“The parlor has grown slowly
but steadily,” William L. notes.
About a year ago, the
Conynghams turned a section of
their store into an ice cream
parlor. The idea has been a suc
cess.
“You should see them in here on
Sundays,” says William L.
Not only do ice cream lovers find
Hillside Farm’s parlor on Sundays,
but their tasty ice cream is noted in
a book. Bon Appetite magazine
refers to the book as the “ultimate
directory for all ice cream lovers.”
The book entitled, “The Very
Best Ice Cream and Where to Find
It,” by Carol T. Robbins and
Herbert Wolff may never make the
best seller list, but it is one of
John Shorts packages the ice cream in half gallon and 2Vi
gallon containers for Hillside Farm.
m t cinf
\ n 1 j- "‘•111 il r *-■■■ f
ICE CREAM
Frank Conyngham displays a sample of his wares on the ice
cream truck. Selling hard ice cream from the truck is a fairly
novel idea in the area. The truck goes to company parties and
to Wilkes-Barre to the square to sell ice cream on a weekly
basis.
William L.’s favorite books.
On page 244 of this book is a short
history of Hillside Farms and a
recommendation for their 15.5
percent milkfat ice cream. The
listing has helped ice cream sales
immensely.
“Anyway,” William L. notes
happily, “it put us on the map.”
Will chalks up their increased ice
cream sales to good marketing and
the fact that they “buy only top-of
the-hne flavors.” They recently
installed a computer to keep up
with inventory and to aid in
calculating the exact ingredients
necessary to mix ice cream for
mulas, he explained. If the milkfat
level in the milk or creams varies,
he says, then adjustments must be
made in the formulas.
Hillside Farms produces 800
gallons of ice cream per week and
sells 360 gallons of milk per day. Of
the 40 flavors they manufacture,
Will reports, their most popular
flavors in half gallon containers
are French vanilla, butter pecan,
and chocolate.
Near the end of the interview,
William L.’s son, Frank and two
employees headed for the ice
cream truck. According to Frank,
they were headed for a gathering
of 490 headstart children, all under
6-years-old.
One could get a bit seasick
looking down upon a sea of waving
hands in front of the truck window,
each demanding a different flavor.
It is a safe assumption that the 105
year history of the Conynghams,
they have produced no other in
novation that equals the
widespread gut level delight than
that created by their truck and ice
cream parlors.