*
Farmers
(Continued from Page Al)
But farmers, not only in southern
Pennsylvania but throughtout the
Southeast, will not likely forget the
leanness, the sparse crops, brown
and dead pasture, empty barns
and silos, and hungry livestock
that marked the Drought of 1966.
Nor is it likely, as they plant
and hope that drought-stricken
livestock producers will soon
forget the outpouring of generosity
that brightened for many a bleak
winter of sparse feed supplies,
added feed expense and heavily
crunched cash flow.
It was an effort of sharing that
began with farmers loading up
excess hay from their own mows
and fields, and eventually spread
to churches, community service
groups, private businesses, 4-H
and FFA’ers, ag-support groups,
governmental agencies, even the
National Guard.
In Pennsylvania, drought relief
concern in late summer
culminated in the establishment of
a relief fund, co-ordinated
primarily by Lancaster Fanning
and the Pennsylvania Farmers
Association.
“It mostly started when people
who had no hay to share wanted to
donate money to the effort,” ac
cording to Lois Brandt. Brandt is
the office manager for PACMA,
commodity marketing arm of
PFA.
PACMA’s livestock coordinator
Ron Manley and Lancaster Far
ming editor Everett Newswanger
agreed to work with the initial
establishment of the fund for
funneling donated monies to
farmers in need of hay for
livestock. Since Manley’s job
responsibilities keep him out of his
Camp Hill office a great deal of the
time, Brandt managed most of the
actual records keeping and related
chores entailed in administering
the fund.
Response to the fund was
overwhelming, eventually sur
passing $25,000, including $8,500
donated by the Southern District of
the Church of the Brethren.
Brandt is also an active worker
for Pennsylvania’s Southern
District of the Church of the
Ellis Crawl, past president of the York County Farmers
Association, helped coordinate hay deliveries in the drought
wracked southern half of the county. With the relief efforts
drawn to an end, corn planting offers renewed optimism for a
year of more plentiful feeds harvest.
Survive Winter With He
Brethren. In an effort to get hay
'moved early in the program, she
called Church World Service,
headquartered at New Windsor, in
search of a truck. That call got her
a connection to Charlie Sellers.
Sellers, Southern District
Disaster Coordinator for the
Church of the Brethren, is ac
customed to responding on short
notice to organizing and assisting
with various disaster emergencies.
WittKimOagging enthusiasm, the
Spring Grove retiree made hun
dreds of phone calls and spent
countless hours in the actual
arranging, loading, directing and
helping to deliver thousands of
bales of donated and purchased
hay.
Sellers’ right-hand man as hay
deliveries continued through the
winter was fellow church member
Lester Ferrance. Warren Esh
bach, district manager for Church
of the Brethren, also played a
major role in the hay relief efforts.
Initial efforts were directed at
sending hay to parched farm
communities in the South and
Piedmont areas. Loads of hay went
to Georgia, North Carolina,
Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.
But, a large part of the hay relief
focus soon turned to neighboring
farmers in York County.
“When we realized how serious it
was here, we decided to keep the
assistance right here at home,”
relates Sellers.
Also called into a leadership role
in the local hay relief effort was
York County extension agent Tony
Dobrosky. Through the extension
service and local ag leaders, an
application form was quickly put
together. Farmers facing cqrtailed
feed supplies were asked to fill out
the forms, which indicated
numbers of livestock and feed on
hand.
“Tony worked very hard to be as
fair as possible to every involved,”
says Airville dairymen Ellis
Growl.
Crowl, president of the York
County Farmers Association,
when the relief effort began,
agreed to assist with the coor
dination of hay deliveries to the
drought-stricken southern half of
Hay, Thanks Again
Among the hundreds of loads of hay moved throut relief efforts were nine att
from the Waynesboro orchards of the Lucabaugh family. Assisting with the loading were,
from right, Jim Pentz, Stewart Lucabaugh, Lester Ferrance, Earl Krout, Nevin
Lucabaugh, Glenn Miller and Steve Neeley.
the county. Like Brandt, Sellers,
Dobrosky and many others in
volved, his commitment to help
move hay to hungry livestock on
full-time farming operations was
one of many personal hours.
Four trainloads of hay came by
railcar to Stewartstown, courtesy
of vice-presidents and general
managers A.P. Smith of the MA
and PA Railroad, and George Hart
of the Stewartstown Railroad. And,
an Army National Guard convoy of
donated hay arrived in the
southern part of the county early in
the relief efforts. Cooperating with
efforts of the military assistance,
and other relief arrangements,
was Chuck Muir of the Penn
sylvania Department of
Agriculture.
Before the haylift effort ended
just a few weeks ago, 85 truckloads
of hay aided southern York County
farmers. The total 726 tons, or
36,308 bales, helped feed cattle on
51 different farms. Of that, 48 were
family dairy herds averaging 66
cows per herd, and three were beef
herds, averaging 51 cows per herd.
Now, the Summer Drought Hay
Relief fund is drained. But, in its
wake are dairy cattle still in
milking strings, when, without a
timely delivery of hay, they might
otherwise have simply been sold.
Beef cows that might have gone to
slaughter have delivered a new
generation of calves.
And farmers, caught in cash
deficit situations breathed a bit
easier for a few weeks after a
trailer unloaded a few hundred
bales of hay. Some of the hay came
free, donated or bought with fund
dollars.
On many loads, farmers paid all
or part of the transportation costs,
with the fund also underwriting
some delivery charges. According
to Growl, every load that came free
of transportation charges was
divided among several producers,
as were loads of extra-high-quality
hay.
Representative of the drought
stricken York County dairymen
are Melvin and Barb Marks, and
their daughters, Nicole, 3, and
baby Erin, 1. The Marks family
has been farming less than three
years, and moved onto their
present rented farm at Collinsville
last November.
At harvest, Marks inventoried
about half the feed he’d hoped to
have on hand for the winter. He’d
put every stalk of his 50 acres of
corn, instead of the anticipated 20,
into the silo. With no grain, Marks
then switched to a complete feed
for the cows, to save what ear com
he could for other feeding. Rye
went on the 50 com acres in the
fall, toward anticipated feed
shortages this spring. A major
concern was running out of silage
From Relief Fund
express it,” say Melvin and Barb Marks, one of 51 southern
York County farm families who stretched scarce winter feed
with hay from the Drought Relief Fund. As their remaining
supply of bales dwindles, Melvin, with Nicole, and Barb,
holding Erin, look ahead to the spring rye ready for harvest.
before the rye was ready, with keep the hay.
Marks keeping close watch on silo
levels and alloting feeding volume.
Hay was in short supply, too.
But, looking back, this young dairy
producer relates that, every time
he started to figure how he was
going to wring a purchase of hay
out of the cash flow, the phone
would ring telling him that he was
due in line for a load.
“It helped stretch about three
months worth of hay through the
winter,” he says quietly. “We are
just so appreciative that it’s hard
to find the words to express it.”
Marks acknowledges that it is
hard for a farmer to admit a
problem, such as the feed shor
tage, even though the cause was
through no fault of his own. And,
too, he adds that there were times
when, after hearing of farmers
farther South with virtually no
feed, they wondered if they should
1986 Summer Drought Hay fund
To Whom it May Concern
I have examined the accounting records and financial transactions of
bverett Newswanqer and Donald Bisscr coordinators and in coopention with the
Pa. farmers Association for the 1906 Summer Drought Hay fund for the period
of July 1906 thru May 1907.
I h iv« found them satisfactory in the collection and disposition of funds
foi rhi l beneficial service,
Due to continued “pencil
pushing,” frequent silage in
ventories, hay relief hay that
helped feed young stock, and
saving the very best alfalfa hay for
the milking herd, Marks was able
to maintain his herd production
despite stretched feed supplies.
“There are still a lot of good
things happening from people, lots
of people with the right heart,”
says (Yowl of the emotional boost
that drought-stressed farmers
found in the generous sharing
efforts.
“To some people, it just meant
so much; there was some livestock
out there getting real hungry. For
some, it was the only hay, the only
feed, they had.”
And drought-stricken farmers,
from southern York County and
unknown places across the
Southeast, say “Thanks.”
Respectfully S about tec
Donald S. Eby
3424 West Pequea Lane
Gordonville, PA
May 7, 1987