BY MARJORIE KEEN
Chester Co. Correspondent
LANDENBERG (CHESTER)
Following her fiftieth public
appearance as Chester County’s
Dairy Princess, Elisa Wilkinson
took time out to show a visitor her
family’s dairy farm in Landen
berg. Wilkinson Farm milks 650
Holsteins around the clock on a
computerized carousel that takes
eight cows at a time. Each cow
rides the merry-go-round eight or
nine minutes while she’s milked.
“I used to do a lot of milking last
year and the year before,” said the
18-year-old Goldey Beacom Col
lege Freshman. “I would say it
takes about a month for them to get
used to it the first time.” A spray of
water from a garden hose directed
behind her legs persuades a cow to
board the carousel
“There’s no water involved with
the cow,” Wilkinson explained.
“The milker strips out a little bit
To open the holes we put iodine on
the udder and let it soak. About a
year ago we went to wash cloths
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mother dressed as the Purple Cow visit schools to
promote dairy products.
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for drying off instead of paper tow
els. We use one wash cloth per cow
and have a washer and dryer in the
bam.” The rate of mastitis is very
low, according to the Dairy
Princess.
The cows are grouped according
to how much they are milking,
Wilkinson said. TTiere are three
regular groups and a smaller group
with fresh cows. The pickup from
one milking may run 17,000
pounds.
Wilkinson has helped on the
family’s 4,800-acre farms since
she was 5. She began by helping
with calf records. At 10, she drove
the tractor and scraped out the
bams. When she was 14, the prin
cess was full-time calf manager.
During the summer, the farm has
as many as 120 calves in hutches
up the hill from the milking parlor.
At the county pageant last May,
the judges described the Dairy
Princess as “self-assured and
knowledgeable of the dairy indus
try.” Wilkinson’s presentation
incorporates a purple cow, played
liberdome
Incorporated
A Dairy
by her mother, Betsy, or 16-year
old sister, Chrissy.
The purple cow has traveled
with the princess to promote dairy
products at fairs and schools and at
Independence Mall in Philadelphi
a, where the cow cavorted with the
Phillie Phanatic to the delight of
onlookers. Wilkinson has made a
thick scrapbook and keeps a photo
record of her promotional
activities.
Her grandfather, Leon Wilkin
son, serves as the farmer advocate
on Pennsylvania’s Milk Marketing
Board, commuting to Harrisburg
from his home on the Wilkinson
Farm. He expressed pride in his
granddaughter’s reign. “I preached
to many of the fanners to give their
sons an opportunity and I have four,
sons,” he said, explaining that he’d
like to see the operation continued
by his grandchildren.
Elisa Wilkinson is studying bus
iness administration, hoping
someday to manager her own busi
ness. Perhaps it will be connected
to the dairy industry. Meanwhile
she works parttime as an insurance
company secretary in Kennett
Square.
In addition to farming, the prin
cess’ father, Charles, constructs
luxury homes on a nearby wooded
knoll. He also raises and boards
investment bulls as tax shelters for
show business personalities.
One of the blue-eyed Dairy
Princess’ special memories is the
day President Reagan visited
Wilkinson Farm in May, 1982.
“We did a lot of preparation,” she
said. “We painted the bam and
A* V 0 * k '%
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h< *
ison has lots of experience In caring for calfs.
trimmed everything... I couldn’t
believe the extent (of
preparation).”
Security was very tight, Wilkin
son explained. “None of our fami
ly got to talk to him except my
grandfather. We sat in the first row
(in the hay shed) about 15 feet
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away from him ... He was only
here about an hour.” She con
cluded the reminiscence about the
presidential visit, “It was nice to
see him.”
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