C4-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 3,1989 Good Stewards (Continued from Pago C 3) Junge Farms leukosis culls didn’t go into other herds. “We won’t sell leukosis animals to other farms. They go straight to the beef bams.” Team Management While Ray is in charge of plan ning and managing Junge Farms he feels that decision making on an operation of this size should be a team effort. “It’s gotten too big for me to mind all the details. With every one watching the details we can be sure everything is getting done. We kind of bump heads together for ideas. After all our decisions affect everybody,” said Ray. Perhaps part of the reason Ray is comfortable getting input from his employees is tlift high quality of the help at Junge Farms. “Our nephew. Jay Garis, serves as our herdsman. He’s been here about 12 years and is our longest full-time employee. He has a lot of input on breeding decisions. “Our son, Jason, works full time for the operation and he’s our mechanic. He’s mechanically inclined and very good help but of course don’t tell him I said so. “Karen is in charge of account ing and our youngest daughter, Suzann works part time with the calves and helps with the milk ing,” Ray explained. Their oldest daughter Leann Moyer is not employed on the farm. Her husband Michael works in an auto body shop. The Moyers also feel lucky to have Harvey Shaner working on Junge Farms. “He just started in March but he knows the meaning Celebrating 30 Years Of Service! of hard work and he never has to be told anything twice,” Ray exclaimed. In the summer the Moyers have gotten a labor boost from Rev. Junge and his family. “Rev. Junge and his seven children have come up each summer to help with the haying, general maintenance and normally they take on a project such as helping to build a bam. Of course, the Junge family doesn’t have to do this, but Rev. Junge believes in being useful. In fact, our farm motto is satisfaction in use,” Ray said. “AM” Feeds The Junge Cows One of the team’s most recent decisions resulted in the purchase of a new Alfa-Delaval Automatic feeding system. “Alf” as the unit is affectionately called, dispenses feed to the milking animals nine times a day. So far the only labor involved has been keeping the hopper filled and making sure the high moisture com is cleaned out each day. “Alf’ does the rest. “Alf* runs along a monorail in front of the cows. An electric eye on the unit reads a magnetic strip above each cow. “We figure feed separately for each animal, set the magnets on the strips and Alf does not work. We haven’t seen any increase in milk production but I expect to have a decrease in feed costs and there is already a labor savings,” said Ray. A feeding decision that did result in an increase in milk pro duction was to install a roller mill. “I thought that running com through the roller mill would increase production but our nutri Meet Our Staff- Pen W. Hostetler, Founder Stephen Hostetter “Store to Farm” Surge/Team Service Rodney Hostetler Electrical And Water Conditioning Sales & Service Frank Lehman Serving S.E. Leb. And 'arts of Lane. Co. About Special Discount For Mentioning This Ad! While the Moyers are willing to take advantage of technological innovations, they like to research their decisions carefully. “I don’t believe in change just for the sake of change. Take those isoacids for instances. We tried those for eight months and all we ended up with was less money and smelly hands. Now BST is being offered and that’s fine for places like Bangledcsh where they need more milk, but it will just hurt dairymen here in the long run,” Ray stated. Among the options that are being considered for the future are a new heifer bam and a new enter prise. “Suzann will be graduating in a couple of years and she would like to woik here full time. There isn’t enough work here to hire her presently so we are considering getting some miniature horses. They are smaller than many breeds of dogs and they are becoming popular. They don’t require much labor so Suzann could manage them herself.” According to Ray the retail Our Goal Continues... Good Service At Reasonable Cost!! SURGE, MILKING UNITI tionists discouraged the idea. Then one of the dealers agreed to let us install a roller mill in the barn for three months at no charge. Within days of using it we saw our milk production go up by three pounds and butterfat was up by a pound. To say the least the mill is still here,” Ray said. Junge farms has 80 comfort stalls and milking is done with a pipeline. “We normally have one preper and two milkers. We don’t teat dip. We discovered that feed ing during milking, using indivi dual towels to wash and dry the udders is effective in keeping the somatic cell count under 200,000.” Research The Moyer Way Hostetter Surge • No Cross • High Capacity • Visibility • Easy Handling price of miniature horses ranges between $lO,OOO and $50,000 apiece. The Moyers are happy to see their children staying in produc tion agriculture. “You have to make up your mind that you’re going to be a far mer then you have to make your attitude up. You have to forget about people making $lO an hour and getting all sorts of holidays and concentrate on doing the best job possible. “I don’t believe hard work ever killed anybody, but stress can. We know so many farmers that are just holding on ’till they can retire and sell the farm. They encourage their sons to go to college and find off farm professions. The farms are sold and houses spring up on them. “I keep wondering what our grandchildren and their grandchil dren are going to do. We believe in being stewards of the land not only for our generation but for generations x to come and Rev. Junge shares our concern. Ray can handle all the big decisions on the farm and all the worries but urban development causes him a lot of stress,” Karen added. Karen does see a ray of hope. _ “One young lady in the neighbor- * hood had the option of building s KUBE KOOLE R SURGE/TEAM "A Farm Store At Tour Door" Don’t Settle For Less... Don’t Pay More! • The Right Products Delivered By A Trained Specialist!! • her new house on the home farm or buying a hillside that couldn’t be used for farming. She announced that she was going to build according to her convictions and now she has a lovely hillside home. We need more of that type of thinking instead of the get rich quick attitude.” Besides encour aging their own offspring to become involved in the farm, the Moyers are trying to educate the public through farm tours for young people. “We’ve had kindergarteners, home- schoolers and nursery clas ses visit the farm. We try to show them that we’re like their parents. I tell them that I wear perfume and make supper like their moms but I have other jobs, too. We also try to show them a real farm is quite dif ferent from the story book version. There is more than one cow, one sheep, one chicken. Well you get the idea,” Karen said. The Moyers have had between 300 and 400 visiters at the farm. So what’s *n the future for Junge Farms? “I hate to really set a goal. I could say 25,000 pounds but I think we’ll beat that. I could cull the herd to 40 animals right now and have an average between 28,000 and 29,000,” Ray said thoughtfully. The leam Milk Monitor" benefits the dairymen with • Canalatant mllklnf • IwprovMl hard haatth by raduc- Infl Um itokt af avannldilai. • Tima and energy aavad. Uaa checking and rachackkig. • Peace d mind • redaf addiara wßk the era* YOU amnl II dona. j lEAIMM Call Us Today... PEN W. HOSTETTER RD 2, Annville, Pa. Ph: (717) 867-2896
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers