BMancastor Fanning, Saturday, February 10,1990
BY LINDA WILLIAMS
Bedford Co. Correspondent
EVERETT (Bedford Co.)
Lori Sollenberger Knepp grew up
loving Jersey cows, cats, and
everything connected with the
rolling farmlands around her
home.
At an early age, she began
showing Jersey cows and walking
away with a hefty number of
prizes at county fairs. She was
never outranked by her older sis
ter, Beth, now a minister in Day
ton, Ohio, nor by her brother,
Leon, who has also returned to the
home farm.
“I was always active in 4-H,”
Lori remembers. “I sewed as well
as showing cows and that’s some
thing I still like to do. The prob
lem is I don’t have enough hours
to spend on sewing projects.”
At S’B”, she finds it difficult to
find store bought clothing that fit
properly. The expertise she gained
as a 4-H sewer has also made her
rather particular in clothing con
struction.
After graduating from Everett
High School, Lori went on to Penn
State where she received her
degree in Dairy Science in 1981.
“I always thought I would like
to be in dairy research,” this tall,
slim, brunette says now, “but
after giving it a try one summer at
college. I knew I wanted to return
to the farm. It’s the animals. I’ve
always loved animals and I just
knew farming was what I wanted
to do.”
Returning to Everett and the
Sollenbergers’ 120-acre farm,
which includes another 120 rented
acres, Lori still wanted to spread
her wings and try a few adven
tures.
“I spent one winter on a farm in
lowa just getting some experi
ence,” she remembers. “And,
then I spent two more winters
working in a United Church of
Christ missions program in Sri
Lanka.”
An active Brethren all of her
life, Lori chose the UCC program
because her own church did not
have any missionary programs in
the parts of the world she wanted
to explore.
Then, in 1987, Lori settled in as
a full-time farm hand on her
father’s farm. By this time,
brother Leon, was also able to join
dad, Ray, in the farm work.
And, Lori got married to Rex
Knepp, a computer analyst for
New Enterprise Stone and Lime.
The couple met while co
counseling a canoe trip for the
youth of the Brethren Church.
While not a farm boy, Rex had
grown up in nearby Morrison’s
Cove and was familiar with farm
Ul , -'fl Jerseys since she was a little girl.
It s one of her favorite parts of the dairying business.
Love For The
life. ‘‘He seems to enjoy it,” Lori
smiles. ‘‘He’s always willing to
pitch in and help with the farm
work when it’s my weekend to
work.”
Lori’s main responsibility on
the farm is the milking and record
keeping of the more than 75 cows.
It’s always been my father’s
theory that one person should be
primarily responsible for the milk
ing,” Lori explains.
“That way, in the summer, not
everyone has to come in from the
fields to do the milking.”
Lori’s work day begins at 4 a.m.
when she dons her coveralls and
boots and drives the short distance
from the small farm she and Rex
have bought to the Sollenberger
farm.
“We’ve always had Jerseys,”
she says proudly. “A lot of prize
winning Jerseys. It’s a family trad
ition. My grandfather had a big
Jersey herd and there were four
boys in the family. They have all
specialized in Jerseys.
“Another reason we have spe
cialized in Jerseys is because of
their smaller size,” Lori con
tinues. “A smaller cow does not
eat as much and a herd of Jersey
cows do not take as much room as
a herd of Holsteins.”
Lori and Leon share the early
morning milking. “On the morn
ings I don’t have to milk, I feed.
Then I don’t have to go to work
until 6 a.m.,” she said with a
smile.
If there is time for a few hours
off, Lori takes them between the
end of the morning milking
around 7:30 a.m. and the begin
ning of the evening milking at 3
p«n. “We usually finish up
around 6 or 6:30,” she says.
Lori often prepares dinner
before going to do the milking and
husband, Rex, heats it up and has
dinner on the table when she
returns from the bam.
“The most challenging part of
the dairy industry is the breed
ing,” expresses Lori. “I do all of
the record keeping and it’s always
a challenge to think that we can
breed a better producer, a better
cow. It’s the part I enjoy the
most.”
Lori and Rex do find some time
to get away together. “I have
every other weekend off from
milking,” Lori says. “Every wint
er we try to take a long weekend.
It’s a lot more difficult to get away
in the summer, so we usually try
to work in a vacation during an off
season.”
Elaine Sollenberger, Lori’s
mother, held a high position in the
Brethren Church for a number of
years that caused the entire family
to attend the Brethren conference
last summer. Lori states. “We
Farm Brought Her Home
paid someone to do the work and
we all went together.”
Despite a work day which can
begin at 4 a.m. and not end until
late in the evening, Lori is active
in her church, the Everett Church
of the Brethren. She currently has
a part-time position which entails
about six hours a week as a direc
tor of youth ministries. With near
ly 400 members, there are more
duties at the Church of the
Brethren than the pastor can
handle alone.
The Sollenbergers attend three
county fairs and participate in the
Pennsylvania All American Show
at Harrisburg each year.
Last year they had the grand
champion Jersey and the junior
and reserve champion Jerseys at
the Morrison’s Cove Dairy Show
at Martinsburg. They took reserve
and two junior champion awards
at the Bedford Fair and walked
away with nearly all of the Jersey
titles at the Huntingdon Fair.
“We don’t do as well at the All
American,” Lori explains. “But,
it’s good exposure. We usually get
a lot of inquiries that continue all
year. We’ve sold quite a few cows
by attending that event And, last
year, we were proud to have the
calf that brought the most in the
“Pot of Gold Sale.”
Helping to farm 240 acres and
keeping records while milking 75
cows doesn’t allow Loti a lot of
free time. But, when she and Rex
can find a few moments, they
enjoy fixing up their old farm
house.
“We like to look for antiques,”
she admits. “When we buy a
piece of furniture, we always look
at public sales. We’ve found some
real treasures doing that”
One of her favorite pieces is a
glass front display cabinet that an
uncle was going to throw away.
“Don’t do that” Lai said, fill
ing it with collectible items, she
turned it into a usable and attrac
tive piece of furniture.
She also enjoys haunting
Nancy Herring’s Racing
Hog The Attention
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
CHALK HILL (Fayette Co.)
Two years ago Nancy Herring
recalls thinking, *T m over 60 and 1
can’t do anything.”
Today the 64-year-old jumps
over hay bales while cheering pigs
to victory.
Pig racing is a relatively new
sport that has rejuvenated Nancy
and brought her some fame and a
whole lot of enthusiasm.
She recalls that her debut into
pig racing just sort of happen. She
and her husband Holland, presi
dent of the state fair convention,
wanted to get a professional pig
racing team to come to the Fayette
County Fair.
But the team was booked and
commanded a fee of several thou
sand dollars.
“I decided I’d do it myself,”
Nancy said. “Of course I don’t
have the pot belly pigs that the pro
fessionals use, but mine are just as
much fun to watch.”
For her first race, she purchased
ordinary Duroc piglets and since
then has used a variety of breeds.
Some of her favorites were named
Miss Piggy, Eeenie, Meanie,
Minie and Mo.
“Pigs are smart and easy to
train,” Nancy said.
Ready to head out for the afternoon milking, Lori says
“goodbye” to one of her two housecats.
unusual gift shops where she
looks for unique collectible items
or music boxes.
One of her favorite parts of
farm life will always be the cats.
Lori and Rex have two house cats.
In addition. Lori has made more
than IS farm cats her personal
pets.
“I’ve always loved them,” she
says, snuggling up to a well-fed
Nancy Herring
And because pigs love sweets,
Nancy capitalizes on their sweet
tooth by rewarding the pigs with
Oreo cookies after they run around
the track.
Although she leads her four
piglets through the paces once a
day for 15 days before racing
them, she said, “It only takes one
time around the track for them to
figure out there is a cookie at the
end. Pigs are smart.”
Crowds gather to watch the
oinkers compete. Each pig is intro
duced to the crowd. Each pig has a
number on a silk and on a corres
ponding pendant Nancy picks
four children from the crowd and
tiger female. “They have indivi
dual personalities, they are self
sufficient, I just love them.”
Ask Lori’s dad if he was sur
prised when his pretty daughter
wanted to return to work on the
farm, he grins broadly.
“Not at all,” he says, “I knew
she could never stay away from
the cats.”
Pigs
has them hold a pennant Each
child and his surrounding'group
cheer their pig on to victory. T
shirts commemorating the race are
given as awards to the child who
holds the winning pennant.
With grunts, squeels and a few
shoves, the winning pig crosses the
finish line to the wild cheers of the
crowd. Pigs run about 200 feet in
11 or 15 seconds.
It’s a real crowd pleaser.” Nan
cy claims, “And the pigs have as
much fun as everyone else.”
Her shows usually last 15 to 20
minutes. She said at the Fayette
County Fair, Rick Allen, a well
known Holstein breeder, acts as
the announcer and encourages an
enthusiastic crowd. Several child
ren help with the races.
As a curtain call, Nancy asks the
crowd if they’d like to see a pig
drink a soda. With obvious piggish
manners, the pig slurps a soda
from a bottle.
Some secrets on the behind-the
scenes pig racing that Nancy has
uncovered are that pigs have a
pecking order. One pig is always
the leader and the other pigs
follow.
For exciting racing, pigs should
be between IS to 20 pounds and
(Turn to Pago B 3)
9