Onbei
a farm
-And a
hazar
Joyce B
Every day is Mother’s day on a
dairy farm.
Or at least it seems that way.
That’s because our livelihood,
our economic status, our very
moment-to-moment way of life
revolves around the continuing
cycle of motherhood.
For a cow to produce milk, she
must deliver a calf. To have that
calf, she has to be bred, either arti
ficially, or via the more danger
fraught method of keeping a bull
around. To reproduce she must be
healthy, get her exercise, avoid
stress, and consume large volumes
t*
The new
■ NEW I v ioors
■ NEW Simple, trouble-free collector ring redesigned for greoter ease of
service
■ NEW Vertical control guide wheel on auger's outer end adds stability
when raising the unloader
■ NEW Three-year limited warranty
■ High strength, extra-heavy angle iron frame
■ Heavy-duty double wall reinforced drive ring
■ Super tough chipper wheel shaves silo wall clean
■ Rugged 10" auger with heat treated Zinc Dichromated knives and
double flighting on outer end
The best Forage Box you can
buy is built by Bsipr
A Badger Box is built with high strength steel for
extra strength and specially treated, exterior grade
plywood to resist acids and deterioration. The bolted
undercarriage and roller
chain drive are designed
to take the toughest
punishment.
And Badger Boxes hold
their value. At trade-in
time many Badger
owners are surprised
to see their box worth
as much as when they
bought it new.
FANCY FURROW FARI
AG EQUIP., INC.
RR 1, Uhler Rd.
Easton, PA 18042
(215) 252-8828
CHIDESTER FARMS
RD 2, Box 75
Kingsley, PA 18826
(717) 289-4260
FARMER BOY AG
410 Lincoln Ave.
Myerstown, PA 17067
(717) 866-7565
of tasty foodstuffs in proper
balance of TDN (total digestible
nutrients),* fiber, fats, vitamins,
minerals and all that good stuff.
Making sure this all happens as
it should entails regular periodic
herd reproductive and health
checkups, plus occasional
emergency calls, by your friendly
local large-animal-practice veter
inarian, nutritionist, feed consul
tants, supply personnel, extension
experts and a whole retinue of
support people. That further
entails bam builders, equipment
suppliers, truckers, equipment
Salts & Service
RR 3, Mlftlinburg, PA 17844
(717) 986-2720
986-1996
McMLLEN BROS.
RR 1. Loysvllle, PA 17047
(717) 7893961
LEONARD WORK
RR 3. Brookvilla, PA ISB2S
(814) 849-3361
■ Center-mounted blower allows for further travel betweer
doors
■ Simple, trouble-free collector ring redesigned for greate
ease of service
■ Quick installation and low cost, the ideal replacement uni
■ High strength, extra-heavy angle iron frame
■ Rugged 10' auger with double flighting on outer end
equipped with heat treated Zinc Dichromated knives
■ Heavy-duty chipper wheel shaves silo wall clean
8N2054
540 RPM
FORAGE BLOWER
High Throw Capacity
With Ah Affordable Price!
• Cupped paddle design for high throi
with minimum horsepower
• High-strength steel band
• Shear bar design prevents feed carryover
• Simple trouble-free shaker pan - fewer moving parts
• 54” high capacity fan
• Hopper magnet option removes tramp metal
RANCK’S FARM EQUIP. SALES IA AO SALES*
BD 2 Box 164 PO. Box 200
LoZ»VITO44
(717) 899-7543 < 2ls > 257 5136
/DALE SPREADING DEERFIELD AG & TERRA-VIEW FARMS
SERVICE INC. TURF CENTER, INC. nD *• |£*: 7 P* 17740
505 Cliff St. RD 2, Box 212 (717) jso-41 //
Hontsdale, PA 18431 Wataontown, PA 17777 CECIL DAIRY STORE
(717) 253-2410 (717) 538-3557 374 Biggs Highway
MELVIN 6. MILLER BHM FARM EQUIP. INC. Ri,l "o M 0 2i9 1 1
RT 2, Spring Mill*. PA 16875 RR 1, Annvllle, PA 17003 (301)668-6923
(814) 422-8279 (717) 867-2211 HEFLIN SALES & SERVICE
, __ 12312 Oak Hill Rd.
SHOW EASE STALL CO. p| K EVILLE EQUIPMENT INC. Woodsboro. MD 21798
i M R T 2. Olay. PA 19547 (301) 896-3233
2»2536 ,215) “T- 6277 * Whaal Good, 0,117
people, seed companies, fertilizer
firms, and on and on.
To say nothing of the twice
(someplaces, thrice) daily “mid
dleman,” the person or persons
who connect the milking equip
ment to the cow, transferring the
white lifeblood of motherhood
from the cow’s production output
unit to an automatically cooled
tank.
And not to forget all those folks
that handle, process and market it
after it leaves the milk house.
This motherhood stuff sure
keeps a lot of people busy.
But all mothers need a break, a
rest period, a little vacation time.
We send ours to the dry cow “rest
farm” over the hill and down the
road a piece, where expectant
mothers go to condition their
bodies for delivery and await their
blessed events.
There they can lounge their
days away in the pasture or on the
straw bedding of the bam, soak up
sunshine and nibble grass, hay and
silage. No schedule, no structure.
But are they happy in this envi
ronment of all play and no work?
Apparently not. Every few
days, or at least recently, these va
cationing mothers make a break
*G.
for greener pastures beyond the
“rest farm.” They miss their fami
ly, they miss their friends, they
miss their work.
Actually what they miss most
are hearty scoops of high-protein
dairy ration feed, a necessity for
our milking mothers, but forbid
den, fattening food on the condi
tioning diet for dry cows.
Occasionally our mothers-to-be
put on a protest march against
their restrictive impending
motherhood diets, and make a
break to stampede the quarter
mile back home to the dairy bam.
Or they just go off their diets and
chomp up whatever they can find
in the closest fields.
Sometimes they apparently run
off for the sheer excitement of it,
like a recent rainy evening we
arrived home just after dark to find
the house surrounded by 20-plus
expectant mothers. We suspect
their plan had been to hold us cap-
Spring Fling
SCRANTON (Lackawanna
Co.) If you would like to leant
how to exercise and get a good
workout, plan to attend Penn State
Cooperative Extension’s “Spring
Fling” on Wednesday, May 16, at
Keystone Junior College from 10
a.m. - 2 p.m. Vince Brust, owner
of Vince Brust studios, will dis
cuss exercise and how to get phys
ically fit.
The event will also feature
Joyce Hatala, Lackawanna Coun
ty recycling coordinator. In addi
tion, Pam Brown of Milton, will
present a picturesque slide prog
ram sharing her experiences in
Kenya.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 12,1990-B3
live inside and bargain for extra
rations of sweet feed a strict
no-no on their dry-cow diets.
They turned tail and made
tracks when we arrived on the
scene. As you may have figured,
the tracks remain all over the
lawn, along with a few other
souvenirs of their aborted hostage
attempt.
But the transgressions of the
marauding mothers-to-be are for
given and forgotten as the every
day miracle of birth begins the
cycle again. Even after a quarter
century of delivering and caring
for these four-legged babies and
their mothers, we still take great
joy and satisfaction in a warm, wet
newborn calf lifting a wobbly
head.
Motherhood. It really is a
miracle.
Seems fitting that, at least once
a year, we pause to pay tribute to
that.
Reservations are $8 which
includes lunch and speaker fees.
For more information or to make
reservations, call the Penn State
Cooperative Extension office at
963-6842 by May 9.
HENRY K. FISHER INC.
Sandblasting &
Spray Painting
\ 1 1,1 1
Aerial Ladder Equipment
Farm Buildings Feed Mills
Commercial - Industrial
Repointing Interior/Exterior
667 Hartman Station Road
Lancaster, PA 17601
717-393-6530