A24*Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 8, 1991
EVA MARTIN
Maryland Correspondent
WOODBINE, Md. David
and Ann Patrick and their family
own and operate Maple Dell Farm
just south of Woodbine. The love
and care exhibited by the Patrick
family is what you hear and read
about, but seldom have the oppor
tunity to observe. Their genuine
friendliness and care of others is
shown in their concern to bring
farm and city together.
Three years ago, Maryland ini
tiated a 4-H Dairy Cattle Leasing
Program to provide non-farm
The farm sign marks the end of the lane of Maple Dell
farm, home of the Patrick family.
Some of the Russell siblings show their leased cattle. From left is Joellia, April,
Jeremiah, Antonio and Jonathan.
Maple Dell Farm sits in a pastoral location in Maryland.
Maple Dell Doing Well With 4-H Program
youth aftd youth from farms with
non-registered cattle the oppor
tunity to work with registered
dairy animals as a 4-H project
This year, five children of the
Larry Russell Family from Mt
Airy are participating with the
Patricks in this program. Mr. Rus
sell knew the Patrick family from
earlier days when he occasionally
worked on the farm.
Jeremiah, 13, began his project
last year inspiring his other
brothers and sisters to accept the
challenge. Jeremiah is in the ninth
grade at Glenelg High School and
has a senior yearling Ayrshire
heifer called Maple Dell Swingers
Singer. Jeremiah says he has never
seen a calf bom and is looking for
ward to having his heifer calve,
hopefully in March. At the recent
Wills Show, Jeremiah placed sec
ond in Fitting and Showing and
third in class placings. He com
mented, ‘The Patrick family are
nice and generous people. I am
learning a lot about cows. It’s fun
and a lot of hard work. I would
like to have a farm and herd of my
own some day, or pursue a career
in working with and showing
cattle.”
The Patricks are fond of Jere
miah and asked him to go with
them for a week at the Eastern
National Show last year, but his
mother didn’t want him to miss
school.
Jeremiah’s twin sister, Joellia,
has a summer yearling Ayrshire
heifer, Maple-Dell IRS Firefly.
She really enjoys leading her ani
mal and working to get her ready
for show. She says the first day
they came to the Patrick farm to
work, daughters Carol and Rhon
da spent four hours helping them
with their animals, leading them,
washing, brushing, and teaching
them techniques for showing.
Joellia says, “It’s fun until they
step on your toes!” She won fourth
place in fitting and showing at the
Wills show, “because I didn’t look
at the judge”, but placed first in
class placings.
Antonio, 17, the oldest in the
family, is a junior at Glenelg High.
He says, “my first experience
working with my heifer, Chrissy,
was not as bad as I thought it
would be”. One of the things
Antonio really likes is that this is a
family project, each having their
own animal, but they can work
together and help each other.
Thirteen year old April attends
ration for a show.
Glenwood Middle School. Her
heifer is a Junior Yearling named
Bryanna. She says, “this has been
a fun experience, but I don’t like
getting dirty.” She says they learn
a lot from coming to the Patrick
farm and working with their
animals.
Jonathan, 11, has an intermedi
ate heifer calf, Plum-Bottom
Hemlock Maple. He likes to brush
his heifer and it shows. The fitting
and showing judge at the Wills
show commented that although
Jonathan was fifth in the class, he
had the cleanest animal in the
show. He doesn’t like when his
heifer stops when you try to walk
her. Jonathan also has three geese
as a 4-H project.
The lease agreement signed by
the sponsor, 4-H’er and 4-H’er’s
parents set forth guidelines of
what the sponsor expects from the
4-H’er in return for the use of their
animal. The Patricks require the
4-H’er to work with their animals,
training them to lead, preparing
them for fitting and showing,
including clipping their own ani
mals. It is also specified in the
agreement that they will help care
for their own animals at shows.
Another aspect of Farm and
City coming together on the Pat
rick farm is farm tours for nursery,
pre-school and school children.
Ann Patrick takes a special
interest in this project, helping
children and their parents leant
about the farm and the special care
farmers take to give them good
and safe products for their tables.
>s down her leased animal in prepa-
She begins her tour with the
calves in the hutches, showing
how well they are cared for on an
individual basis. Then as they
move on to the box stalls where
they are grouped, she tells the
children the calves are like chil
dren going to kindergarten and
learning to get along with other
children.
Ann believes hands-on experi
ence, allowing the children to
touch, feed, and feel animals, is
important to their understanding
of what takes place on the farm.
Cotton seed meal, soybean meal,
alfalfa hay and com silage are
shown to the children and she
explains how, when mixed
together, they form a total ration
for the nutritional needs of the
dairy animals. She emphasizes
recycling, using the whole stalk of
com, even the fodder for bedding
and then returning the manure for
plant food to the fields.
In the milking parlor is a black
board on which treated cows are
marked. In case one is missed
there, a secondary precaution is a
red leg band. She lets children vol
unteer to be a treated cow, placing
the red leg bands on their legs 'o
emphasize the milk from these
cows is never to be put in the tank
for their consumption.
Ann says although they are con
cerned about the insurance risk of
bringing so many children to the
farm, the rewards of seeing the
enlightment in their eyes as they
learn is what is important to her.
(Turn to Pago A2S)