landing in the paddock with the Holstein and Jersey cows are
son, Matt.
Dairy Farmer Lets Cows
Do The Harvesting
GAY N. BROWNLEE
Somerset Co. Correspondent
FRIEDENS (Somerset Co.)
Glenn Moyer believes in running
an efficient dairy operation while
keeping investment costs at a
minimum. That’s the primary rea
son he uses the rotational grazing
methods for his mixed Holstein
and Jersey dairy herd.
While the rotational grazing
option is sometimes controversial
among dairy farmers, Moyer said,
“If you want to make it work, you
have to stick with it. You can’t
give up as soon as something goes
wrong.”
The S 3 acres of permanent pas
ture on the Moyer farm are subdi
vided into 22 paddocks. There are
150 more acres which are either
for pasture or hay. The cows are
rotated through the pasture as it is
cleaned from their grazing.
“You can harvest more of the
grass without a machine,” said
Moyer. He says the other benefit
is, “I can stay away from machin
ery investment and repairs.
“I’m not a tractor jockey,” he
said, “I’d just as soon not be on a
tractor.”
Moyer’s strategy is to increase
his dairy herd during the best pas
ture months of summer and
decrease the herd in fall. In recent
weeks he purchased-29 more head
of Jersey cows for the summer,
bringing the total to 37 along with
43 head of Holstein cows. Their
milk is sent to the same dairy for
market.
During the summer drought of
GAY BROWNLEE
Somerset Co. Correspondent
Gay Brownlee, the mother of
six children, said that now that
the youngest one just graduated
from high school, she is more
confused than ever with the
options before her.
Nothing is more strange to a
devoted mother than some well
deserved independence follow
ing some 30 years of “home”
work, she said.
* n ** it v*m(, v t " *•? *
Sisters Greta and Shelby Moyer sit on the porch with
their collie dog, Vanna.
1991, Moyer had to compensate
for this pasturing method by buy
ing more store feed. He says a nor
mal grazing season is approxi
mately 190 days. Last year that
average fell drastically to about 70
days in season and zero in the fall.
Add to that problem the water
shortage which Moyer and his
wife, Evelyn, had been fighting
anyway for the nine years they
lived on the farm. Things got so
desperate, they were forced to
have a well drilled. On the Fourth
of July, 1991, the lines were
hooked up and they had a super
■v’. ,£*>■>
mn Moyer and
water supply, better than ever
before, in fact, and it came three
hours before the end of the other
water source.
About the water woes, Moyer
said, ‘That was one of the sur
prises we got when we moved
here.”
The farm, which a friend in the
real estate business found for
them, was in pretty bad shape.
Redoing the big red bam was the
first priority, along with replace
ment of 21 of the 26 house win
dows already broken by vandals
when the house was unoccupied.
The Snyder County transplants
to Somerset County had plenty to
do. “We were young and ambi
tious and foolish,” said Moyer.
“Actually, I was looking for a tie
stall farm.”
Of course, the Moyer children
Shelby, age 14, Matthew 11,
and Greta, 6 were delighted to
add their memories from the 1991
drought to the conversation.
Draped over the kitchen table with
a bent knee balanced on a chair,
the three red-haired urchins fired
away. For one thing, using the
automatic dishwasher was a “no
no” in those days which necessi
tated washing dirty dishes by
hand. Few things are worse to a
teen-ager or preteen-ager.
They told how their mother had
to take the family laundry to the
laundromat in town. “They ran out
of quarters,” said Shelby, “and
then they had to use our money.”
Flushing, Evelyn said, "I
(Turn to Pag* E 10)
* * <1
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