E24-Umcaster Farming. Saturday, June 6,1992 Y~' '\ Greg, Teresa and Pete Kennis pose with several of their curious heifers at Hilltop Farm. Kennis has been additing nuts and recycled frying oil from a nearby restaurant to his cows' feeding rations to give the ration more texture, protein and energy. He said the soy oil addition has boosted milk production about one pounds per cow per day. Kennis Keeps Cattle, Stops Milking RANDY WELLS Indiana Co. Correspondent DUBOIS (Clearfield Co.) Teresa Kennis was baking apple dumplings in the kitchen of ho- Clearfield County home. Husband Greg was spending part of his lunchtime studying a computer print-out of a customized feed rationing program. Not unusual pastimes for a farm family. But the rationing plan was for cattle they don’t even own. Yet Greg and Teresa Kennis in many ways are like a lot of other Pennsylvania dairy families. They are challenged to meet expenses with unpredictable milk checks. And they try to squeeze more hours from a labor-intensive business so they can spend more time with children quickly becoming adults. Primarily for those two reasons the Kermis clan is a farm family in transition: they are making plans to stay in the dairy business by getting out of the business of milking cows. “I grew up on this farm and helped Dad build it,” Greg Kennis said of his attachment to the 325-acre spread of roll ing cropland just south of Dußois. A Penn State grad with a master’s degree in agriculture education, Greg came home to the farm on a full-time basis in 1984 after a 12-year stint as vo-ag teacher in the Marion Center Area School District in Indiana County. He had grown weary of the 60-mile daily commute to and from school. So when his father Pete decided to retire and offered the farm to Greg and brother Mike, he gave up teach ing. He and Teresa gradually built up a herd of 18 Guernseys and 23 Holsteins. “We’ve made a lot of progress in the last eight or 10 years,” he said, noting that average yearly milk production per cow grew from 15,000 pounds when they started to about 21,600 pounds now. Brother Mike also a former vo-ag teacher is now a science teacher in the Clearfield School District Greg and Teresa run the dairy operation with a helping hand from Pete and their four children. The children are really young adults. Daughter Cathy, 20, is the Pennsylvania Guernsey Queen and a medical technolo gy student at Clarion University. The other daughters are Julia, 13, and Lisa, 16. Son Greg, 14, is the athlete of the family, competing in junior high football, basketball and baseball. He sometimes tries to coax his father into hitting a few golf balls in the even ing, but Greg Sr. admits after a full day on the dairy farm he often doesn’t have the energy. “That’s one of the reasons I’m trying to change enter prises,” he said. “I’d like to have a little extra time to spend with them that we’re not working.” After raising cattle, successfully competing in dairy show ing and judging and winning the Guernsey Queen title, Greg and Teresa rather expected Cathy to remain active in agricul ture in some way. “She’d do great in dairy science,” her mother said. “I’ve been trying to tell her there arc lots of opportunities in the dairy industry without milking cows,” Greg added. He’s planning to prove that by example. A few months ago, Kennis took advantage of an opportuni ty to sell all his Guernseys, and now has only 25 Holsteins. They, too. may be gone by fall, but more likely by next summer. % -1* . I v»' * Every John Deere baler is a proven hay control system, delivering solid, square-sided bales loaded with leaves. Here’s how: 1. The 74-inch-wide pickup is low to the ground, multiple rows of teeth clean up your hay and narrow channel strippers help save leaves. 2. An adjustable floating compressor controls hay, forming it into a solid mat before it enters the auger. ADAMSTOWN EQUIPMENT INC. Mohnlon, PA (Mar Adamalown) 215-444-43(1 CARLYLE A MARTIN, INC. Hagaratown, MD 301-733-1(73 BARTRON SUPPLY, INC. Tunkhannoek, PA 717-C36-4011 Randy Wells, of Marion Cen ter RD 2, is a reporter and writer for the Indiana Gazette, a 20,000 circulation daily newspaper in Indiana County. This spring. Wells was hon ored with a second place Key stone Press Award from the Pen nsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association for his business and economic news reporting, and a fust place award from the Asso ciated Press Managing Editors for a series of stories he co authored on the Indiana County coal mining industry. He has contributed articles to Lancaster Farming about farms in Indiana, Armstrong, Jefferson and Butler counties. MEK. m fitness VDUCANMNC Dense, energy-pac ■ ENFIELD A.B.C. GROFF, INC. EQUIPMENT INC. Naw Holland, PA WMlalord, MD 717-384-4191 CLUGSTON FARM 301-482-5262 EQUIPMENT Naodmoro, PA 717-873-2218 CLUGSTON AG A TURF, INC. Chambarsburg, PA 717-BM-4103 FINCH SERVICES DEERFIELD AG A H {2KXS I SSf' TURF CENTER, INC. Wataontown, PA 717-MA-SIB7 RANDY WELLS Indiana Co. Correspondent 3. Hay is then gently angered into a tapered precompression chamber condensed and “folded 4. A side-mounted flywheel packs more kinetic energy into each bale charge. Plungerhead speet is fast and efficient The result? Hay is handled gently, with shearing, for denser, energy-packed bales after bale after bale. See your John Deere dealer today. EVERGREEN TRACTOR CO., INC. Labanen, PA 717-272-4 MI Randy Wells GUTSHALL’S INC. RO #2 Box 74-A Loyavilla, PA LANDIS BflOj LaneiAPi' 717-Mi-'* GUTSHALL'S INC. Cwllata, PA 717-249-2313 lehioh 1.6. SALES EQUIP* Sllvardala, PA Wmcmw 215-287-BIM 21S-3*< .bale KERMf KISTLEB LynnpWv 215-2»*
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