Agent’s Life
(Continued from Page B 2)
down off the right side a sharp
bend in Hilltop Road.
A steep-banted property, it is its
own miniature valley, with a stone
lane cutting on an angle down from
the road, past a small bam and gar
den, to the rustic house canopied
with a handfull of mature maple
and oak trees.
At the bottom of the valley is a
simple acre pond, which Ken said
needs repairs soon and gets
damaged by muskrat burrowing.
The pond is home to s and a
handful of geese aim ducks,
including a recent odd addition, a
mature Mandarin Drake. One of
the ducks was a present from a far
mer during a farm visit, Winebark
said. He took a fancy to it and said
so. The farmer suprised him and
gave him the duck to him as a gift.
The black spotted duck now
waddles up the hill from the pond
with the other all-white geese into
the middle of a steep pasture.
There the ducks and geese eat
cracked com spilled by three beef
cattle.
The ducks feed while the beef
cattle do. standing among the
heads and feet of Winebaik’s Sim
mental heifer and a friend’s two
Polled Hereford heifers.
Winebark said he treasures that
gift from the farmer.
The geese were a mess up.
Winebark didn’t want geese.
They came because he wanted
ducks for the pond, but his ankle
was broken and a friend volun
teered to buy some ducklings for
him at Green Dragon Farm Market
in Ephrata.
The ducklings nicely matured
into geese.
(It has never been determined
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whether the mistaken purchase
was intentional.)
Winebark graduated 1980 from
Penn State with a bachelor’s
degree in agricultural education
and worked for two years selling
animal health products in upstate
New York and New England.
He had known of Janet because
they went to high school together
and grew up 25 miles from each
other. They went to the senior and
junior prom together.
After a year of college, Ken
returned to the home farm and
went to work with his cousin doing
carpentry.
Janet was working as a licensed
practical nurse at a local hospital.
Ken’s brother was in the hospi
tal for a minor operation and
through a twist of fate, Janet was
his nurse.
Reunited through the misfor
tune of his brother, Ken and Janet
started dating and four years later,
after Ken earned his bachelor’s
degree in agricultural education
from Penn State, the two married.
He decided to go back to grad
school for a master’s degree. His
wife worked two jobs at State Col
lege to support them; as a nurse at
the hospital and at a restaurant.
When he graduated with his
master’s degree, there were two
openings in extension. He inter
viewed for both and got the Leba
non job.
‘This job has the best of both
worlds (academic and practical),”
Winebark said. T love my job.
Being able to work one to one
helping farmers realize a better
income, helping to cut down on the
solid waste stream (promoted and
helped usher in a newspaper drop
off point for farmers who want to
jasc it for livestock bedding), and
seeing changes occur on the farm,
it is all rewarding.
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“One farmer said he saved
$4,000 a year going from wood
shavings (for animal bedding) to
newspaper,” Winebark said “I’ve
seen that in the eight years I’ve
been here.”
He said that his start in exten
sion, and ultimately his attendance
at Penn State University is directly
traceable to the influence of exten
sion agents, his father and his high
school vocational agriculture
teacher.
And through participation in
youth livestock shows.
It was through the rewards and
organization of livestock show and
judging competitions that he came
to see the importance of learning as
much as possible about the animals
with which he was working.
This includes all the knowledge
of care, feeding, housing, repro
duction, and health which affect
the animal and also why the animal
exists as a domestic animal and
man’s dependance and changing
association with domestic
livestock.
As he matured, and was seeking
direction, he said he was
influenced to attend Penn State
University because of what it had
to offer and its reputation in the
agricultural industry for producing
quality graduates.
While in college pursuing his
master’s degree, he first worked on
an extension assistantship with
■PSU, working small farms
programs.
T was looking how we could
better serve the family farmer,” he
said. T felt comfortable with it.
coming from a parttime beef, hog
and cropping farm.
Lately however, he said he sees
upsetting trends in the PSU Col
lege of Agricultural Sciences.
The Penn State University Col
lege of Agricultural Sciences put
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Janlne Winebark stands with her Hampshire sow, which
has been the top sow for the small Winebark purebreed
operation on the farmette in Myerstown.
together a Futures Committee, its
members appointed by Dean Lam
bert Hood.
It’s purpose was to research,
review and make recommenda
tions concerning the college’s
budget, function, staff and student
attendance. „
The committee reported its find
ings and made its recommenda
tions. It is a document which
strongly reshapes the free and
function of many of the college
programs. It is budget oriented,
and specifies areas to cut and those
to increase. It addresses pretty
much the whole realm of what
Penn State College of Agricultural
Sciences and the extension prog
ram has become to be identified as
being.
“Some things 1 agree with whole
heartedly. Somethings I don’t
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agree with,” Winebaik said.
“Of most concern to me is the
report’s recommendation to dis
courage using Penn Slate Exten
sion staff who are fulltime college
staff horn participating in the vari
ous shows and competitions. Parti
cularly the programs for youth
development
“I think they’re missing some
critical points horn the standpoint
as who we serve through those
events and the value of those
events have for our youth,” Wine
bark said.
A heavy defender of the benefits
of the PSU extension program to
the future of agriculture and to the
college itself, Winebaik said he
considers it a mistake to cut some
costs for the short term at the risk
of significantly reducing the
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(Turn to Page B 4)
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