VOL 38 No. 4
Berks 4-H’ers Earn Honors At Banquet
CONNIE LEINBACH
Berks Co. Correspondent
LEESPORT (Berks Co.)
Discussion about the American
family reached a fever pitch in the
weeks before the presidential elec
tion. But family values are some
thing the farm community knows a
lot about
Families involved in 4-H knew
all along that the organization is
perfect for forging those things so
hallowedly referred to as “family
values.”
Just ask the Hunter family of.
Oley, all of whom, in an 11-year
span of time, helped their four
children raise livestock for various
4-H projects.
The Hunters were one of more
than two dozen families at the
Berks County 4-H recognition
banquet held recently in the 4-H
Community Center.
Debbie Dietrich, the extension
agent for 4-H livestock and dairy,
noted that Berks has the largest
4-H enrollment in the southeast
region of the state.
The Hunter children still at
home, Paula, 17, and Leon Jr.,'l4,
won honors that night. Paula, as
well, was master of ceremonies.
Her sister, Valerie, who attends
Cornell University, was one of two
top 4-H’ers named by the Reading
Fair agricultural committee. (The
other honoree was Amy Eshelman
of Shillington.)
Though father, Leon, was
absent, as was Paula’s twin,
Christine, both also are heavily
involved in 4-H, said their mother,
Pat.
It all started when Valerie came
Report Validates Reasons For Testing Wells To Improve Water Quality
Editor’s Note: A report was
recently issued by the Pennsyl
vania Department of Environ
mental Resources that indicates
many wells in the state may be
contamined with high amounts
of nitrates. Some of the results of
that report are listed here. This
is the first in a series on the
importance of testing well water
and how to manage water for
herd, farm, and family fife.
Lancaster Extension Offers Dairy Housing Tips
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
LANCASTER (Lancaster
Co.) Don’t consider cost right
away in considering the construc
tion of dairy housing, advised Dan
McFarland, Penn State University
multi-county extension engineer,
during a recent dairy housing
meeting held in Lancaster.
On Tuesday, during an
informal-atmosphere meeting in a
basement room of the Lancaster
Farm and Home Center, McFar
land discussed the variety of hous
ing designs in use, their successes,
VXUI /I. t
PERIODICALS DIVISION
PENNSYLVANIA STAtE UNIVERSITY
W 209 PATTEE LIBRARY
UN)VERSIIY PARK PA IAPO2-1802
FOur Sections
home one day and wanted to get a
swine so that she could be in 4-H,
Pat said. They only had horses then
on their 20-acre farm near Breezy
Comers.
But they went ahead and got
Valerie a pig.
“My father came from a farm,”
Pat said. “So I was familiar with
some of the animals.” But Leon
Sr., she said, was from New Jersey
International aupreme champion HighTowerDMth friends, from left, John Fought,
detailer; Steve Taylor, fitter and showman; Wes Linesand, judge; Steve George,
judge; Becky Wolf; and Mark Chapman, judge.
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
Water, water everywhere
and not a drop to drink.
Anonymous
BERNVILLE (Berks Co.)
For dairyman Calvin Zerbe, the
nightmare began after returning
from an afternoon drive on a hazy
Sunday August afternoon.
A favorite cow. a 3-year-old,
some considerations which he said
should be taken into account, and
the reasons for some of the
choices.
But, in citing his priority list for
which element should be consid
ered first in deciding what to build
and who to get to build it, quality
was the first priority he recom
mended,, not cost.
“Go see everything you can. Try
to open up to new ideas to see what
others are building. Tour, tour,
tour,” he said.
McFarland gave the advice dur
ing a free, several-hour talk spon
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December S, 1992
md had “no inkling at all” how to
raise livestock.
“We just fed it, and it ate, and we
fed it again,” she said. When
roundup time came, the pig
weighed 280 pounds. Though the
judge was impressed, he advised
the Hunters to reduce their feeding
of the animal. The purchase of a
second animal came soon after,
and Valerie named the two pigs
was lying dead in the field.
A few months earlier, Zerbe
remembered, calves on milk
replacer began to die. The cows
refused to drink the water. Their
digestive systems were simply
shutting down.
What was causing these prob
lems? he wondered. Some dis
ease? Zerbe called a veterinarian.
The vet’s suggestion? Move the'
calves from the bam into hutches
sored by the extension service.
Attending were about two dozen
county dairy people. The meeting
was held under an informal atmo
sphere, allowing for questions at
any time.
McFarland has been working in
the area for several years and has
toured most of the major and
unique structures in the state.
His tracking of animal housing
exceeds commercial offerings and
includes much of what research
and fanner experience has discov
ered over the years.
According to the engineer
Charlotte and Wilbur (after char
acters in “Charlotte’s Web.”)
‘Then we found out ’Charlotte’
was a boy and named him Ches
ter,” Pat said, laughing.
Needless to say, she and the rest
of the family got a crash course in
swine raising that year. Of course,
going to fairs and meeting other
people showing their animals
and administer antibiotics. But it
didn’t work. More began to die.
With all other possibilities ruled
out, Zerbe considered another.
Could it be something in the
water?
Water contaminated
After the well tests came back,
they confirmed the worst the
water was highly contaminated.
“We had just about everything,”
said Zerbe. “High nitrates, coli-
who is headquartered out of the
York County office, but is a regu
lar traveler through several south
central counties the reason cost
can not be the first priority is
because it speaks to nothing about
what type of building and struc
tures are possible or needed in
order to create a smoothly operat
ing, profitable system.
Existing buildings on the prop
erty, the market served, labor restr
ictions, daily operational flow,
cow comfort, prevailing winds,
directional and seasonal exposure
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60* Per Copy
taught the Hunters more than any
book.
“That’s the one thing about 4-H;
when you’re in a club the leaders
and older kids help the younger
ones,” she said. Both she and her
husband became involved as 4-H
leaders.
After two years of raising pigs,
Paula decided to check out sheep.
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High Tower
International
Supreme
LOUISVILLE, Ky. For the
first time, a Pennsylvania-bred
entry was named supreme champ
ion at the North American Interna
tional Livestock Exposition
(NAILE) held recently in Louis
ville, Ky.
The honor went to a yearling
Suffolk ewe named High Tower
from Lye Lee Farms and owned
by Dr. and Mrs. Gerald Clair and
daughter Amy. State College.
Enroute to the honor over all
breeds, High Tower was named
senior champion and national
champion Suffolk ewe.
High Tower is the first supreme
champion and the first grand
champion Suffolk at NAILE from
Pennsylvania. Earlier in the year,
High Tower was the senior and
grand champion at both the
National Junior Suffolk Show in
Kalamazoo, Mich., and the Key
stone International Livestock
Exposition in Harrisburg.
form bacteria ... They said not to
do anything with it not wash
clothes or anything.”
Zcrbe said the water problems
perplexed him for the longest time.
When a family member came
down with a flu-like illness, could
that have been the result of drink
ing the contaminated water? And
how to measure how much money
was lost, in downed calves, in sick
time, if the water was
contaminated?
Even though it cost more than
$2,000 for the new well, Zerbe
went ahead and had one drilled. He
said it came to the point “where I
figured now we’re losing more
money than what it’s costing to get
a well, so we got it done, anyway,”
he said.
He admitted later that, after red
nlling a new well and pulling in a
chlorination system, he poured
himself a cup of coffee. He tasted
it, and admitted that “it didn’t taste
right
“My wife said that 1 was so used
to the bad-tasting water that I
didn’t know what good water
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