Vol. 38 NO. 31
The Meyers family and friend gather at their farm lane and signpost. From the left, in
the rear row, are Joel Mills, an employee, and Mark, Alan and Kendra Meyers. In the
front are Whitney, Ashley flagrant and one of the family dogs.
Family Dairy Focuses On Merchandising
BONNIE BRECHBILL
Franklin Co. Correspondent
GREENCASTLE (Franklin
Co.) Tidy-Brook Farm in
southern Franklin County may
soon be home to the top cow for
protein in the United States.
Tidy-Brook Elton Sonja-ET, a
daughter of Emprise Bell Elton,
has the potential to rank as the
highest protein cow of the breed in
the July run. She is up against
Strawberry
Pay-Off Day
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.)
How much are two quarts of
strawberries worth?
If it’s Neil Wenger’s strawber
ries, it is $2OO.
At least that’s what an anony
mous bidder was willing to pay at
the annual Lancaster Rotary Club
Strawberry Roundup on
Wednesday.
Neil’s berries were judged the
best displayed, most flavorable,
and most uniform in size of the 19
entries that county 4-H’ers brought
to the Farm and Home Center for
judging.
The reserve champion ribbon
went to Joel Leaman for his berries
that sold for $5O to David Fried
richs of Lancaster.
Both boys considered the high
prices a superlative payoff for the
sweat, time, and frustration they
invest in maintaining the strawber
ry patch year-round.
Wenger said that he got up at the
crack of dawn to pick berries for
(Turn to Pago A3l)
Four Sections
more than one million cows for
the honor.
A member of the well-known
Sally family of Holsteins, Sonja is
currently milking 111 pounds a
day into her sixth month on test
Alan Meyers, 28, and his father,
Mark, farm Tidy-Brook’s 210
acres in partnership. They rent an
additional 80 acres, and raise com,
alfalfa, small grains and soybeans.
Alan and his wife, Kendra, and
Lancaster County 4-H’er Neil Wenger, center front, holds the berries that an
anonymous bidder bought for $2OO. Reserve champion Joel Leaman, center back,
earned $5O for his berries purchased by Dave Friedricks, left, and auctioned by Harold
Keller standing next to 4-H Extension agent, Zoann Parker, right.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 12, 1993
children Ashley, 7, Whitney, S,
and Grant, 2V4 , live in the stone
and brick farmhouse.
The Sally family has been at
Tidy-Brook for as long as anyone
can remember.
“The right genetic combination
happened. It was nothing we did
special, it just showed up here,”
Alan said. He is on a full-time
flushing program with Tidy
(Turn to Pag* A 26)
Farm Tax Reassessment
Topic At Ag Forum
EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Managing Editor
"Things without all remedy should
be without regard: what’s done is
done.” -Shakespeare.
LEOLA (Lancaster Co.) —This
doesn’t mean farmers, agri
business leaders and even county
commissioners like the forced
property reassessment program
that’s under way in Lancaster
County. In cases brought by the
City of Lancaster, several lower
courts ruled in favor of the county
commissioners who did not
believe reassessment was neces-
Grafting Ensures
Delicious Kernels
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
ELIZABETHTOWN (Lancas
ter Co.) What do you get when
you cross a hickory nut with a
pecan?
A “hickan,” of course.
In that combination, the rich,
full flavors of both nut tree variet
ies are accented to produce a truly
memorable kind of kernel, accord
ing to Jay R. Book, president of the
Pennsylvania Nut Growers
Association.
There’s no better time of year to
ensure the nut tree you may be
growing produces a fine kernel,
with a large edible center, full
flavor quality, and that cracks easi
ly than by learning how to graft
properly.
Each year, the third week of
609 Par Copy
sary. But the Superior Court over
turned the lower court’s ruling, and
Lancaster City forced Lancaster
County to reassess all property to
the tune of eight to nine million
dollars. One mill represents
approximately three million dol
lars in Lancaster County’s
economy.
At the Ag Forum Thursday
morning, many concerns were
voiced about the effects of the reas
sessment on agriculture in Lancas
ter County. One of the most force
ful statements was made by one of
(Turn to Pag* A 33)
March, the Association holds a
Nut Grafting Workshop at the
Dauphin County Agriculture and
Natural Resources Center. It is
scheduled for March 19, 1994 at
the Center, 1451 Peters Mountain
Jay R. Book, Pa. Nut Grow
ers Association president,
demonstrates grafting a hick
ory nut tree in a series of
steps on page A2B.
Rd., in Dauphin, according lo
Book. There, demonstrations on
grafting arc given to those who are
producing varieties for sale or for
those who discover they’ve inher
ited a a nut tree in the backyard and
want to obtain the best kernel
available.
The workshop educates nut
growers on how “to gel a bigger
nut, retain the flavor, and look for
the quality of nut that’s easy lo
crack,” said Book.
The 200-membcr Association
meets regularly to discuss grafting
techniques and to learn more about
new types of crosses or new graft
ing techniques.
Grainger hickory
Recently, Lancaster Farming
(Turn to Pago A 29)
$19.75 Per Year