A2o*Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 19, 1993
Oennlse Bollinger holds the halter of her red and white Holstein cow, Stephanie
while children pet the cow and ask questions.
Dairy Princess Jenny Bashore gives a strawberry milk to a young women, one of the
large lunchtime crowd at Lancaster's Penn Square, while Stacy Habecker, stands
behind.
Dairy Grazing
Tours Offered
CREAMERY (Montgomery
Co.) Those who are currently
grazing dairy cattle, considering
changing to a grazing system, or
are just curious about the concept
and practice, then consider partici
pating in the remaining two walk
ing tours scheduled to be held June
24 and July 29 in Bucks and Berks
counties.
The walking tours are part of an
ongoing program of casual walk
ing tours of different farming oper
ations that is being coordinated by
the Penn State University Exten
sion Service offices in Berks,
Bucks and Montgomery counties.
This most recent series of three
walking tours of grazing opera-
Pa. State Grange To PMMB: Thanks But Still Not Perfect
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
The Pennsylvania Slate Grange
has mixed emotions about the
Pennsylvania Milk Marketing
Board’s recent vote to keep the
price paid per hundredweight of
milk to dairy farmers at the same
level as last year.
Brenda Shambaugh, Pennsyl
vania State Grange legislative
director, said the PMMB retained
the 80 cents per hundredweight
over-order premium for Class I
milk indefinitely. The vole came
at the PMMB’s June meeting at
"in .
ip
tions in southeastern Pennsylvania
counties began in May with a
walking tour of Brian and Brenda
Moyer’s Franconia, Montgomery
County farm.
The next walking tour is to be
held Thursday, June 24, at the Jes
sie Howe farm in northeastern
Bucks County.
A third pasture tour is to be held
July 29 at the Forrest Strieker farm
in Robesonia, Berks County.
The Howe farm is operating on
its third year with a grazing sys
tem, according to an extension
news release received this week.
They have 20 cows and intend to
increase to 35 on 23 acres available
for grazing, with water in each
paddock. He has planted his pas
tures with cool season grasses and
legumes.
He also started seasonal dairy
the Department ot Agriculture
building in Harrisburg.
“While this is not exactly what
we asked for," Shambaugh said,
“we’re happy that the board chose
to keep the 80 cent over-order pre
mium indefinitely.”
Shambaugh said maintaining
the 80 cent over-order premium
will help stabilize the dairy
industry.
The Grange testified on April
21 in Harrisburg that statistics
should be used to establish the
price paid to producers because
VJXSk
this year, which relies on synchro
nizing breedings, freshenings, and
drying off.
His equipment needs are few;
according to the news release he
uses a tractor, a rotary mower and a
manure spreader. He uses no fer
mented feeds, and his milk produc
tion is moderate.
The Forrest Strieker Farm in
Berks County maintains almost
100 head milk cows grazed on SO
acres permanent pasture planted in
a mixture of grass-legumes and
alfalfa. There are also additional
land used for temporary grazing.
The cows use two alleys to get to
the pastures and water is available
in all paddocks.
The types of tours being offered
varies, so anyone interested in
hosting a walking tour should call
either Myers at (215) 378-1327, or
Fritz at (215) 489-4315.
variations in Class I prices lead to
fluctuating profits.
“We would have liked to see the
board implement the statistics and
a formula to determine the over
order price,” Shambaugh said.
Grange policy calls for the use
of the statistics from the Pennsyl
vania Agricultural Statistics Ser
vice (PASS) as a base for quarter
ly updating of milk prices without
holding hearings.
Shambaugh said farm organiza
tions and individuals will maintain
or retain the right to petition the
Lancaster
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Fanning Staff
LANCASTER (Lancaster
Co.) Thousands of people were
introduced to new dairy products
and reintroduced to cold drinking
milk on June 11 during the Lancas
ter Dairy Day On The Square dairy
promotion held in the town square
of Lancaster city.
For the past several years, the
Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion
Program, a state-supported, quali
fied dairy promotion agency, has
held several in-town dairy promo
tions across the state. The goal is to
increase public awareness of dairy
products and thereby increase
demand.
The method is based on the con
cept of creating or joining in public
social events and dispersing sam
ples of dairy products and informa
tion on the benefits of dairy pro
ducts to those unfamiliar with, or
who have slopped using, the
products.
Done in conjunction with other
events, such as Lancaster city’s
lunch-time outdoor program,
allows the promotion program to
stretch its dollars.
It is a way to reach people who
perhaps would not otherwise go to
a dairy products tasting event.
Several cities are targeted for
several different promotions, all
different, as part of the overall
dairy promotion campaign that
Stephanie, a red and white Holstein cow owned by Den
nise Bollinger, of Manheim, Is petted by just a handful of the
many dozens of people attracted to a downtown cow.
board to reset the price.
“In case of an emergency
such as a drought the board
could hold an emergency meeting
to decide whether the price needs
to be adjusted to address the situa
tion,” Shambaugh said.
The motion to continue the
same premium passed by a 3-0
vote, according to Shambaugh.
Dairy Day On
PDPP, and several other qualified
promotion programs, wage in Pen
nsylvania all year.
This year, that could change,
depending on the outcome of a
producer vote on keeping the
National Dairy Board. Tied to that
vote is a 15-cent assessment which
funds the majority of promotion
efforts efforts.
Pennsylvania would lose its
assessment, and its dairy promo
tions, should producers elect to
dissolve the National Dairy Board.
Friday’s promotion at Lancas
ter’s Penn Square, located at King
and Queen streets, coincided with
a city “brown bag” lunch program,
where the city sponsors lunch-hour
entertainment at Penn Square in an
attempt to boost citizen moral and
to generate downtown activity.
Combined with sunny skies and
a mild breeze, the promotion was
one of the most successful, in
terms of the rapidity with which
dairy products disappeared into the
hands and mouths of the crowd.
Within an hour and a half, distri
buted to consumers were 1,000
half pints of strawberry-flavored
milk from Graybill’s, 1,000 push
up frozen orange sherbert treats
from Kemp’s Foods of Lancaster,
500 handmade ice cream sandwi
ches from Coleman’s Ice Cream,
and 700 half-pints combined of
white and chocolate-flavored,
(Turn to Page A2l)
The Pennsylvania State Grange
is a fraternal organization voicing
the opinions of farmers and rural
citizens across Pennsylvania.
With membership of 35,000 in the
state and 325,000 nationwide, the
Grange is one of the largest farm
ing and rural organizations in the
country.