l% 1993
Son Ignites Spark Of Optimism On Century Farm
LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Fanning Staff
STRASBURG (Lancaster Co.)
Spiraling equipment costs, low
er crop prices, and sporadic rain
fall do not deter Carl Landis in his
quest to farm.
The 28-year-old fanner said,
“I’m not easily discouraged by set
backs. If it’s a dry year, you just
put up with it, work a couple of
extra hours, and spend less.”
His wife, Audrey, laughs hearti
ly at the idea that her husband
might ever become discouraged by
farming obstacles.
“Him, scared of farming set
backs? Not him. To him, farming
is a game. He has enough optim
ism for both of us,” she said.
Carl attributes his positive atti
tude as a result of the the realistic
way in which he was raised.
“My dad let me do things
myself. He always let me see the
bills when I was growing up so I
wasn’t shocked when I started
farming,” he said.
Carl’s parents, Clair and Arlene
Landis, were recently honored for
their Century Farm. It was Carl
who researched the family farm to
validate dial it had been in the fam
ily since 1853. The original 93
acres were purchased by the Land
is’s great-great grandparents Jacob
and Susan Ranck. For about 60
years, the farm was rented to non
relatives until Clair and Arlene
moved on it 30 years ago.
Son Carl is the sixth generation
of the family to farm. In addition to
Carl, the Landis family includes
Charlotte, who works for an
accountant but helps on the farm
weekends; Cindy who is married
to Todd Gingrich; and Calvin, a
junior at Lampeter Strasbu'rg'. He
takes an interest in farming but has
not decided whether or not to make
it a career.
"We don’t have a partership but
each have our own thing we are
responsible to do,” said Carl. He
lives with his wife and 18-month
old daughter in the tenant house on
the property that now comprises
120 acres.
During the farm’s history, an
additional 10 acres were pur
chased, but Carl said, “We still
don’t know how 18 acres were
added. We want to take more time
to research it at the courthouse.”
He suspects it may be the plot of
ground that the tenant house stands
on since it borders another road
and is located several acres from
the farmhouse. Generally, tenant
houses were built near the bam.
Carl takes a break from w< talk over plana with his v , Audrey and dauy jt . Sfif
Aiilsa. “This is the first tractor we had on the farm and was my favorite as a kid,” Cart her grandmother Artene finished with macrame while her
jgU grandpa ciair looks on.
The tenant house was built about
the same time as the farmhouse, so
the Landis family surmise that the
house on an 18-acre plot was sold
to the family after the initial
purchase.
A unique feature of the farm
house is that it has a window
between two bedrooms. The win
dow was used to pass medicine and
food back and forth when family
members were quarantined from
flu and other epidemics.
The two Landis families are not
in partnership, but they work
together. Clair and Arlene are
responsible for milking 75 cows of
registered and grade Holsteins and
take care of most of work on the
Century Farm. Carl owns 10 regis
tered cows and plans to switch
slowly to all-registered cows.
Carl and Audrey take care of
registration, milk every other Sun
day, operate a custom combining
and silo filling business, and rent
an additional 180 acres for crop
farming.
Arlene is in charge of the book
work for the dairy. Audrey does
the bookkeeping for the custom
combining business and helps with
milking every other weekends and
as a fill-in during busy times on the
farm.
Carl is just finishing up combin
ing and silo filling of 1,000 acres.
With the land he rents, he raised
high moisture com that he puts in
ag bags and sells. He made 19,000
bales of hay.
"We don’t sleep too much
around here,” Carl said. “One
thing we got around here is steady
work. We don’t have to worry
about running out of work.”
Carl said that he likes milking
cows, field work, and everything
that needs to be done on the farm.
The only drawback is that fanning
doesn’t pay enough for all the
hours that he puts in it, but he is
optimistic that it will change
someday.
In the meantime, “I can make
enough money. It’s just that there
is too much government in every
thing,” he said.
His advice to those who hope to
start farming on their own is to
start buying equipment and ani
mals slowly but as early as possi
ble. He started buying when he
was a teen-ager and now owns a lot
of equipment.
“That way, when I’m ready to
take over my dad’s farm someday.
I’ll already own the equipment and
it won’t be as much outlay for the
farm,” he said.
»*
Clair and Arlene Landis, standing, were recently honored for their century farm that
has been in the family since 1850. The house In the background was built In 1865.
Their son Carl, his wife Audrey and daughter Arlisa, live In the tenant house on the
property and work on the farm in addition to operating a custom combining business
and renting additional acreage.
wtnesteadfjT
This year, for the first time, Carl
used a lot of no-till practices on the
land. He said that he experie
mented with disc, chisel plow, and
no-till with beans but could not tell
the difference in results. Conse
quently, Carl leans toward no till.
For the rented ground, Carl
hauls in chicken manure but cow
manure is spread daily on the cen
tury farm. A manure pit is on his
wish list.
The rolling herd average is
22,500 pounds.
“I always say my dad was breed
ing for the future years ago,” Carl
said. “He never made fat when
(Turn to Pago B 3)
rJS *