Andrus
CAROLYN N. MOYER
Bradford Co. Correspondent
TOWANDA (Bradford
Co.) For Russell and Carol
Andrus and family, 1992 was a
year that will be etched in their
memories forever.
On May 17, one of their stave
silos filled with ryclage and hayl
age blew up.
“We put the ryelage in and then
put haylagc on top,” said Andrus.
“That sealed in the gas. The last
load was blown in pbout one-half
hour before it blew up.”
Two and a half months later,
fate struck another blow when
their tie-stall bam burned to the
ground. Luckily, no one Was
injured in either incident and the
family was able to save their herd
of cows.
After the fire, the family moved
Russell Andrus stands among the fami
Mk
S S»«K V
This 300-foot by 105-foot, loose housing facility and adjacent 90-foot by 60-foot
parlor/hospital area was completed in April of 1993, one year after the family lost their
barn to fire.
DRPC @ Raleigh Advisory
RALEIGH, N.C. The Dairy
Record Processing Center @
Raleigh, in Raleigh N.C., held its
annual Advisory Board spring
meeting recently and adpoted a
strategic plan for 1994, in addition
to other action.
Tht 16-mcmbcr advisory board
is comprised of eight DHI mem
bers and eight DHI personnel
(managers or extension staff) who
are appointed on a rotating basis,
and represent each service affiliate
to provide counsel to the DRPC @
Raleigh staff.
The organization has used an
advisory board since forming in
1957.
According to a package of news
releases, the mission statement in
the adopted strategic plan is:
• “To assemble, compute and
maintain a high quality database of
Family Faces Arduous-Dec
the cows to an uncle’s stantion
bam where they milked 30 cows at
a time until April 17, 1993.
“All winter it took 16 hours a
day just to do the chores. My uncle
Jake Walbom, hauled hay in and
cleaned the bam, or we’d never get
done," said Andrus.
Cousins Jim and Joe Andrus
also helped get the chores done.
For some people, the loss of two
major structures would have con
vinced them to leave the farming
business behind. However, even
the double disaster could not deter
the spirit of this farm family. With
encouragement of the Andrus’ two
sons, Dave and Brent, they decided
to rebuild bigger than before.
Since April of 1993, the family
has been milking their seven Ayr
shires and 233 Holsteins in a new
double-12 herringbone parlor that
*<• * *
V -s,
accurate information for dissemi
nation to users in a timely manner.
• ‘To provide high quality PC
software products and support for
use by service affiliates at the
farm, local, and service affiliate
levels.
• "To provide training and
promotional materials and support
for assisting service affiliate per
sonnel in sales and service to cur
rent and potential users.
• “To provide official records
that meet or exceed National
DHIA quality certification
standards.
• ‘To provide cost effective
programs and services while sus
taining a strong financial position
for maintaining quality services
and support and for new
initiatives.”
The goals and priorities
can be converted to a rapid opt
parlor in the future.
“We built what we thought we
could afford 'to pay for,” said
Andrus.
The cows are kept in a 300- by
105-foot loose housing facility.
Curtains lines the west side of the
loose housing, while the east side
is open. And adjacent 300- by
50-foot area is used as a feed-lot.
“We had a de-stall bam with
160 stalls,” said Andrus. “Now we
are milking 240 and have 404 total
head. It takes about two hours and
IS minutes to milk. The cows are
comfortable. The only thing I have
against the new bam is that we
have dirty cows. Other than that,
everything’s great”
Even before the fire forced a
decision, the Andrus family had
discussed building a new facility.
cows in their loose housing facility.
Board Meets
included in the strategic plan is to:
• "Continue to place major
emphasis on supporting current
sercie affiliates while promoting
use of DRPC products and services
by other service affiliates.
• “Encourage distributive pro
cessing by expanding on-line
databases and by developing PC
products for use at the farm, local,
and service affiliate levels.
• “Continue to develop the
‘focus group’ concept as a means
of broad based input for enhancing
current programs and for develop
ing new programs.
• “Enhance integration of infor
mation among processing systems
(TPE, PCDART and DRPC host
computer) and other DRPC’s and
on-farm systems to simplify the
maintenance and exchange of
(Turn to Pago A2S)
ision, Stays Farming
CAROLYN MOYER
Bradford Co. Correspondent
As one of the newest corres- As a Penn State student major
pondents for Lancaster Farm- ing in Agricultural Sciences, my
ing, I feel privilcdged to be career goals were clear. I wanted
among such well-known to be a journalist,
journalists. And, immediately after receiv-
Although I am officially the ing my bachelor’ degree, I
Bradford County correspondent, accepted the position of editor of
1 was actually raised on Norman- a farm newspaper in northeastern
dell Jersey Farm in the southeast Pennsylvania,
corner of Tioga County, in Liber- Now. three years later, my
ly Township.
Now my home is Ty-Ly-Vicw
Farm, also located in Tioga
County, where my husband Paul
farms with his parents. Currently
I am home with our two children,
20-month-old Charlie, and
7-weck-old Gregory.
Five years ago, if you would
have asked me if I wanted to stay
home with children, my answer
would have been a quick “No.”
“When the bam burnt, I said to
my sons, it’s time to make up their
minds and they both said they
wanted to build the bam back. This
(bam) is what we were talking
about.”
Now that the cows are adjusted
to the new facility, they are averag
ing about 60 pounds of milk on
two-time per day milking.
“They’re milking better now. A
lot are milking 90- to 100-pounds
per day. They’re mostly young
cows. We don’t have too many old
cows left. Close to 100 are first
calf heifers,” Andrus said.
Their breeding program focuses
on type and production. They work
with Sire Power and keep a herd
bull on their farm.
The cows are fed a mix of home
grown silage, hay and grain five
time per day.
The family owns 600 acres in
the hills of the county and rent
another 500 acres nearby. The
crops are grown on 950 tillable
acres surrounding the new bam.
Andrus noted that they grow about
250 acres of com and 80 acres of
oats. Hay is grown and round
baled on the remainder of the till
able acres.
From Itft, Card
work together to mil
priorities have shifted. I relin
quished my full-time post in
order to spend more time with my
children.
I hope by writing for iMncas
ter Farming, I can bring all read
ers a glimpse of life in northeast
ern Pennsylvania, while spending
time with my children.
Story ideas can be directed to
me through the Lancaster Farm
ing office.
“We’re all set up for round bales
now,” Andrus said. “They roll
right down in the bunks. We
haven’t baled a square bale in three
years.”
Tasks on the dairy are divided
equally between the four individu
als. Each has his or her own task in
the milking parlor, but when it is
time to plant com, Andrus said, “I
plant corn and they do the
milking.”
For Russell Andrus, the philoso
phy of making farming work is
simple; “You’ve got to get bigger
or get out. Of course, maybe I like
to spend too much money. I like
those big tractors and such.”
The commitment to dairying
that the Andrus family has shown
will ensure that the family farm
will be in operation for many years
to come, carrying on a tradition of
farming started by Russell’s
grandfather.
“My grandfather owned the
farm and then an uncle owned it
and then a guy from Philadelphia
owned it. My dad bought the prop
erty in 1963. (My father) died in
1984 and my mother died in
1985,” Andrus said. “It’s hills and
rocks, but it’s home.”
*
~ut.
'• 240 COWS.
th« farm