A24-LancMtar Farming, Saturday, Juna 11,1994
LINDA WILLIAMS
Bedford Co. Correspondent
BEDFORD VALLEY (Bedford
Co'.) When the other kids were
playing ball, Brian Zembower
played farm.
“Maybe it’s because my dad
quit fanning the year I was bom,”
he said. “But I always wanted to
farm. I couldn’t wait to grow up
and milk cows.”
When only a junior in high
school. Brian started buying
calves and raising them to sell.
“But I soon found that most farm
ers don’t want toy sell their heifer
calves,” he said.
‘Then, I found a fanner who
had 20 head of Holstein and he
wanted to sell them all. I talked to
dad, and he went along with me.
We couldn’t find a local bank to
back farming, so we went to Lan
caster and got the money. Dad had
a lot of faith in me to sign those
papers.
Brian and Faith Zembower with children Holly, Amy, far
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“We started shipping milk
when I was still a junior. How
ever, I soon found I couldn’t do it
alone. Keeping up with school and
milking cows just didn’t go to
gether. 1 asked my older brother,
Randy, to help out and he agreed.
We became partners, and employ
ed our younger brother, Kevin.
Now Kevin is also an equal part
ner.”
Shortly after his high school
graduation, Brian and his brothers
bought another herd and built a
freestall.
“I leaned how to ‘make do.’ We
bought a bulk tank second hand
for $5O. If a neighbor had a scrap
er he was going to throw away, I
grabbed it and fixed it for our own
use.”
Today, the Zembower brothers
milk 80 head of Holstein and keep
an additional 80. They farm more
than 300 acres in fertile Bedford
Valley.
SOYBEANS
Brian is the herdsman and
breeds the cows himself, having
obtained his license several years
ago.
Randy does all of the mechanic
work, temping the machinery run
ning, and Kevin takes care of the
feeding.
“We'do everything ourselves,"
Brian said. “We build our own
milking parlor, fix our own ma
chinery, breed our own cows, and
I do as much of the veterinary
work as I possibly can.”
They buy most of their grain
while raising their own forage.
Brian has developed a some
what unique breeding system by
keeping a Hereford bull with his
heifers, who are to be bred for the
first time.
“Because they are kept in a pas
ture several miles from the farm, it
is virtually impossible to know
when they are in heat,” he said. “I
tried keeping a Holstein bull with
right, and Heidi, front.
LINDA WILLIAMS
Bedford Co. Correspondent
Linda Williams has been our . A freelancer for many publica-
Bedford County correspondent tions, she also works at the Dc
since 1989. She continues to cn- Arment Insurance Agency in
joy writing about farmers and Bedford,
their joys and problems.
them, but they got mean and it
didn’t work. Then, 1 tried a Here
ford and found them to be much
more gentle. Because they are
smaller, the cow has her first-time
birth easier and the calves are very
easy to sell. We sell all of our first
calves.”
Brian, Randy, and his wife Lee
handle the milking chores, al
though Brian's daughter. Amy,
12, is a big help.
“Amy wanted to go to the bam
at a young age,” Brian said. “She’s
tall for her age, and once I started
using her assistance, I found it was
hard to do without Of course, now
she doesn’t enjoy it as much.”
Holly, who is only 3, loves the
cows and spends at least an hour a
day helping with milking chores
by opening and shutting the gate.
“It’s amazing how she will stick
with it” Brian said.
“I wants to be a farmer,” the
toddler said proudly.
Daughter, Heidi, 8, hopes to
join her older sister with chores
this summer.
As with many farm families
these days, Brian’s wife Faith
works in nearby Bedford. Starting
as a clerk in the tax assessor’s of
fice, she was recently elected as
the county registrar and recorder.
"When she first told me she was
going to run, 1 laughed,” Brian
said. “Then, when I realized she
was serious, I did all I could to
help her.”
Running against four other
candidates and virtually unknown
as a Democrat in a heavily Repub
lican area. Faith and Brian won
the election almost single-handed.
“It wasn’t easy,” Brian said.
“We had to put up signs, knock on
doors, attend dinners, and it was
all happening in the spring. For
tunately. that spring, we had quite
a few rainy days.”
Winning the primary easily.
Faith continued an uphill battle for
the fall election. “That was even
worse,” Brian said, smiling, “I had
com to be picked and signs to put
up and then take down at the same
time. I remember telling people I
would take the signs down right
after the election and 1 kept my
promise, but it wasn’t easy.”
The family even found a few
hours to build a float for the Hallo
ween parade.
One of the biggest problems he
sees for the future of the farm is
the necessary traveling with ma
chinery on the road. “We’ve had
several close calls and one acci
dent,” he said. “It’s a problem I
just don’t know how to avoid, and
living along Route 220 which
keeps getting busier doesn’t
help.”
He also sees BST as a problem
for farmers down the road. “I per
sonally hope it phases out,” he
said. “1 don’t think it is harmful,
but I see other problems. If it in
creases production, it will lower
the milk prices. But, harmful, no.
Dairy cows get a lot of things that
would have more potential to be
harmful than BST.”
Still not sorry he chose farming
for his lifetime career, Brian does
admit that the "thrill of milking
has worn off and he takes every
other Sunday off to do something
with his family.”