A26-Unc«ster Fanning. Saturday. Juna 18. 1994
Dairy
(Continued from Pago A 1)
Jim and Mary Laughlin farm
300 acres in partnership with their
son Joe and his wife Beth. They
often have “help” from Joe and
Beth’s three children, Charlie, 8,
David, 6, and Katie, 3. Jim’s fa
ther, Glenn keeps an eye on things
from his garden tractor. His wife
Elizabeth keeps the cupboards
well slocked for great-grandchil
dren visits. With 300 acres, the
Laughlin families raise everything
they need, including their own re
placement stock, for their 43 re
gistered milking cow herd, except
protein supplement.
“We’re a rare situation in this
area,” said Joe. “We have an ex
cess of most things and sell some
com and hay.”
The Laughlins rent fifty of the
300 acres from what they call the
ridge farm, a Century farm owned
by Joe’s grandmother’s side of the
family (Glenn’s wife, formerly
Elizabeth Brought). It’s just a mile
from Jim and Mary’s "home”
larm. Beech Run, where the dairy
cows are kept. The Brought family
bought the ridge farm in 1878, and
Jim remembers the story of how
his grandfather Brought met his
future wife retailing milk door
to door.
Jim’s grandfather, John C.
Laughlin, started “dipping” milk
(retailing milk from milk cans be
fore bottles) to his customers
around the 1900 s. He bought
Beech Run in 1921. Glenn, his
son, remembers starting to retail
milk from a car and purchasing
their first truck in 1924. Their re
tailing of Guernsey milk helped
satisfy the demand for quality
heavy cream back then, and help
ed the Laughlins through the De
pression. With labor one dollar a
day per person, the Glenn Laugh
lin family hired workers to build
two houses and an addition onto
the bam during the Depression.
Joe and his family live on a neigh
boring farm, bought in 1984.
Jim remembers continuing their
milk route through the early ’sos,
being one of the last farmers to
stop delivering milk door to door.
“I delivered milk with an uncle
RL ig out keep an eye on jngs, Glenn Laughlln
joins his son Jim and wife Mary, right, and grandson Joe
and wife Beth, left, and great-granddaughter Katie.
Family Tree Stems From the Hessians
and cousin before going to
school,” Jim said. Jim has farmed
ever since high school except for
two years in the Army.
But in July 196 J, the bam on
Beech Run caught fire. Jim and
Mary had the family’s bags pack
ed for the World’s Fair when a
neighbor pounded on their door to
tell them of the fire. With the fire
confined to the top part of the
bam, they were able to get the
calves out of the lower part. The
fire claimed a wagon shed but not
(he silo and milkhouse (except for
the roof). The Laughlins decided
to build a dome shaped stanchion
bam on the same site to connect
the silo at one end and the milk
house at the other end. In the
meantime, they milked in the
pipeline-less chicken house and
hauled the milk up to put in the
tank. They were back milking in
the new bam by November.
Of Jim and Mary's three chil
dren, Joe, Steve, and Mary Beth,
Joe chose to stay in farming. Jim
is thankful for Joe’s interest in
farming, but wouldn’t want to
give advice on how children de
cide whether to slay or not. “It
must just happen. It would be dif
ficult to farm without someone
who was really interested in it.
Joe’s always been interested in the
cows.”
Mary agrees. “It’s only one’s
guess. We have a nine-year-old
grandson in Martinsburg who is
saving money for his first tractor!”
Family farming ranks number
one in the Laughlin family, but
community service carries a close
second.
Glenn, a member of the Fort
Granville Grange for 57 years, re
ceived his 50-year pin in 1987. He
also served on the ASC County
Committee for a number of years.
Jim served on the Agway Com
mittee and was active in senior ex
tension. He has served as Grange
treasurer for 10 years and Mary
serves as secretary. The Fort
Granville Grange boasts 372
members.
Joe and Beth’s service to their
community through leadership
reached a new height this past
March when they placed second in
the state Atlantic Dairy Coopera
tive’s Pennmarva Young Co
operator Contest at the Willow
Valley ‘ Resort and Conference
Center in Lancaster. Winners of
the contest were recognized for
their dairy proficiency and com
munity leadership.
“1 think it’s important for peo
ple to be active in the community.
It makes for a social outlet,” Joe
said. And, he’s quick to point out
that he and his wife's impressive
leadership resume for the Atlantic
contest covers a span of 10 years
or more.
For Joe, their resume includes
Mifflin County Conservation Dis
trict’s 1992 Cooperator of the
Year Award with his father, presi
dent of the local Atlantic co-op for
three or more years, secretary of
Atlantic’s District 18, past presi
dent of the Mifflin County Far
mers’ Association, vice president
and secretary-treasurer of the Mif
flin County Holstein Club, past
member of the PFA Young Farm
er & Rancher Committee, and cur
rent member of PFB’s Advisory
Council Committee. Joe currently
serves on Agway’s Geographic
Committee and spent six years on
their Petroleum committee. He
served one year on the Mifflin
County Extension Association
Board, as well as six years on the
local Sire Power Advisory Board,
one year as president and another
as junior director.
Joe and Beth attended the
Young Farmer and Rancher lead
ership conference as Mifflin
County representatives and at
tended Agway’s annual meeting
eight years ago. Joe serves on the
Granville Township Ag Security
Area board and the Mifflin Coun
ty Agland Preservation Board.
Beth led the state PFB Young
Farmer and Rancher Committee
as chairperson for three years and
is currently chairperson for the
PFB state Advisory Council com
mittee. A 4-H leader, Beth serves
on the Mifflin County Youth Fair
Committee and coordinates the
open craft show at the Mifflin
County Youth Fair. Beth helps
plan farm/city activities as a mem
ber of the county committee, and
is a member of thcMifflin County
Garden Club.
All of the Laughlins are active
members of the Ellen Chapel
United Methodist Church.
Although they didn’t know
each other at the lime, both Joe
and Beth graduated from Penn
Slate. “At one time I thought Dad
and my grandfather did a lot of
things I might have questioned (on
the farm). But 1 learned that they
were doing a lot of things I saw at
Penn Stale. We’ve always read a
lot and attended meetings to keep
up-to-date,” Joe said.
Joe has no immediate plans for
the herd but would like to see a
new heifer bam in the future, and
to make things generally more ef
ficient. The families have helped
each other out with both work and
leisure. Jim and Mary’s resume of
trips abroad include tours of the
British Isles, Germany^Austria,
Scotland, Iceland, and Greenland.
But Jim puts their traveling in per
spective.
“We generally slay at home and
attend plays and concerts. But
every once in a while we really
take off. Two weeks is long
enough. We can go months with
out missing a milking. Sometimes
there’s plenty of reasons to go, but
we’re always glad to get back.”
“I'm appreciative of the oppor-
Joe, Beth, and Katie (age 3) Laughlin stand before what
will soon be a blooming flower garden and Beth’s favorite
hobby. Joe terms 300 acres with his father, Jim Laughlin.
Katie’s two brothers were at school.
tunities Mom and Dad have given
me,” Joe says. “I’ve never had a
bad relationship with my parents.
Thai’s not the way we do it.”
What Gail Strode enjoys most
about writing for Lancaster
Farming is bringing into print
the people and news events of
Mifflin County. For 4'A years,
she has met with area people to
tell their stories - hobbies, crafts,
and careers, ag conventions,
dairy shows and sales.
Her other publishing credits
include Pennsylvania Magazine,
Common Ground, a tourism bro
chure for the Juniata/Mifflin
Tourist Promotion Agency, a
Harvcstfcst promotional guide, a
Bridal Guide, and Spotlight and
On-Farm Composting
Field Day Set
MANHEIM (Lancaster Co.)
A field day on composting manure
will be held at the farm of Robert
and Lois Keller on Monday, June
27 at 6:30 p.m.
The event will focus on com
post utilization, the economics of
composting, current status of nu
trient management regulations.
and a demonstration of compost
production with a Sandberger
turner.
Robert Keller began compost
ing his poultry and beef manure
two years ago. Composting en
ables him to clean out his poultry
houses with 66,000 layers on a 7 -
10 day schedule and in this man
ner control flies and reduce am
monia levels.
Kellcr is also interested in com
posting as a means of increasing
the marketability of manure. He
began composting by using a skid
loader to turn the compost piles.
He recently purchased a Sand
berger turner to produce a more
consistent and higher quality com
post. The turner will be demon
strated as part of the meeting.
A field trial to assess com utili
zation of nitrogen and phosphor
ous from composted manure, raw
Dining guide articles for the
County Observer newspaper.
She also conducted a “Dealing
With the Media” workshop for
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau at
their Young Farmer and Rancher
Slate Leadership Conference in
Somerset.
Gail was graduated from Penn
State in 1979 with a degree in
agricultural economics and rural
sociology. After college, she and
her husband Dennis traveled
throughout the United Slates and
Canada with his job as a Sperry
New Holland combine field test
analyst.
They have two boys, Evan, 10,
and Aaron, 6, and live on their
27-acrc farm near Belleville.
manure, and chemical fertilizer
treatments is being conducted by
Penn Slate and the Rodale Insti
tute on the Keller farm. The re
sults of this trial, which was also
conducted at three other farms in
1993, will be discussed by Dr.
Doug Beegle, an agronomist at
Penn State.
The economics of composting
on the Keller’s farm was also do
cumented as part of this study.
Preliminary results of what it real
ly costs to produce compost will
be presented by Cary Oshins,
composting specialist from Ro
dale Institute.
Beegle, who serves as a con
sultant to the Nutrient Manage
ment Advisory Board, will also
provide an update on the current
status of the nutrient management
regulations.
Keller’s farm is located on Rt.
772, 2.S miles west of Lititz and
I.S miles east of Manheim.
For additional information
about the field day, contact Leon
Ressler, Lancaster Cooperative
Extension (717) 394-6851, Cary
Oshins (610) 683-1415, or Leon
Weber (610) 683-1401 at the Ro
dalc Institute.
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