Bitlers Prepare To Represent Pennsylvania Holstein
(Continued from Page Al)
skills learned then
The kids run about her yard at
the end of the tour, enjoying the
spacious yard beneath a canopy of
old nut trees that almost hide the
old stone farmhouse and Phoebe’s
herb garden and water garden that
is a converted old cast iron water
ing trough.
Split rail fencing around the
house and along the road next to
the house give the farm an older
look. As well does the architecture
of the bam, with its arched stone
doorways.
But it is a working, modem fam
ily dairy farm.
There are! side businesses. A
manure pumping and hauling busi
ness developed over the years.
Pheobe, a former extension eco
nomist, teaches country craft clas
ses out of her house, “Classes in
the Country.” As a decorative sign
in the yard states.
On Wendesady the couple was
busy trying to take care of business
and also get some work out of the
way. Especially cutting hay.
The reason they were working
so especially hard, is that the two
are headed for Seattle, Washing
ton, for a week as Pennsylvania’s
Young Holstein Breeders. They
represent the state at the nationals.
With a 93-milking string of
registered Holsteins, the two have
earned a BAA of 106.1, a Progres
sive Breeder Registry Award in
1993, and the herd has been aver
aging about 21,468 pounds of
milk, 737 pounds of fat and 682
pounds of protein.
So this past week has been one
of getting some of the chores done
which can’t wait until they get
back, such as getting the hay silage
cut and blown into the silos. As
things seem to happen when trying
to get a lot of work done in a short
time, problems arose.
But then, it wouldn’t be a chal
lenge if there weren’t any
problems.
The solutions are more impor
tant And they must be tied into
what David said is his basic operat
ing theory: “We’re just caretakers,
or stewards of what’s been
entrusted to us by God,” he said.
“And at the same time share
with others our abilities,” Phoebe
added.
Their philosophy is reflected in
some other activities in which the
two are involved David is also
Vista Grande SW Liz-Twin, daughter of Soutwelnd Bell of Bar Lee, is a Very Good 87
3-year-old registered Holstein at vista Grande Farm. She recorded a 365-day produc
tion of 31,263 pounds of milk, 1,050 pounds of fat and 1,034 pounds of protein without
BST. Her dam, Vista Grande Lullaby, also a homebred Holstein, made a 365-day
record 0f.28,437 pounds of milk as a 4-year-old. Bred to Valient, Liz Is part of the regu
lar milking string for David and Phoebe BKler.
a deacon at Hope Community
Church and Phoebe teaches Sun
day school.
In fact the Bitlers said that those
interested should be aware of a
“Fellowship of Christian Farmers”
picnic scheduled for August 20 at
Sam Lewis State Park, in
Wrightsville.
The Bitlers are well known.
They live in the original farm
house where Phoebe was bom. Her
parents, Alpheus and Ruth, ran the
place as a registered Holstein farm
since 1937.
They both have been publicized
in the past for accomplishments
and involvements.
And while they have their hands
busy with farming, the involve
ment with the Holstein Associa
tion and other activities is part of
their nature, they said.
“We enjoy people and we enjoy
things like” currently serving as
the co-chairs for 1995 national
junior Holstein convention to be
held in Pittsburgh; like serving as
national Holstein delegates and on
the state program development,
youth and milk promotion
committees.
If anything, it’s everything they
do.
They have won recognition and
awards for their work, but they
said that being involved has more
personal meaning than winning
awards.
Working with youth is their pay
back to the community that pro
vided them with leadership and
opportunity.
They are big supporters of 4-H
and the leadership opportunities it
provides for youth, opportunities
for hands-on leadership skills
development; business skills deve
lopment and the development of
self-discipline and responsibility.
They said they like having a
goal and getting something accom
plished. It’s their pursuit of happi
ness and it’s a wholesome and
rewarding kind of happiness that
continues to build upon itself.
Phoebe said that 4-H teaches
that the more you do, the more you
get to try, and the better you get at
doing things, like farming,
because. “You get all that expo
sure (among other people and
operations) of what’s out there and
its gives ideas of what you might
want to do. There are educational
opportunities.
Phoebe takes her calf-feeding equipment In the cart from the mllkhouse and gets
some help from one of the two farm dogs. The farm house visible under the canopy of
nut trees In the backround Is where Phoebe was born and raised and now lives.
“How many people use Roberts
Rules of Order?” she asked, refer
ring to one of the main lessons
associated with 4-H. She said that
exposure to the Roberts system of
organization is an advantage 4-H
youth have other youth who don’t
participated in the program.
“(4-H members) practice it even
if we don’t continue it,” she said,
adding that basically the lessons
are even more significant
culturally.
“If we don’t continue to educate
about our culture, we’ll lose that
culture.”
The couple has been involved
with the Holstein Association and
dairy promotion and education for
years, adult activities which
stemmed form earlier
involvements.
They also use some of the asso
ciation’s computer programming
to help manage farm records and to
access registration information
and to help make breeding deci
sions. The Cow Search program
gets and “excellent” rating from
the two and comes in handy for use
with the milk tester and during a
herd health check.
The computer get used pretty
frequently and they said that a
young women. Sue Weidner, who
works for Mark Hershey Feeds,
and who had worked for Vista-
Grande Farm for five years, helped
them get started when she was at
the farm.
“She was a town girl who
wanted to be a vet,” Phoebe said
“She came here to work and went
to the University of Delaware,
University of Nebraska and work
ed on ruminant nutrition.
Now Phoebe registers her calves
through cow search.
The couple also use the ARIS
program through Pa. Dairy Herd
Improvement Association.
But it’s the daily setting of goals
and then achieving those goals
both short- and long-term
goals that really keeps them
going at farming with the intensity
they do.
“We can’t just go out and buy a
brand new piece of machinery
because the other one is starting to
wear out You got to think, 4 Well.
Can we rebuild this?’” David said.
“Or, ’What can we do to make this
a better machine or something so
we can get the trash through a little
David Bitter sits at the whael of hit tractor whlla getting
the hay In before heading to Seattle for the national Holstein
convention.
better and leave more residue on
top, but still make this work.
“Stuff like that, we really enjoy
those kind of challenges,” he said.
They both said they like to make
things woik.
“The same challenges are with
the cows," Phoebe said. “They are
to breed a better cow that’s going
to milk more economically or last
longer. We want to have a cow that
milk more, looks good and lasts
longer,” she said. “To put that
together and develop that. It means
something to us.”
“We don’t put a lot of emphasis
on index,” David said, though
Phoebe is quick to add, “We have a
cow that has some.”
“We don’t bury our head in the
sand,” David explained. “We do
the best to maintain what we have
and make progress, but we don’t
do a lot of ET work and we haven’t
bought any cattle for a while now."
They said the herd has been
closed for about eight years.
“We try to breed for type and
manage for production. We try to
provide an animal that somebody
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