Vol. 40 No. 20
Good Conservation Practices Make Good Neighbors,
According To Chester County Farmer
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
HONEY BROOK (Chester Co.)
What bothers conservation far
mer David Homing is seeing the
telltale dirt and silt on piles of
snow alongside road drainage
ditches in the wintertime.
That’s a sure sign of erosion
erosion that could have been pre
vented if farmers would not mold
board plow late and would use
some kind of cover crop.
With this in mind, this Chester
County farmer takes time every
year to make sure that erosion is
contained on his farm by using
cover crops and ensuring no plow
ing is done in the winter season.
Many fanners who don’t use a
cover crop ignore the fact that, as a
result of the bare topsoil, tons of
good farm soil are being “blown
away,” said Homing.
At this year’s Chester County
Crops Day, Homing, 25, manager
of DH Lone Hill Farm, was hon
ored as 1994 Conservation Farmer
of the Year.
Intensive use of cover crops has
been a consistent practice at DH
Lone Hill Farm. Together with
Lancaster Conservation District Honors Farm Managers
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Fanning Staff
NEW HOLLAND (Lancaster
Co.) Conservation was evident
in almost every facet of the four
farms. Photos of clean fields, farm
land, and homesteads “spoke
about conservation on their own,*’
said slide narrator Gerald Heis-
Producing and promoting pork goes hand in hand for
Anna Marie Schick of Barks County. Turn to page B 2 to
read about the Schick family, who make farming a family
affair. Photo and atory by Lou Ann Good.
60t Per Copy
wife Tracy and daughter Lindsey,
6 mos., and David’s parents
Donald and Joyce, Homing man
ages about 67 acres at the home
farm just south of Honey Brook.
He rents an additional 75 acres for
a total of 133 tillable.
Dairying is the mainstay at DH
Lone Hill Farm. The Homing fam
ily take care of 60 registered and
ID grade Holstein, in addition to
some Red and Whites. There are
about 50 replacement calves in the
herd. The Pa. DHIA herd average
for the farm stands at about 20,000
pounds, 3.7 f, 3.2 p, for a herd total
of 685 pounds fat and 624 pounds
protein.
David Homing said a “boyhood
interest” drew him to raising the
Red and White portion of the herd.
“It’s something that always
intrigued me,” said Homing. The
origipal Red and White, on the
352-day lactation, recordeid 30,000
pounds of milk, he said.
For his dairy, he looks for cows
that h|ve good production and
gooooverall health, with adequate
uddenand good feet and legs. For
his conservation practices, Hom
(Turn to Pago A2O)
land, assistant administrator/
Chesapeake Bay Program.
The Rohrer family. Manor
Township, were honored with the
Outstanding Coopera tor Award
Thursday evening at the 44th
annual Lancaster County Conser
vation District banquet at Yoder’s
Restaurant
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 25, 1995
At this year’s Chester County Crops Day, David Homing, 25, manager of DH Lone
Hill Farm, was honored as 1994 Conservation Farmer ofthaYear. Intensive use of cov
er crops has been a consistent practice at OH Lone Hill Farm. Together with wife Tracy
and daughter Lindsey, 6 mos., and David’s parents Donald and Joyce, Horning man
ages about 67 acres at the home farm just south of Honey Brook. He rents an addition
al 75 acres for a total Of 133 tillable. Photo by Andy Androws
At the banquet the district
offered a slide presentation ‘ ‘tour’ ’
of the Rohrer Farms, located west
of Millersville along Blue Rock
Road. Altogether, four farm mana
gers were honored for work in
Pa. Celebrates Ag Day,
Confirms Brosius As Secretary
JOYCE BUPP
York Co. Correspondent
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) —Acting Pennsylvania Sec
retary of Agriculture Charles Bro
sius had just finished his lunch as
the honored guest at the Ag Day
luncheon, held Tuesday at the
Captiol, when an acquaintance
stepped up to congratulate him.
The Senate had just made his
cabinet post official, confirming
the appointment of the Chester
County mushroom producer as the
new head of the state’s Depart
ment of Agriculture.
Appropriately enough, Secret
ary Brosius had, just a short time
before, welcomed the large grtnip
gathered in the Rotunda of the
East Wing of the Capitol building,
praising the productivity of the
American farmer and agricul
ture’s vast contribution to Penn
sylvania’s economy as the state’s
largest industry.
“ Each of our farmers today
feeds 129 people, 97 of them in
the United States and 32 of them
abroad,” Secretary Brosius told
the Rotunda assembly. “Agricul
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conservation.
According to Heistand, Wilmer
Rohrer purchased the original
farmland in 1944, milking a dozen
cows. The land needed a lot of
work Wilmer discovered gut-
About the same time that the state Senate confirmed his
appointment, State Secretary of Agriculture Charles Bro
sius gives opening remarks to attendees of a National Agri
culture Day event In the state Capitol.
Five Sections
ters from a wheat/barley Held that
had 10-inch trees and "you could
have buried a car in them." Rohrer
closed up the holes and reworked
the fields into strips.
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$21.00 Per Year