84-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 10, 1995
On Being a
Farm Wife
(and other
hazards) ,
Joyce Bupp
What do the month of June and
Election Day evening have in
common?
Both are when the “early
retums’l start to roll in.
Those “early returns” are the
first fruits of the plantings over
which farmers and gardeners have
labored through April and May,
and for some crops, year-round.
For farmers with traditional
field crops, the most intense part of
the spring-planting rush is past,
and rows of green seedlings are
emerging in neat rows. Now, we
turn our full attention to the first
fruits of that ongoing summer farm
chore of harvesting - haymaking.
The sweet fragrance of new
mown hay, warm and wilting from
the afternoon sun, is one of those
signature smells of June country
living. With the storm windows
nudged up into summer storage
position, the breezes gently wave
the hay scent right into the house
through the open, screened
windows.
Just as a reminder of what
makes those “first fruits” (and
those that follow) grow, the scent
of manure mingles with the hay, as
one last heifer pen is cleaned out
for the summer and its contents
recycled back to Mother Earth.
Along with hay perfume come
whiffs of the roses opening their
first fruits. Their lovely blooms are
a true harbinger of June, the queen
of flowers in a myriad of colors.
Though they will bloom intermit
tently through the rest of the sum
mer, June is when the roses go “all
out” in parading their graceful
beauty.
Hours of work in the vegetable
garden planting, hoeing, haul
ing and laying down mulch —also
begin their payback of yields.
Reluctantly, we bid farewell to the
wonderful, sweet asparagus, as the
lingering stalks become fewer,
thin and tough. Those will be left
to mature and return strength to the
roots toward next spring’s yield.
But fat and thick, almost at the
asparagus’ feet, comes a lush row
of Red Sails loosehead lettuce.
With typical, gung-ho-gardener
abandon, I sprinkled the remains
of a pack of three-year-old seed
into a market-pack flat weeks ago.
Every seed must have sprouted.
The largest of the lettuce clus
ters now spreads more than a foot
across, giant rosettes with tender
yellow-green infant leaves at the
center. In contrast are the wide
margins of lovely maroon scallop
ing the edges of the deeply
crinkled, dark green mature leaves.
Mixed with the spinach a kindly
neighbor and fellow-gardener
keeps sharing, the Red Sails let
tuce makes a beautiful, tasty and
nutrition-packed salad. And a
timely garden “fruit” to have
ready, with lettuce fields destroyed
by floods around the country.
As if to apologize for the
destruction of last year’s orchard
crops, this season appears to be
abundantly blessed with berries
and fruits. Our young blueberry
bushes I feared to be lost instead
appear quite healthy. In fact, the
largest promises to yield about a
cup of berries, if I can persuade our
backyard birds that since I grew
’em, I also intend to eat ’em. A bit
of plastic netting draped over the
fruiting bush may make that point
Though our strawberry patch
faded away over the last two years,
fortunately lots of others around
the area fared better. So while our
new plants are sinking roots and
spreading runners, we can still
enjoy June’s most famous and tas
ty first fruit. What could be more
Van Blarcoms Are Top In State
(Continued from Page B 3)
to get 60 pounds a cow average,
there’s no point in milking them
three times a day. If you’re going
to get 90 pounds, well, you might
as well take the pressure off the
udders.”
The Van Blarcoms also pay
close attention to their genetic
program, not necessarily to use
only the top bulls, but to ensure the
potential for high milk production
while maintaining the strength
needed.
“The herd is about 80 percent
registered cows,” said Van Blar
com. “All the milk cows are AI
bred. We have a cleanup bull for
the heifers.”
If Van Blarcom does not have a
bull that he wants to use, he will
often select one from other
“breeder-dairymen" in the area.
“I wouldn’t call us breeders,”
Van Blarcom said. “We have a lot
of registered cows and we breed a
lot of AI, but we’re not classifica
tion and type breeder farmers.
Some people would call us breed
ers, but I won’t. There’s a lot of
good dairymen who spend a lot
more time knowing every cow’s
pedigree back three or four genera
tions. I may know what they eat,
but 1 may not know their pedigree
back that far.”
No matter what the emphasis of
the dairyman, whether it’s strictly
milk production, breeding cow
families or high quality feed, the
bottom line for Van Blarcom is
economics.
“I hope 1 put more emphasis on
appropriately June than a big dish
of fat, ripe, red strawberries?
Served up, of course, with the
favorite “fruit" of our dairy cows
a great, big, dish of vanilla ice
cream.
That alone makes June worth
waiting for through the other 11
months of the year.
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the economics, the dollars and
cents of it,” he saidd. “If I was a
breeder and was selling cows for
the kind of money that some of
these guys do, that may be more
profitable than what I’m doing
now, but it’s not my cup of tea.”
When selecting bulls he sets the
following criteria, “I like them to
be even on protein or above and I
don’t want them too far minus on
type. I’ve always got to have
milk.”
He works closely with the inse
minator to make improvements
where necessary.
He mainly culls for production,
but also weeds out the problem
cows.
“I don’t cull type for type’s
sake. I cull cows if, for example,
her feet are bad and she’s not going
to give enough milk, or if there’s
too much improvement to make,
I’ll put somebody better in the
stall. I’ll probably cull production
first As long as I’ve been doing it
I’ve been culling production. With
a stall bam, we only have so many
stalls to work with and you just
have to get more milk per stall,” he
said.
Since being at the high produc
ing level, Van Blarcom has learned
the fine points of managing his
herd.
“I get as much milk as I can and
keep the cow healthy and not (hurt)
her rumen. If you over grain them,
you’re going to get the grain in the
manure and you’re going to lose
production. I don’t think I push
them more than they’re capable of.
If I do push them too far, it’s going
to cost me money,” he said.
During the summer months, the
Van Blarcoms keep two full-time
hired men to help with field chores
and the milking. One works main
ly with the equipment while the
other takes care of the heifers and
works in die field.
Although other farmers have
-MAT.
r '
M i- •. ■ (
W. ~ a
plenty of bad luck with their hired
help. Van Blarcom admits that
they’ve been pretty lucky. He also
realizes that it takes a “people per
son” to manage a hired labor force.
“The next generation of far
mers are not going to be the best
milkers, the best tractor drivers
that’s not going to be the dairy
man. I think the next generation is
going to be people handlers,” he
said.
As for the future of the dairy
industry, the Van Blarcoms have a
positive outlook.
“I’m guardedly optimistic,” said
Van Blarcom, “Because there’s no
point in being any other way if
you’re going to be in this
business.”
As for the political agreements
that are in the works, Van Blarcom
sees a brighter future, although the
short-term situation is not
favorable.
‘The dairy farmers took it on the
chin for the first half of GATT,
because we’re competing with
foreign governments instead of
other dairy farmers. We can com
pete with anyone’s dairy farmers,
but we can’t compete with other
governments. They’re going to let
quite a few dairy products in under
GATT, and we can’t export
because we don’t have the export
base to work from. If we keep
increasing our base over the next
two or three years, if they follow
the rules, soon we’ll be on the
same playing field.”
Would he encourage his four
children to get into dairying?
Van Blarcom said, “1 will
encourage them to do their own
thing, but 1 would not discourage
them to farm if that was their
choice.
“Somebody’s going to be mak
ing milk, and if you’re capable of
doing it, I can’t think of a better
place to raise a family. We’re opti
mistic and we’re going to be here.”
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