LOIS SZYMANSKI
Maryland Correspondent
UPPERCO, Md. Hickory
Hill Farm. Inc. of Upperco, Mary
land, is back in business! The milk
business that is! The farm went
out of the dairy business in 1986
with the dairy termination pro
gram, but on April 23 of this year
they were back with a 250 head
herd of cattle purchased from
Delaware’s Middessa Farms.
Owned by brothers, Wayne,
Frank and John Armacost, sister
Carol and mom Ellen, the farm
has been in the Armacost family
for six generations over 200
years. “Our farm’s original land
grant was from the King of Eng
land and was made out to Christo
phel Armacost,” says Wayne Ar
macost. With 375 acres on the
family farm, they also farm an ad
ditional rented 75 acres, but the
crops they raise, (240 acres of
com and 85 acres of soybeans) are
strictly for the use of their own
cattle. Mr. Armacost stresses that
they are focusing on milk produc
tion now, not crop farming.
“About 45 percent of our cattle
are registered,” said Armacost, in
dicating the Holsteins at rest in the
140-foot by 490-foot bam. All are
equipped with transponders to
track milk production by comput
er, and pedometers to track activi
ty and heat cycles for optimum
breed! Thf 50-ff
Wayne Armacost in the dairy bams at Hickory Hill Farm, Inc.
Hickory Hill Farm Back
set-up next to the bam and several
exercise lots for the cattle. The
concrete floors in the bam are hos
ed regularly, making for a clean
and efficient set-up.
“Although my- brother (John)
does some machine and equip
ment repairs, we really are not di
versifying,” says Wayne Anna
cost of the farm’s goals. “Our
main focus at this point is on pro
ducing milk. We want to get the
herd size back up to about 400
head,” he says.
Cows will be artificially insem
inated at Hickory Hill Farm. Then,
in a special deal, calves bom on
Hickory Hills Farm will go back
to Middessa Farms to be raised be
fore coming home to Hickory Hill
Farm again at milking age.
“When we decided to go back
into the dairy business, we updat
ed our bams with all new West
phalia milkers (with automatic
take-offs},” Armacost says. The
milking area is equipped with a
Westfalia double 12 parallel, ex
pandable to 16.
Currently, the Armacosts milk
2*o cows, twice a day. They feed
a total mixed ration that consists
of com silage, hominy, soybean
meal, cottonseed, dried brewers,
and minerals.
Help on the farm includes
Wayne Armacost’s immediate
family: wife - Pepper, and chil-
Armacost shows the new milking parlor at Hickory Hill Farm that is equipped with a
Westfalia double 12, expandable to 16.
In Dairy Business
Lancaatar Fanning, Saturday, Juna 24,11
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