PS-Lancastcr Fanning, Saturday, August 'ifcitos
JOANNE E. MORVAY
Maryland Correspondent
MASSEY, Md. Lester C.
“Bucky” Jones spent all his life
farming New Jersey ground that’s
been in his family since “the time
of the Indians.”
So what’s he doing at this
brand-spanking new dairy in one
of Maryland’s far northeastern
counties?
The pressure of development
pushed Jones, his family and their
milk cows off that ancestral
ground.
But there was no way moving
was going to mean getting out of
milking, Jones said recently.
He and his sons David, Sean
and Andy took 12 years plan
ning for their new spread.
Though there’ve been a few
glitches along the way, nearly four
months after they started milking
at their Kent County quarters, the
men said they’re satisfied with the
move.
They’re hosting an open house
on Aug. 19 so folks can get a bet
ter look at their set-up.
The farm milks three shifts a
day under the watchful eye of the
Joneses and their employees.
Son Sean, 30, is the herdsman,
who takes care of cow records.
Lester C. "Bucky” Jones spent 12 years planning tor his
family’s new dairy farm in Massey, Maryland.
Jones Farm
Sean’s wife of seven years,
Tammy, does the bookkeeping
and billing. The handful of Jerseys
in the herd belong to her the
progeny of a birthday gift from
Sean.
The couple met when they were
attending Virginia Tech. They
have two children—Ethan, 3, and
Katelyn, who was bom shortly af
ter the Joneses settled on the prop
erty last July.
Andy, 26, also works with the
taking care of feeding and
whatever else comes his way.
David, 32, handles machinery
maintenance on two mixer wa
gons, 20 tractors and four tractor
trailers.
“Keep me away from those
cows and I’m happy,” he joked.
David said his job security is
guaranteed because “they break
’em faster than I can fix ’em.”
He and his wife, Connie, have
two children Christine, 8, and
Matthew. 6.
Jones and his wife Diane have
been married 33 years. They also
have three daughters—Cathy, 24,
Jennie, 20 and Bonnie, 18. The
women pursue their own interests
and education off the farm.
Jones said he sees his farm as a
large family operation 50 to 80
Looking across the farm, from left, the older heifer shed; the milking parlor, office,
and dairy; one of two mixer wagons, and the loafing shed.
Open To Visitors Aug. 19
head supporting each of the four
families.
Development closing in on the
farm in New Jersey was making
that task more and more difficult,
he said.
In Kent County, “People make
you feel like they want you here,”
said daughter-in-law Tammy.
“This offers our children more of a
future.”
The Joneses could’ve had their
new farm up and running six years
ago on acreage about eight miles
north of where they finally settled.
But that deal didn’t work out.
i"'
Cows file Into the parlor. All cows wear automatic Identification and heat detection
sensors.
Here’s How The Dairy Is Equipped
JOANNE E. MORVEY
Maryland Correspondent
MASSEY, Md. The Jones’
dairy set-up is the result of years
of research and planning.
Bucky Jones and his sons have
been studying ideas from dairy
farms across the country for more
than a decade. Nearly four years
ago, they began working with Tri
ple H Construction of Ephrata, Pa.
to design the dairy complex.
The Joneses farm is just a few
miles from the crossroads that
mark the center of the tiny town of
Massey.
The Jones have 1,200 acres
there 950 tillable. The dairy
complex is on about 35 acres.
The family is milking 560 head
Holsteins and a handful of Jer
seys —in a double 12 parallel par
lor. Cow capacity is 600 head and
the parlor expands to a double 20,
Bucky Jones said.
The parlor is mechanized under
the Boumatic Xpressway integrat
ed management system. Bucky
So the family went back to the
drawing board.
Financing the deal was the'big
gest challenge. Bucky Jones said.
He sold some land for a county
airport and some for a housing de
velopment. he said. Another por
tion was permanently preserved
under a transfer of development
rights program. And he has retain
ed about 800 acres that he is cur
rently growning crops on.
Complicating matters was a de
pressed housing market which de
valued the land, Jones said.
In the end, all the headaches
Jones is a longtime Boumatic
dealer with customers in five
states.
“I got into that years ago be
cause I wasn’t happy with the milk
equipment we had,” he said.
At the Jones’ state-of-the-art
set-up, milk is funneled from the
parlor to one of two 6,000 gallon
tanks. One milk tank is filled each
day. The Joneses have their own
tanker truck to get the milk to At
lantic Dairy Cooperative. Bucky’s
father, the late Lester C. Jones Sr.,
was a longtime president of the
coop.
There are basement storage
rooms below the parlor. One side
houses the air compressor and re
ceivers. The other side holds the
water system and vacuum pumps.
Jones uses a gravity flow water
system one tank with
4,000-gallon storage capacity and
just one float valve to control
all the water on the property.
Jones installed the wash system
were worth it, he said.
“We kept the family togetha
and in a decent milk market,"
Jones said.
The farm is 114 hours from
their old spread, making it easy fa
the family to get home and visit
Jones’ mother.
At present, however, Jones and
his sons are devoting a lot of time
to getting their cows acclimated to
their new home.
The stress of the move had seri
ously knocked production, Sean
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MI
himself. It’s based on a therma
sory heat exchange. The gas from
the hot milk is harnessed, therma
sors begin to heat the water and
one water heater does the rest,
warming 500 gallons of water to
180 degrees Fahrenheit in mere
minutes.
Well water is used to cool the
milk. It takes out about V> of the
heat, Jones said. A chiller removes
the rest of the heat in the milk. The
cold water is then recycled as
drinking water for the cows.
The Joneses depend on irriga
tion to keep their crops consistent.
Jones said the previous owner of
the farm was harvesting 200
bushel-to-the-acre com "in dry
years,” thanks to the irrigation.
The farm has four bunker silos,
measuring 60 feet across by 200
feet long by 12 feet high. Walls
for an additional bunker—4o feet
by 200 feet by 9 feet are being
brought down from New Jersey,
he said.
Commodities are stored in bulk
in a large shed. At the New Jersey
farm, David shared his machine
shop with the communities. The
new arrangements and the
much larger, separate shop,
make his life much easier, he grin
ned.
An underground manure man
agement system leads to a 12-acre
lagoon, which has enough storage
for the waste of 1,200 cows to
180 days. Jones said it look two
months before the bottom of the
lagoon was covered.
There are a number of homes on
the property most occupied by
the milkers and their families-
Sean and his family live in the
main house at the farm. The rest of
the family have moved nearby.
Bucky Jones said the buildings
were designed to reduce heat
stress. The family didn’t expect to
test them so soon, however.
The loafing shed for the milk
cows which measures a whop-
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