“Uh, wc had some intruders
overnight.”
My head snaps up from where it
was buried in the newspaper, and
apprehension makes me shiver in
the wake of his announcement. In
truders? Cattle rustlers like those
who mdc off with heifers many
years ago? Or a repeal of our one
umc baling twine thieves? An
other passer-by who heisted a bag
of com and a new shovd?
“Oh, there were just a couple of
heifers that found a hole in the
fence last night.”
Intruder is much too nice a
word here. Calling escaped heifers
intruders is like saying Atilla the
Hun was a street vandal or that
General Custer and the Indians
had a minor disagreement at The
Little Big Horn.
Escaped heifers mean a full
scale, major destruction-and-de
vastation derby. Heifers arc like
all i.arelroe adolescents. Like kit
tens unraveling yam all over the
living room lloor, or scaling the
dining room drapes. Or like pup
pies that chew up new bools and
drag wet wash from the line and
through the muddy flower beds.
In other words, what they do,
they do with eagerness and aban
don And with an unmistakable,
undeniable, streak of mischievi
ousness.
Heifers on the lam all start out
the same way: they run. Run, kick
ing heels and scattering dust. Run,
making paths through tail, damp
ROHRER’S Quality SEEDS
•Arrow Alfalfa
• Apollo Supreme
•Aggressor Alfalfa
•Alfagraze Alfalfa
• Redland 111 Red Clover
• Toro Timothy
• Climax Timothy
• Cert Climax Timothy
• Crown Orchard Grass
• Pennlate Orchard Grass
• Reeds Canary Grass
• Brome Grass
• Perennial Ryegrass
• Bastion Perennial Ryegrass
• Ky. 31 Tall Fescue
• Highland Pasture Mix
• Horse Pasture Mixture
• Triple Purpose Hay & Pasture
Mixture
• Waterway Grass Mix
• Special Hay Mixture
• Hairy Winter Vetch
Monday-Priday 7:30 A.N.-SP.M.
Saturday 7:30 A.M.-12:00 Noon
P.L. ROHRER & BRO., INC.
Smoketown, PA Phone: 717-299-2571
alfalfa, flaltenmgn stalks ot com.
Run, through gardens and flower
beds, across lawns, up and down
bam alleyways.
But once they gel that out of
their systems, heifers usually lend
to drift back toward home. Maybe
just to sec if anyone has noticed.
Or, il someone hasn’t. And, If
someone hasn’t, then it’s lime to
gel down to some heavy-duty
plundering.
Key plundering strategy of our
hcilcrs usually centers around the
calf nursery and weaned heifer
pens and alleyways under the old
bank barn. Here, the sweetest
gram mixes and select hay are
kept stocked ahead. Younger
calves often leave some of the mo
lasses-laced grain in their indivi
dual buckets and only nibble at
hay rations.
After sampling several buckets
of leftover feed, plus scattering a
few just to see how far the grain
flies over the calf nursery floor,
they’ll move on to hay for dessert.
Now, everyone knows that the
greenest, sweetest, tastiest hay is
always buried smack in the middle
of the bale. And there’s only one
way to gel at il.
How heifers can so thoroughly
rip, shred and scatter to the winds
those snugly-tied bales of hay de
fies the imagination. Especially
when 1 need a knife to cut the dog
gone things apart. And, by gosh,
when they finally get to the mid
dle, the hay apparently doesn’t
FOR OVER 75 YEARS
WILLOW STREET (Lancas
ter) An autumn ride on a horse
drawn Conestoga wagon through
the orchard at the Hans Herr
House, delicious foods made with
apples in the old Pennsylvania
German fashion, and demonstra
tions ranging from native Ameri
can fish or meat drying to oxen
powered corn-grinding are some
of the many highlights awaiting
visitors to this year’s Snitz Fest at
the Hans Herr House and Mu
seum.
The eighth annual event will
take place on Saturday, October 7
from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on the
grounds of the museum. Nearly 40
historic varieties of apples will be
available for sampling, grown
right in the orchard on the premis
es of Lancaster County’s oldest
existing structure. In addition to
taste all that much better than did
those first couple of bites from the
outside corners. So it makes sense
that it be scattered and strewn to
every comer.
Then, like artists signing their
work, maurauding bands of rene
gade heifers leave behind the in
evitable scattered residues of man
ure, more evidence of their ram
paging that must be swept,
shoveled and forked away.
Even before that clean-up can
be accomplished, the shovels,
forks and brooms must be retriev
ed from where they, too, were
knocked from their normal places
as the renegades partied all night.
Like all adolescents, heifers
eventually grow up, settle down
(well, most of them) and become
reasonably, well-behaved produc
ing members of the milking string.
Just in lime for the next batch of
renegades to take their places.
Seed Grains
• Cert. Pennco Barley
• Cert. Wysor Barley
• Cert. Sawyer Wheat
• Cert. Clemens Wheat
• Cert. Hickory Wheat
Special Grazing Grasses
• Matua Prairie Grass
• Zero Nui Perennial Ryegrass
• Dairymaster Perennial
Ryegrass Mixture
• Tekapo Orchard Grass
• Southern Cross White Clover
Mixture
• Rangiora Rape Seed 1
• Fuego Tall Fescue
Hans H
Ha
err House
■vest With
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 30, 1995-B7
the apple-testing table, visitors to
Snit/ Fest will be able to sample
apples in a variety of other forms.
Apple butter making, cider press
ing, and “smumg” apples for dry
ing will all be ongoing activities
throughout the day. Colonial ap
ple recipes will be used in turning
out delicacies from the past at both
the raised hearth in the 1719 Hen-
House and at the outdoor beehive
bakeoven.
While focusing primarily on the
apple and the impact of its impon
ancc upon Lancaster County’s
first settlers, other aspects of the
harvest and the autumn season
will be celebrated, as well. Chil
dren will enjoy the wide variety of
18th century games to be played.
Kids of all ages will want to get on
a wagon for a ride through the or
chard or around the grounds. Both
the 1719 house and 1835 house
(across the street) will be open for
tours or browsing. The blacksmith
shop will be in use, and the
smokehouse will emit the good
smell of smoked sausage.
Activities to observe include
seeing com husked by hand and
Farm Safety
LEWISBURG (Union Co.)
A free farm safety day camp for
children ages Bto 13 is planned for
Saturday, October 14, at Beaver
Fairgrounds, Beaver Springs, from
8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Sponsored by Penn State
Cooperative Extension, the camp
will reinforce the importance of
taking responsibility for their own
safely, respecting parent’s safety
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To Celebrate
Snitz Fest
shelled with an oxen-powered
sheller, sorghum pressing, broom
making using “broom com,” and
woodworking skills in the making
of miniature wagons. Fabric dye
ing and buttermaking add diver
sity to the demonstrations of life in
years gone by.
A new feature this year is the
skills of native Americans, who
will show fish or meat drying
techniques and grind com into
meal. Additional new Snitz Fest
activities include Scherenschnitte,
an old German papercutting skill
used in the making of beautiful de
signs, and demonstrations of a
fencepost-making machine.
Admission to Snitz Fest is
$4.50 for adults and $1 for chil
dren ages 7-12. Snitz Fest is a fun
filled educational event sponsored
by the Herr House Foundation.
The Hans Herr House is located 5
miles south of the city of Lancas
ter, PA, near the village of Willow
Street, just south of Routes US
222 and PA 741 and one mile east
of PA 272. For more information,
call (717) 464-4438.
Day Camp
rules, and sharing safety ups with
tamily and friends.
Parents can register their child
ren lor the camp by calling the
Union County Extension Office at
(717) 524-8721. Registrations
must be received by October 2.
The free camp includes lunch,
farm cap, first aid kit, safety pack
et, and door prizes. Children under
8 years old must be accompanied
by an adult.