82-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 22, 1996
Father And Son Make Farming A Family Affair
LINDA WILLIAMS
Bedford Co. Correspondent
NEW ENTERPRISE (Bedford
Co.) Donald Replogle is farm
ing the same Morrison’s Cove
ground on which he grew up.
“I don’t know when I decided to
be a farmer,” he jokes, “It just
happened. I guess there are still
umcs when I don’t know what I
want to be when I grow up.” Don
began farming officially in 1959.
The original home place is just
a part of the more than 700 acres
of land being farmed by Don and
his son, Steve with whom he
formed a partnership in 1971.
Even on a chill and cloudless
spring day, the Replogle farm is
pleasant with a wide porch wel
coming visitors to the big farm
house owned by Don and his wife,
Dorothy. Steve and his family live
in the old homeplace about two
miles from the newer farm.
Steve, the only one of three bro
thers to choose fanning for his
livelihood, feels much the same as
his father. “I’ve just always been
farming,” he says. “Never thought
of doing anything else.”
The Replogle farm is strictly a
family affair with Dorothy and
Sieve’s wife, Cindy, helping with
milking more than 120 Holstein
cows, driving tractor or running
enands.
Steve and Cindy’s daughter,
Mandy, is a freshman at California
Stale University while Cassie, 15,
enjoys the farm and gets her own
paycheck.
Cindy’s adaptability to farm life
is remarkable, Steve admits. She
was a “city girl” before marrying
into the Replogle family. “Never
even saw a cow up close before,”
says Steve, “but now she milks re
gularly.”
“Yes,” she’s quite a girl,” says
her mother-in-law. “She gets up
early to help with the milking,
goes to work at the Northern Bed
ford High School cafeteria, and re
turns home to milk again.”
LINDA WILLIAMS
Bedford Co. Correspondent
FREDERICK, Md. When
Judy Osborn, a data entry clerk,
saw a demonstration on spinning
with angora rabbit wool she
quickly decided, “I could do that!”
Living in a suburban area with
only A acre of ground, Judy and
her husband, Phil, now have about
40 angora rabbits mostly of the
German Great breed although
some are cross bred with English
Satin. With so much coming from
so little land, the couple named
their business, “Abundance
Acres.”
Most of their marketing is done
through the Maryland Sheep and
Wool Festival held annually in
May or at the Charlottesville
Wool event in Virginia. This year,
they have applied to the Rinebeck
Festival in New York Slate.
“We love it,” says the vivacious
Judy. “We get to meet a lot of peo
ple as well as sell yam, wood, and
rabbits.”
The cuddly bunnies quickly
draw a crowd and the bunny on
display is changed regularly as too
much attention can be an aggrava
tion.
Wool is extracted from the rab
bits by clipping and plucking.
“Plucking takes forever,” Judy ad
mits. “So we do more clipping.
We never comb the rabbits.”
Sometimes for demonstrations
only, Judy will spin the wool
directly from the rabbit .seated
comfortably on her lap. “Spinners
“She likes animals but doesn’t
want any part of the machinery or
field work,” says Steve who
claims this area as his own exper
tise.
“Steve started competing in
tractor driving when he was five
years old,” laughs Donald. “Of
course, it was a pedal tractor. The
prize was a toy Massey Harris
metal tractor and Steve easily ped
aled over the finish line in first
place to claim it”
Later, as an extra reward, the
family stopped for ice cream and
Steve let his new toy which caused
a panicky return trip to reclaim it.
As the years passed, Steve
earned numerous blue ribbons and
first place awards for his tractor
driving abilities. Machinery has
continued to be his first farm love.
Several years ago, he decided
they just didn’t make a com wag
on large enough to haul all of the
com necessary to feed more than
240 head of dairy cattle. Steve de
signed and created his own.
The wagon was made from ply
wood on a flat truck bed and the
entire family nailed and painted to
get it finished for com season.
Another wagon made of alum
inum was constructed the next
year. Now neighbors sometimes
rent one of the rigs for use in their
own com fields.
Steve also converted an old
gasoline truck into a manure
spreader and designed an agitator
for stirring manure that works
from a motor.
“He builds a new sprayer every
year,” laughs Don. “We always
think this will be the sprayer that
does everything but are never
quite satisfied. So, Steve designs
and builds a new one.”
Like all farmers, the Replogles
see constant changes on the farm.
“We’ve most recently tried rota
tional grazing,” Don says. “And
have found it to be very satisfac
tory. Milk production went up al
(Turn to Page B 3)
Angora Rabbits Weave Profitable Business
don’t do that often,” she notes,
“Because it is quite hot for both
the spinner and the rabbit”
Good rabbits, especially the gi
ant varieties being raised by the
Osborns, produce two to three
pounds of wool per year. It sells
for $4 to $6 per ounce. Or, one
rabbit could produce about $240
worth of wool per year.
Judy and Phil concentrate on
the giant species of rabbits which
range in weight from 10 to IS
pounds. These sell for about $lOO
each.
“We allow the does to have two
or three litters per year but no
more,” explains Judy. “Meat rab
bit breeders can produce many
more litters, but too much breed
ing would destroy the wool on our
mothers.” Litters average five or
six bunnies with a max of eight
settings at the dinner table.
“We also keep very strict breed
ing records to bring out the best
genetic qualities in the offspring.”
The Osborns keep their rabbits
in a 10 x 20-foot bam located in
their backyard. Rabbits are kept in
cages.
“We have no problem with
cold,” Phil assures. “Cold is never
a problem with these wooly rab
bits.”
Heat, on the other hand, is a dif
ferent story. “They mind the heat a
lot,” Judy says. “And, we do we
all we can to keep them comfort
able. We even freeze water and
use it for air conditioning.”
Don and Steve confer over repairs to be made to the combine before the summer
harvesting season arrives.
Surveying their new rotational grazing pastures, the Replogles are happy with the
results.
Big Red Bunny Feed provides P andin B their rabbit business. Meanwhile, the couple is hav
nccessary nourishment with the ‘ ,Whcn w ® outgrow our present ing a lot of fan meeting new peo
addition of some daily hay. One >t is our dream to look pie and constantly learning more
day a week, however, the rabbits 8 sma h farm,” she explains, about the world of angora rabbits.
receive only hay and oats. *W* ■
‘This keeps the hairballs out of mg _ __ ~
their stomachs," Judy explains. “A A m I r# n| l| I 4 m
rabbit has a glandular stomach m a L /■ a I
and. therefore, is not able to throw ■ /y i I ji | | |_|/g | y
up a hairabll. Cats, on the other
hand have muscular stomachs,
and have no trouble getting rid of
their excess stomach hair.”
Judy and Phil hope to keep ex-
products offered at the festival.
NOTES