Sound Conservation Practices
(Continued from Page *34)
400 feet of grass waterways are
used. The waterways are 25-feet
wide planted in a combination of
Kentucky 31 fescue and perennial
rye. Strips are maintained in hay,
small grain, and com.
Sod diversions are maintained
on mostly the steeper ground and
can be used about 20 years before
overhaul work is needed.
During the farm tour, snow
showers were the norm as temper
atures plunged into the 30s.
Hershey Dairy
Bethel
A concrete settlement basin is
the mainstay of barnyard runoff
control at the dairy operated by
Wilbur and Arlene Hershey in
Bethel.
The settlement basin, con
structed at a cost of $7,500 with
Chesapeake Bay program cost
share money, collects a little more
than a foot of manure and prevents
it from running to a farm pond
within a 100 yards of the barnyard.
Wilbur said that the farm cares
for 145 milking and 120 replace
ment stock of grade Holstein. In
all, 450 acres, included rented
ground, are managed.
The farm itself includes 247
acres of com, wheat, soybeans,
and alfalfa hay. Manure is stored in
Randy McCormack, Berks County conservationist, center with cap, reviews the
conservation plans at the Feeg Farm.
Students from Tulpehocken High School Inspect the
Feeg Farm’s spring-fed water trough.
a completely earthen bank storage
which holds 4-6 months of man
ure. The manure is spread three
times a year in early spring, early
fall, and late fall.
The manure is chiseled in. Bed
ded packed manure from dry cow
and young stock is spread when
needed.
A grass waterway carries water
from the concrete settling-basin to
a filter area in the pasture. When
full, a skid loader is used to dump
the settling basin manure to the
earth bank storage..
Still under installation at the
farm, according to Ray Hershey, is
a spouting system to collect rain
water from an old bank bam, bank
feeder roof, and frees tall bam
roofs. The water is fed to an under
ground pipe which empties into the
pond.
According to the district, diver
sions total 2,500 feet at the farm,
with grass waterways totaling 600
feet and contour stripcropping in
place on 67 acres.
During the tour, 10 students
from Tulpehocken High School in
Bemville also inspected the con
servation practices. Christine Wil
liams, ag science instructor at Tul
pehocken, explained that the stu
dents, studying environmental
agriculture, were looking at the
various water quality control tech
niques on the farms.
Farmers Union Inducts
Two Into Hall Of Fame
(Continued from Page A 1)
founded in 1988 to recognize
members whose dedication and
hard work have contributed to the
success of the farm organization.
Junk said, “PFU has long tradi
tion of working with family farm
ers across the state in areas of
legislation, cooperation and edu
cation. The Hall of Fame is a way
to recognize the hard work of
those members who contributed to
our success.”
Bcntz has been a member of
PFU since its inception. “I was a
member of the first annual state
convention 25 years ago. Actually
I was member of the advisory
committee before our state was
even chartered as a Farmers Union
state.”
In addition, Bentz is an advo
cate of a new cooperation move
ment in York County. “Grain pro
ducers in York County found
themselves with no way to ship
their grain. A group of us decided
to get together and cooperatively
meet our need for a grain handling
facility,” he said.
Junk commended Bentz and
Rynd for their continued involve
ment in PFU and their contribu
tions to rural Pennsylvania.
“Jack is an expert in dairy poli
cy and PFU has always looked to
him for advice on those issues,”
said Junk. Rynd, Farmers Union
Milk Marketing Cooperative pres
ident, has been an active member
of PFU since the beginning.
“This organization has been
instrumental in shaping dairy poli
cy, not only in Pennsylvania but
also in Washington,” Rynd said.
“I am very proud of this award and
will continue to work with PFU to
make the dairy industry viable for
family farmers.”
Pennsylvania Farmers Union is
a grassroots family farm organiza
tion working for the betterment of
producers across the state.
MILK. IT DOES
A BODY GOOD.
Uncaater Fanning, Saturday, November 23, IM6-A35
United States Department of
Agriculture Rural Development
Secretary Jill Long-Thompson
encouraged the participants at the
Farmers Helping Fanner Confer
ence to “work togehter to make
rural America a better place.” The
conference was held in conjunc
tion with the 2Sth annual
convention.
“We need to find new ways to
partner with government and the
private sector to create an oppor
tunity for the future of rural
America,” Long-Thompson said.
“We have a successful history of
these partnerships, rural electrifi
cation, higher education and the
rural water system. We need to
find new opportunities for people
who live on the farm and expand
agriculture opportunties for
them.”
The Farmers Union conference
featured experts in the cooperative
development from across the
state. ‘This conference is an
excellent vehicle for producers to
explore new ways to add value to
their products,” said PFU Presi
dent Bob Junk. “Farmers Union
has always supported the coopera
tive movement, and we encourage
our producres to control more of
their product to increase its
value.”
Pennsylvania Secretary of
Agriculture Charles Brosius also
urged the participants to “work
with the government to create new
marketing opportunities for agri
culture products.” The Ridge
Administration has been very
active in developing new markets
and we will continue those
efforts.”
Junk said the conference was
the first step producers need to
take to generate new ideas. “Our
goal was to give producers an
opportunity to explore new mark
ets and to openly discuss what
their possibilties are for the
future."