Marty Stutzman Receives
American Farmer Degree
GAY N. BROWNLEE
Somerset Co. Correspondent
MEYERSDALE (Somerset
Co.) Marty Stutzman, in
November was the only Somerset
County FFA member to receive the
American FFA Degree at the Na
tional FFA Convention held in
Kansas City, Mo.
The 20-year-old Meyersdale
FFA Chapter member has contin
ued his active supervised work ex
perience on Friendship Farms, at
RD3, where he hopes, one day. to
become its manager. His parents
are Jim and Doris (Miller) Stutz
man.
Rolling over the valley at the
southern base of Hunsrick Summit,
and around the energetic waters of
the Casselman River, where in
creased precipitation and a man
designed project has curbed earlier
aquatic damage from old mine
drainage, Stutzman sees the ances
tral lands. Lands owned by his ma
ternal forebears for more than two
centuries.
That’s why, besides waking at
home, his pursuit of a degree in
agricultural business management
at the Garrett Community College
in McHenry, Md., ill vitally import
ant to the preservation of this heri
tage. Knowledge and experience
will carry it into the fast-approach
ing 21st Century.
“I think growing up on a form
has really helped me in college be
cause I already had a grasp on agri
culture.” reported the full-time stu
dent.
“I tried going to school part time
but it didn’t work. 1 was still workr
ing too much on the farm,” he said.
Stutzman’s mandatory 2,000
hours of supervised work were
completed under supervision of his
dad, a junior high science teacher
in the Meyersdale Area School
District It included operating the
40-head Holstein dairy and the IS
to 20 head of beef animals they
keep, besides raising crops.
Partnering is primarily what the
son and his dad do.
“Dad won’t make a major deci
sion without me and I won’t with
out him,” said Stutzman, now the
Bottle-feeding e three-week-old beef calf Is one of num
erous tasks adding up to at least 2,000 hours of supervised
work for Marty Slutzman, the only FFA member In Somer
set County to receive the American FFA Degree at the 69th
FFA,National Convention, held in Kansas City, Mo.
i
At Friendship Farms, Meyersdale, Somerset County,
square bales of hay are more practical for the sqiall Hol
stein operation run by Marty Stutzman and his dad, Jim
Stutzman.
third American Degree recipient in
the MeyersdaM'roA Chapter.
“My mom does most of the ac
counting.” He added with a
twinkle, “My dad makes the bills
and she pays them.”
They commercialize on what
ever com, rye, oats, and alfalfa
their own animals, which are fed in
a conventional way, won’t need.
On an average, the stockpile of
square hay bales is some 20,000!
The square bale issue entwined a
good debate in Stutzman’s classes
where the round bales were touted
as having the greatest efficiency.
“Some things that are taught
aren’t as realistic for some farmers
as for others,” hejbserved about
round bales as siposcd to the
square ones. *‘S<*ne things will
work and others won’t.”
“If you have the facilities, it is an
advantage,” he said “Square bales,
however, are more marketable than
the round ones.”
A few things that do work, how
ever, are lessons on keeping re
cords and doing income taxes.
Livestock and crop management,
understanding market trends and
changing technology are important
tools for any farmer according to
the Meyersdale Young Farmers
Association member.
“We had to set up a budget for a
farm,” he said explaining that
some classes were taken on-line
through the University of Mary
land.
Stutzman, who with his sister,
Becky, a teacher, still live in the big
old farmhouse with their folks,
says “It’s nice to have a roof over
your head and food in your
mouth."
The family chuckles when they
relate, but have no poof of the
legend that “the farm was pur
chased for two bottles of whiskey
and 14 deerskins.”
Peter Miller, one of Stutzman’s
great-grandfathers ironically, was
married to a Mary Stutzman from
1756 to 1818.
Next door, another (big house
was built in increments. Half of its
bricks, reportedly, were poured in
one winter and the othei - half, the
following winter. Then, some
onery cats, trespassing, ran
through the forms* To this day their
paw prints remain preserved in se
veral of the bricks, said me eighth
generation descendant
Stutzman, who always played
FFA sports, earned his state FFA
degree as a high school senior. He
still joins various community
league, sport teams, and is a Mey
ersdale Church of the Brethren
member.
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