LOU ANN GOOD
Lancaster Farming Staff
ELIZABETHTOWN (Lancas
ter Co.) After months of condi
tioning her steers and exercising
her Dorsets, 16-year-old Jessica
Stoltzfus will find out how her
pampered pets compare with
others across the state at the Pen
nsylvania Farm Show.
“I’m a perfectionist and my
standards get higher and higher
every year,” said this Farm Show
veteran.
Nonetheless, she knows that
even if you put forth your best
effort, you don’t always win.
“Sportsmanship is all about los
ing gracefully. It’s part of life. You
don’t always get what you
deserve,” said Jessica’s older
brother Jason, who showed lives
tock 11 years at county and state
levels.
As as college sophomore, Jason
won’t be competing at Farm Show,
but he does hope to slip away from
nearby Messiah College for a few
hours to help Jessica with the
behind-the-scenes work of having
animals at the Farm Show.
While Jessica has always been
partial to sheep and has been
known to fall asleep with them in
the pen, that doesn’t mean she
doesn’t become attached to her
steers.
“I try hard not to, but I get all
choked up when it’s time to sell
them,” she said.
The whole Stoltzfus family has
been involved in the 4-H program
for at least 11 years.
The siblings’ dad Frank was
involved in showing animals
through 4-H andFFA when he was
young.
Although his wife Irene raised
sheep during her growing up years,
she never participated in
competition.
Frank said of the reason he
pushed to have his children
become involved in showing ani
mals was from his own experience.
“I knew what farm youth clubs
could do because FFA and 4-H
were a good influence on me. I
think farm kids geta good meaning
of what it means to work for a liv
ing. They see the production end
unlike many others because most
jobs are service and not
production.”
Jessica agrees with her dad’s
assessment She said, “It’s nice to
live on a farm. It’s taught me
responsibility even though I get
tired of it sometimes, I still need to
get it done.”
Responsibility is often learned
through mistakes. Jessica said that
she had all the forms filled out to
enter KILE this year, but forget to
mail the forms until the deadline
was past.
“If you don’t take care of it, you
pay for it later,” she said of her dis
appointment in missing the
deadline.
For 11 years, the Stoltzfuses live
on the grounds of Masonic Homes
in E-town, where Frank is ag pro
duction supervisor for 1,450 acres,
120 milking cows, 100-head of
beef, and the 150-sow farrow-to
finish operation. Since rules prohi
bit raising personal animals on the
Masonic Farm grounds, eight
years ago the Stoltzfuses pur
chased a 9-acre farm about three
miles from where they live.
On their Oak Meadows Farm,
they have a 1,500-head finishing
hog unit. They converted the two
story chicken house on the proper
ty into a sheep bam where they
Farm Show Competition Means More
Than Ribbons For Stoltzfus Family
raise about 27 ewes and rams. Dur
ing the lambing season, the num
ber increases by about 30 head.
Irene is primarily responsible
for the hog finishing care. The
family previously contracted hogs,
but now are independent
With this past year’s high com
prices. Frank figures that they
ended up with about as much profit
as if they had been under contract.
“But the potential for higher profit
is there if we stick in it for the long
run,” he said.
Not living where they raise their
animals causes some difficulty
during bad weather. Last year the
family used a snowmobile to reach
the farm. The tenants at the farm
also fed the animals during the
height of the storm.
The Stoltzfus family got
involved in sheep raising before
their children were old enough to
join 4-H. When Jason was 4 or 5
years old, his grandmother gave
him two lambs. At that time, the
family lived on the family’s Elver
son farm in Chester County. At
first they kept the lambs tied to a
cinder block, which could be easi
ly moved from spot to spot. Later,
they purchased about 10 ewes to
keep the pasture trimmed.
Through the years, the family
has bred their own sheep and have
had success with the Dorset breed.
“Dorsets make good mammas,”
Jessica said.
Her mother oversees most of the
birthing during the lambing sea
son, but she isn’t one to spend
nights in the bam like some people
do. “I may do a bam check late at
night before going to bed, but
mostly the ewes have no problems
unlike some other breeds,” Irene
said.
The sheep have access to a
three-sided building for shelter
while pasturing, but Irene prefers
to henl the ewes into the bam
before birthing. That doesn’t
always work out But the.ewes’
mothering skills and hardy lambs
do well regardless of where birth
ing takes place.
Lambing season is due to start
during Farm Show week, which
makes it a hectic time for the
family.
While some peers remember the
Blizzard of ’96 during Farm Show
with fondness, Jessica is one of
those people who do not Although
she was in a hotel not far from the
Farm Show, they were snowed in
so badly that they couldn’t get out
It took her dad 2Vi hours walking
through waist-high snow to reach
the Farm Show Complex. Jessica
and others stranded at the hotel
couldn’t get there until the follow
ing day. In the meantime, hotel
guests were entertained by the
steer that Jessica attempted to
unload from the snowed-under
trailer in the hotel parking lot.
“One thing was good about last
year,” Jessica said of the sparsely
attended show after the snow
storm. “No one was in the way. It
made it easier for me to run back
and forth between the steer and
sheep shows.”
For months the sheep have been
roughly fitted for showing in what
is called “slick shear” and “patch
shear.” This involves shearing out
sections and allowing wool to
grow where more wool is needed
for showing the sheep to its fullest
potential. The sheep are slick
sheared six weeks in advance of
the show and later patch sheared so
that other than washing and blend
ing the wool through carding
The Stoltzfus family pose with one of Jessica’s Dorset. From left are Jason, Irene,
Jessica, and Frank. While the goal is toearnatrd|)hy inlivestock competition, Jessica?
knows that putting forth her best effort doesn’t guarantee a win. “You don't always get
what you think you deserve, but sportmanship is all about losing gracefully,” Jason
said.
Jessica feeds her flock of Dorset ewes at their Elizabethtown farm. Although the
family operates a 1,500-head hog finishing unit, they do not show hogs, but prefer to
stick to steers and sheep.
before the show, little is required.
“The older we get, the better we
get,” Jessica said of Jason‘s and
her fitting skills. “When we look at
old pictures, we can see our sheep
weren’t (fitted) too good.”
Jessica is accustomed to peers
and strangers often commenting
on the whiteness and cleanliness of
her sheep. This past year, she felt
embarrassed when she rushed her
sheep home from the Keystone
International Livestock Exposi-
don (KILE) to enter them in Man
heim Farm Show.
“I thought my sheep looked dir
ty and I was so embarrascd,” Jessi
ca said.
Regardless, the sheep wore
selected as champions over all
breeds. Although proud to win the
honor and hold the banner while
the media snapped pictures, Jessi
ca felt embarrassed that her sheep
didn’t meet her showy cleanliness
standards.
The two steen that Jessica is
raising arc an Angus and a Maine-
Anjou. In addition to competing in
the steer show at the state Farm
Show, Jessica will be showing
market lambs in youth competition
and two ewes in the breeding
show.-
Jason sold his Suffolk flock to
his parents when he left for col*
lege. His parents decided not to
(Turn to Page A 24) .