lome for Pennsylvania FFA president Joy Hess, kneeling, Is in Gettysburg, ments. From left are Jaylene and John Hess with daughter Jaleesa, Dale, Be jre the family works together to farm 1,000 acres and milk 350 cows three nle and John Hess, and Josle holding Hannah, 7 months. Another daughter les daily. A new barn and a double 10 herringbone milking parlor Is being Jocelyn, 2, Is seated on the ground with Joy. lit with plans to Increase the herd size to 500 milking cows plus replace- Joy Hess Heads Pennsylvania FFA 's 6,000 Members LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Farming Staff GETTYSBURG (Adams Co.) Although she is the youngest of siblings who are leaving their on the dairy industry, Joy . Hess’s imprint on agricul ’s future promises to be 'essive. ie 19-year-old has already appointed a hefty responsibil- She is the recently elected pres it of the 8,000-member Pen -1 vania FFA, e daughter of John and Bon- Hess is no stranger to hard She is in charge of the night milking 330 cows, and in of calf feeding and the igram on parents. Bon- John Hess,’ farm in -V pi a Joy. The last of my 4-H projects is one of the top 10 producing Brown Swiss In Pennsylvania and scored 92 In classification,” said Joy. She was Instru mental in getting the family to Incorporate Brown Swiss into the registered Holstein herd when she selected a Brown Swiss for her first 4-H project. Now 30 Brown Swiss are on test among cows milked on the family farm. Joy’s hours in the bam are from 8:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. “I like those hours because they're cooler in the summer,” she said Originally the family milked only Holsteins, but when Bonnie was 8 years old, she wanted a Brown Swiss as her 4-H project “Dad and my sister liked them a lot too, because Brown Swiss are a lot calmer than Holsteins,” Joy said. She now has 30 registered Brown Swiss on test The Hesses live on a 1,000 acre farm complex named Joßo Hols tein Farm. When her dad pur chased the farm in 1971, only one bam was on the property. A com shed, two freestall bams, a hospital and commodity shed have been built. In the process of being built is another freestall bam and a dou ble 10 herringbone milking parlor expandable to 18 units. When com pleted, the Hesses hope to milk 500 cows using only one person. Her dad said of the family’s con tinual expansion, ‘To succeed you must be efficient and competitive. It takes dedication by putting forth our best efforts." Joy is the only sibling still living at home with her parents, but the others live nearby, and most are involved in helping on the farm. Sister Jenny’s husband Dale, a brother John, and a sister Josie works full time on the farm. Three other full-time and four part-time employees also work on the farm. Calves are housed in the 64 calf hutches on the grounds and then moved to one of the 69 box stalls. Two-year-old cows arc kept in separate facilities instead of being incorporated into the cow herd. “They do better when they’re not pushed around by older, mature cows,” Joy said. “I consider 2-year-olds to be the same as teen agers who are rebelling.” A sprinking system that auto matically goes on every five minutes out of every IS is used to keep cows cool. After die sprink lers were installed in the frecstall barn, the family noticed the cows liked it so much they often stood in the headlocks just to get wet A manure system holds the man ure until it is emptied every season. Joy said that she took over the farm’s breeding program two years ago when she became fascinated with genetics while doing a lot of livestock judging through 4-H and FFA. Through FFA she qualified for national competition and placed in the top 10 in livestock judging. Joy selects sires to produce fan cy show cows. While most of her choices please her, she admits that some combinations produce disap pointing results. Joy takes her cows to about six shows annually. Her sister Josie and another part-time helper assist a bit in the show ring, but most of her siblings don’t enjoy showing like she does. Because of FFA leadership responsibilities, Joy knows that she will miss some show dates this years. “But FFA comes first. Showing cows will be there next year,” Joy said. At this point, Joy doesn’t plan to go to college. Instead, she’d like to own her own dairy—a 60-cow herd of both Brown Swiss and Holsteins because they push the milk out, she said. “And, I’ve always dreamed of being a professional classifier for the Brown Swiss breed,” she said. In her last year of 4-H, Joy was president of the 4-H Dairy Club and served as a judging coach. She was thrilled that her team advanced to state level. She was also show man and fitting champion. Her cow won grand champion at state level and she was named the outstanding member of £h. “It was hard to walk away from 4-H, but achieving all that helped me feel like I had finished up,” she said. Joy is now a leader of the 4-H Dairy Club. She is also president of the Junior Holstein Club and in 1995 was named outstanding inter mediate member of the state. She is a member of the Pennsylvania Brown Swiss Association and was in charge of the Pennsylvania page for the newsletter until appointed state FFA president. In June, she completed a year as the Adams County Dairy Princess, something that all of her sisters had also achieved. Although Joy learned a lot through the dairy princess prog ram, she said, “I never could get used to wearing a crown and I don’t >* especially like dressing up.” She feels much more comfprt able in FFA garb of dark blue jack et, skirt or trousers. A 1996 graduate of New Oxfa High School, Joy pined expert* ence in leadership by filling offices of both vice president and presi dent of the FFA. Of being selected as president statewide, Joy said, “I’m really honored to hold that office. I owe a lot to my high school adviser Brian Campbell. He really pushes leader ship and people skills.” Joy is the first person from her school to be appointed president. Six years ago, a state chaplain was selected from New Oxford. “I wanted to be a state officer, but I didn’t think that I’d be presi dent,” Joy said. “When they announced my name, I froze to my chair. If there was ever a time that I almost passed out, it would have beat then,” Joy said. Growing up on a farm. Joy believes, “I learned a different view of life than most of the kids my age. I learned the value of responsibility and work." Milking three times a day has proved a plus for Joßo Farm. “The somatic cell count dropped and mastitis is no longer a prob lem,” she said. “At first the herd average dropped but now it’s at 23,000 pounds.” BST is not used indiscriminate ly, but on 25 to 45 percent of herd, depending on the condition of the individual cows. Josie, who is in charge of the daytime milking shift, makes a list of.the cows she believes qualifies, and Joy selects from that list. Her older sister Jenny, a former extension agent, now works for a feed company. Another sister Jane works for Mid-Atlantic Milk Marketing Association. Josie, who is married to Mike Risser and have (Turn to Pago B 13)
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers