A44-Lafit&sW Fahrtnfc' SaWMayj 1 9epttmb» S, 1997
JINNY WILT
Adams Co. Correspondent
MANCHESTER (York Co.)
Two York County farmers know
the benefit of soil conservation
and were recently honored for
their efforts to preserve the soil on
the farms that they cultivate by the
York County Soil Conservation
District.
William Buser of Lower Wind
sor Township and Leonard Greek
of Lower Chanceford Township
each note that their farms are
located a short distance from the
Susquehanna River. And while
they know that the soil running off
their land into the river ends up in
the Chesapeake Bay, they also
know it’s not good for their crops.
Greek said since becoming
involved in conservation farming
methods he notices a difference in
crop yield and quality. “After 20
years (of farming) I can tell the
difference,” he said.
Buser, who has been farming
since he was 13 years of age and
started farming on his own in
1958, said “We always did try
conservation. A certain amount of
sod strips and when the no-till
came into being we went along
William and Pat Buser received the outstanding conserva
tion farmer award from the York County Soil Conservation
District at a picnic at Musser's Picnic Grounds near
Manchester.
Evaluation Center Posts Ram Lamb, Ewe Sale Results
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) The Pennsylvania Depart
ment of Agriculture’s Meat Ani
mal Evaluation Center’s 19th Per
formance Tested Ram Lamb and
Invitational Ewe Sale was held
Saturday, Aug. 2, as part of a
weekend of activities.
A field day held Aug. 1-2 was
organized by a committee of Jo
anne Evans, Don Hunter, Bob
Calvert, Dirk Wise, and Richard
Kuzemchak.
Presentations on Aug. 1
included “Coyote Damage,
Identification and Control” by
Tom Tomsa, wildlife biologist;
“Deworming Your Flock” by Jo
seph Rook, D.V.M., Michigan
State University; and “Innovative
Lamb Marketing” by Dr. Ed.
Mills of Penn State University.
The lamb barbecue on Friday
included a working dog demon
stration and demonstrations of
sheep handling equipment.
Field day activities continued
on Saturday monring, with a pre
sentation by Tom Calvert on “Pas-
-wri Grazing,” __
Conservation Farmers Receive Awards
with no-till or conservation till ...
we try to keep the sod as much as
we can.”
Buser owns 140 acres and rents
about 900 acres in a four-to-five
mile radius of the home farm, he
said.
The 61-year-old farmer, who at
one time had a dairy farm, had to
switch to crop farming in 1981,
the result of a serious accident he
had earlier that left him with leg
and back injuries. “I just couldn’t
do it anymore (dairy farming) so
we began to increase the size of
the acreage by renting ground,” he
said.
Buser continued, “Conserva
tion is everybody’s job, it’s just
not the fanners. We get blamed
for a lot of stuff we shouldn’t And
farmers, it’s just like everybody
else, there are a couple of cultprits
who don’t care and it makes it bad
for all of us.”
He also notes that development
near some of his farms creates soil
run-off problems.
Greek, 38, who always wanted
to be a farmer, farms 400 acres
100 of it his own between Delta
and Airville in York County. A
dairy farmer, he has 60 head and
the fourth-highest producing milk
Keith Bryan of Penn State dis
cussed “The True Value of a
Superior Ram,” followed by a
panel discussion on the value of a
tested ram in a flock. “Using a
Commercial Flock to Produce
Wearable Woolen Products” was
presented by Kathy England. A
clinic on “Learning How to Take
Care of Small Veterinary Pro
cedures” was presented by Dr. Jo
seph Rook.
The concurrent youth program
included a Skill-a-Thon. It con
sisted of judging competitions,
identification of wool, fcedstuffs
and equipment and a general
knowledge quiz of sheep manage
ment Several talks aimed at the
youth were also presented. These
included Dr. Harold Harpster’s
talk on “Feeding Your Sheep Pro
ject” and a presentation by Dirk
Wise and Keith Bryan on showing
sheep and show ring etiquette.
Many awards and numerous
door prizes were presented to the
contestants. The auction followed
the awards. Dr. Robert Steele, new
-dean of the College of Agriculture
herd in the county.
He became interested in conser
vation when he bought a farm in
1984 that was in “pretty rough
shape.”
“I called the conservation peo
ple and they came out and laid out
contour strips and I put in two
diversions ... after I got mine done
I started on some of the rented
ground. It’s been an ongoing pro
cess for several years.
“Then I got into the bay prog
ram when that came up. 1 put
spouting on all the buildings and
piped all that water down to a
diversion. The water is all clean
coming off the roof and clean
when it leaves the farm too, he
said.”
Greek said he never knew that
awards were given for the conser
vation measures he takes. “I did it
for my own benefit, but it does
benefit the environment I can
really see a difference, especially
now that I’ve got 20 years in farm
ing the same land. I can see better
yields and less erosion,” he said.
He notes that a lot of water is
staying on the farm instead of run
ning off.
Greek and his wife, Bonnie Jo,
arc the parents of four children,
and he adds “I think the whole
family is conservation-minded. I
think they (family) have a good
idea of what I’m doing.
Other award winners were:
Outstanding conservationist, Lar
ry Adams: Conservation Educa
tion Award, Pam Hobbs, a teacher
at Della-Peach Bottom Elemen
tary School; Outstanding Conser
vation Contractor, DBS Construc
tion Inc.; Outstanding Municipali
ty, East Manchester Township;
Clean Water Farm Award, Martin
Grey of Sinking Springs Farm;
Outstanding Service Award, Tom
McCarty, community develop
ment water quality gent; Out
standing Cooperating Agency
Person, Ellen O’Connor, York
County Solid Waste and Refuse
Authority; Special Recognition
Award, Joseph H. and Laura
McCabe: Special Recognition
Award for five years as volunteers
at the district tree sale. Bill Joyes,
Delbert Craley, Fay Craley, Sha
ron Ryan, John Smith, Wayne
Kile and Bob Stover; Goodyear/
NACD Merit Ward, Ritchie
Flinchbaugh.
at the Pennsylvania State Univer
sity, was introduced. The sale be
gan with the senior Dorsets. The
top-indexing fall-bom Dorset,
consigned by Dr. and Mrs. Robert
Herr, sold to M.R.E. Enterprises
of Ml Solon, Va. for $625, the co
top price in the senior Dorset divi
sion. A senior Dorset consigned
by Mike and Wendy Van Wagner
was purchased by Dr. Mary J. Lis
of Durham, Conn, for $625. The
11 senior Dorsets sold for an aver
age of $441. ■
The 13 junior Dorsets averaged
$302. The top-indexing junior
Dorset ramwas consigned by Jes
sica Schmidt and sold to John Sec
hriest of Warren, for $275. The
top-selling junior Dorset was also
the top-selling ram of the day.
This ram, consigned by the Ken
neth Stavcr family, was sold to
William Hanna of Schwenksville
for $7OO. The second highest sel
lilng junior Dorset, from Ken
Shifflet, was sold to West Virginia
University, Willowbend Farm for
$475.
The top-indexing Suffolk was
Leonard and Bonle Jo Greek were Joined by their child
ren, Michael Greek, Stevie Greek, and Frankie Greek when
they accepted an outstanding conservation farmer award.
Daughter, Storml Greek was absent from the event.
Mark Flaharty, Chesapeake Bay Coordinator for the York
County Soil Conservation District on the left, presents the
1997 Clean Water Farm Award to Bob Amspacher of Sink
ing Springs Farm.
consigned by William Bramble
and sold to Harvey Smith for
$275, the third highest sale price
for Suffolks. The top-selling Suf
folk ram was consigned by David
Cole and sold for $550 to John
Scott Jr. of Princeton, W. Va.
Scott consigned the second high
selling Suffolk that sold for $3OO
to Doris Somberger of Marysville.
The 14 junior Suffolks averaged
$252.
The top-indexing Hampshire,
consigned by Lovells Maple
Spring Farm, sold to Albert Knob
lack of Confluence for s3oo.Thc
second highest-indexing Hamp
shire ram was also the second
highest selling Hampshire and
was purchased by Tom Huber of
Watkinville, Ga. for $5OO. The
BUY. SELL TRADE OB BENT THROUGH THE
€3l SsiaMs*s
top-selling Hampshire ram was
consigned by HJ. Showalter and
was purchased by Richard and
Patricia Lee for $525. The four
Hampshire rams averaged $394.
The senior Corriedale ram bred
by Roger Bowman sold to Richard
and Patricia Lee for $225. The
Tunis ram owned by Barbara
Carstensen sold to Judy Read of
Jersey Shore for $l5O.
All of the 45 rams offered-for
sale were sold, for a new record
average sale price of $323 for the
Pennsylvania Performance Tested
Ram Sale.
In the invitational Ewe Sale, 30
purebred ewes sold for an average
of $159 and five Outstanding com
mercial ewe lambs sold for an
average of $l4O.