,nv v’b'i'om imimia <!»».■ A2O-Lancast*r Farming, Saturday, February 28, 1998 William K. Jackson and Kerry Harvey stand ready to grasp opportunity and adapt to what the market wants. That willingness has led them to add value to their dairy product by manufacturing super-premium ice cream and opening a convenience store to draw customers to buy their milk and other products. Jackson Fdfins, New Salem, Pa., is a three-way partnership between William S. Jackson (Master Farmer Class of 71), son William K. Jackson, and son-in-law Kerry Harvey. This business arrangement began in 1985, when they began making and marketing ice cream. In 1986, they built a conve nience store, including gas pumps. It lies along busy State Route 40 between Uniontown Profitable dairying at Sam and Beverly Minor's Springhouse farm and market depends on their knack for niche marketing. With dairy margins shrinking, the Washington, Pa., couple emphasizes the food ser vice, entertainment and veg etable segments of their busi ness. The Springhouse restaurant and market is open 361 days a year from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, except for opening at noon on Sundays. The operation consists of their own milk and dairy products, a bakery, fresh pro duce in season, deli, buffet-style restaurant and catering. Special events, hosted every month are increasing important. They also do spring and fall edu cational tours for 3,000 to 4,000 school children. Their outdoor Picnic Patch has handled par ties of up to 350. A dream for the future is a Banquet Bam. The farm's two milking herds, totaling 110 cows average more than 19,000 pounds milk. One produces milk for the retail market; the second sells through National Farmers Union. Depending on what happens with Federal Orders and milk pricing, they will look into merg ing them. They own 135 acres of crop land, 110 acres of pasture, 145 acres of woodland, plus the 14- acre homestead and retail mar ket area. Including family, Minors have 61 full- and part-time employees in the retail market and four employees on the farm. Keeping and motivating good, long-time employees has been a real asset. Following a dream Beverly is a Penn State graduate in com- (CondniMd from P«o* A 1) ern Pittsburgh. Yet both find time to serve key ag leader roles. •Ronald Widmyer of Charles Town, W. Va. His enterprising nature and engineering skills replaced this Jefferson County farm's dairy enterprise with a productive aquaculture venture that markets fresh and value added trout products. He's a strong advocate for streamlining regulatory controls on aquacul ture. William K. Jackson And Kerry Harvey and Washington in southwest Pennsylvania. The elder Jackson oversees crop management. Bill a Penn State ag business graduate, manages the dairy herd, replacements and recordkeep ing, Keny, a former elementary school teacher, handles plant operations and wholesaling, Kerry's wife, Linda, also a for mer teacher, manages the store. The farming operation con sists of 790 owned acres, includ ing 500 crop, 150 pasture and 50 woodland acres. They milk about 170 regis tered Holsteins, averaging more than 20,000 pounds.Df their 3.3 million pounds’ produced annu ally, one-third is marketed through Mid America Dairy Cooperative, one-third is whole saled to other stores, and one ithird is sold in their store. And Beverly Minor Sam mercial consumer services. Sam holds a Penn State ag economics degree. In 1972, after 10 years in the articial breeding industry, they decided to develop their own small farm and retail market in southwestern Pennsylvania, where both had grown up on farms. Beverly is a third-genera tion Master Farmer, following in the footsteps of her grandfather and father, Roy and Clyde Robison. -16 am cites critical advice gar nered from one successful retail marketer. First, the man told him, location is everything. Second, he advised; "Turn your wife loose, and you look after the books." In 1973, they bought the farm along Route 136 west of Eighty Four. Milking and retailing began in 1975. Growth in food retail. With a more than 50% margin on food and only 27% margin in milk at that time, the choice to concen trate more on food became obvi ous. The bakery is the fastest growing segment of their busi ness. A family effort. Sam and Beverly credit their children, now all married and ranging in age from 34 to 28, with helping make them successful. Their eldest, Marcia Opp, manages the store. The youngest. Sam, manages the farm operation, including 90 acres of intensively grazed pasture, 168 acres dedi- Keith And Helen Masser Keith and Helen Masser of Sacramento, Pa., stress market ing and teamwork in their farm ing and potato distribution busi ness. That teamwork extends to each other, fellow potato grow ers and customers. Sterman Masser Inc., named for Keith's dad, started out in 1970 as a three-way sub-S cor poration. Keith, Sterman and Keith's deceased younger broth ers were partners. Following the brother's drowning in 1980, Sterman turned to running a coal busi ness. Keith, a Penn State ag engineering graduate, has been corporation president and gen eral manager of the Schuylkill New Master Farmers Named The partners employ one per son full-time in the plant, two full-time people on the farm, three or four full-timers in the store, and about eight part-time in the store. Kerry's son Derek splits his time between the plant and farm. Store hours are 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. A name in ice cream. Kerry started manufacturing ice cream when he entered the busi ness in 1985. He makes a super premium (translation: high fat) brand to rival the taste of Ben & Kerry's. "We live on our product," Kerry reasons. "If our product's not any good, we're not gonna have any customers." Adapting to change. "This business expanded and grew because they adapted and were willing to change," Kerry notes cated to hay and hay balage, and 25 acres of market vegetables. A third child, Jill Miles, returned home in 1995 to open The Springhouse Learning Station, a Christian-based preschool and day care center about five miles from the farm. Daughters Tee Kelly and Jody Englehardt live in Maryland and Virginia, respectively. But both maintain a strong interest in the farm. Nephew Michael Lush over sees nutrition and breeding of both dairy herds. Giving back. Minors say their relationships with extension and ag organizations were vital to getting them started. In grat itude, they feel compelled to now give back to the industry. Long active with the state Dairy Princess Program and the Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Program board, Beverly now serves on the Pennsylvania Dairy Stakeholders Board and chairs the Pennsylvania Milk Marketing Board. Sam is on Agway's Executive and Planning Committee, the Penn West Farm Credit board, and USDA's National Ag Research Extension Education and Economic Advisory Board; plus, he chairs the National Council on Agricultural Research, Extension and Teaching. They are also members of Grace United Methodist Church. County operation since. Helen, who holds a Penn State degree in biological health and nutrition, is secretary/trea surer and accounting manager. She is a second-generation Master Farmer, following in the footsteps of father George Tallman of Tower City. Today, Massers own 1,100 acres and rent another 1,500. Their "bread and butter" is 450 acres of potatoes, which yielded about 300 cwt. last season; they also grow grain. The corporation employs about 65 people, includ ing eight managers. Massers sell 1,500 trailer loads per year. Of those, they grow 300 themselves and 300 (Turn to Pag* AM) of the Jacksons. He and Bill acknowledge the solid foundation set by William S. and his brother Robert, who were partners until 1985. This generation continues their tradi tion of low debt and reinvesting profits. Capital improvement gener ally are paid.out of operating expenses. They borrow very lit tle money. "Most changes we have made seem to result from opportuni ties that come along, sometimes unexpectedly," they note. "For instance, neighboring farms have come up for sale, and although we may not have planned to buy additional land, we couldn't passion an opportu nity." The family recently built a 1,4000-square-foot addition to the store. New kitchen and seat ing areas will allow them to expand their lunch business, which has been growing. 'You hav/e to serve the public what they want," Kerry says. Any expansion will probably come at the retail or wholesale end of the business. That's a John and Judy Ligo John and Judy Ligo feel no burning desire to milk cows. "It was a financial decision," stress es John. For these Grove City, Pa., farmers, the decision to begin dairying in 1990 boiled down to milking more profit from crops on their western Pennsylvania farm. Ligos currently milk 225 grade Holsteins three times, averaging 24,277 pounds milk, 873 pounds fat and 812 pounds protein. They ship 4.5 million pounds of milk annually to Dean Foods. They milk in a new double-10 parallel parlor attached to a new 212-cow freestall barn. The cou ple added a second, 490-acre farm about six miles away in 1991. LiTerra employs five people full-time year-round, and two others part-time. John oversees the operation. Besides working full-time for Telmark, Judy raises calves to breeding age, grooms the farm stead to keep up its "Dairy of Distinction" designation, acts as "sounding board' on decisions, and helps determine long-term goals. In addition to milking cows, they grow 230 acres of mixed alfalfa-orchardgrass hay for silage; 170 acres of corn for grain and 160 acres of silage com. Per-acre yields average 16 tons of haylage; 104 bushels of corn; and 19.5 tons of corn silage. They also have a small "hobby herd" of Scottish Highland cattle. Bucking conventional wis dom. Ligos rejected the "lease in" philosophy of starting a dairy business. Instead of rent ing facilities and land and grad ually building capital, they bor rowed heavily to build an inte grated facility up front. Their understanding of finances and contacts proved invaluable. Ligos wrote an aggressive business plan detail ing what they wanted to do and how it would pay. possibility if any of their chil dren decide to stay on the farm. They've talked about adding a restaurant or even a car wash. Kerry and Linda have four sons; Jason, who attends college and works on the farm Derek, who works full-time on the farm; and Ryan and Joshua, both still in school. Bill and wife Janice, a speech therapist, have three daughters; Joni in college, and Jill and Jenna, both in high school. They also help out in the store. Serving the community. The partners sport a long list of activities off the farm. Bill has been vice president and secre tary of the Pennsylvania DHIA state board. He is president of the county fair board and has served as president of the coun ty extension board. He won the state DHIA Clyde Robinson Award in 1996. Kerry is a member of state DHIA. Holstein Association, Mid America Dairy Cooperative, Genex and Pennsylvania Milk Juggers Association. Keys to make money with milk. John cites four things needed to make money dairying; labor, management, capital and advanced technology. "Dairy farming takes all four of those. If you can get really well." Financial management is their strong point, John says, he constantly runs cash flows and financial statements to gauge their financial position. Among goals outlined in their mission statement are "to maximize profitability without further capital expansion" and "to remain competitive with the top 10% of dairies nationwide." John uses DTN to monitor weather, commodity markets and other news and ag informa tion. DHIA test data is down loaded via e-mail. He also main tains a futures account to allow hedging of purchased inputs LiTerra uses BST to increase feed efficiency and persistence of lactation Heifers freshen at 22 months of age. Target breeding limits heat detection and insem ination to four days every two weeks. Extending calving interval to 16 months reduced cull rate per year, reduced number of replace ments on feed, and increased percent cow days in milk. Ligos group all first-lactation animals separately, which seems to cut stress and improve overall pro duction. A portion of LiTerra's milk quality bonus goes into a fund employees can spend any way they wish. All employees are paid hourly, with a group health plan and savings plan available Off the farm. John currently serves as secretary of the Pennsylvania Dairy Promotion Board, chairman of the Agway Zone Committee and vice presi dent of the Mercer County Ag Land Preservation Board. He is also a member of Pennsylvania Dairy Stakeholders. Judy serves on the Mercer County Ag Development Board and Penn Northwest Economic Development Board.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers