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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.