810-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, May 23, 1998 I LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Farming Staff KUTZTOWN (Berks Co.) Cat lovers are in cat heaven when they visit the Davis family in Kutztown. Sixty felines of all colors and markings roam the farmland. The cats and kittens are healthy, plump bundles of fur that are pampered and cuddled despite the family’s busyness of caring for 140 Hols teins and fanning 135 tillable acres. Amazingly, each of the 60 felines has a name and is easily dif ferentiated from its peers. “Each cat has its only territory.” Aaron said of the ground the cats cover in obliterating mice. The family keeps close tabs on the whereabouts of each cat and notices that the felines are as reli able as clockwork in reporting to “mouse duty.” “At 4 o’clock every afternoon this one comes out of the meadow, and this one comes out of the field,” Aaron explained. According to 6-year-old Mian, **** *>CK Farm Is Cat Heaven For 60 Cats the cats follow the cows into the bam and snuggle atop them for a snooze. The whole family—including parents Luther and Teresa—spend time playing with the cats. “It’s a good stress reliever,” Jillian’s mom said of the enjoyable way to relax aftera hard day S krork on the farm. On the secohd floor of the bam, Jillian and Aaron have a play area. In addition to the cats, Jillian has a horse—well, not exactly. Her horse Pegasus is an imaginery horse that goes everywhere with her. She was holding tight to the reins to keep him from running away while telling a visitor about her horse. Mian takes dancing lessons to study tap and ballet. She likes to help her older sister Erica feed the calves. Not all the fun happens in the bam or outside. Inside the house, Aaron, a gifted pianist can often be heard playing music. Again, demonstrating her vivid imagina tion, Jillian plays drums, which she r * devised by tapping on an old table. Aaron also likes to paint and built things with his set of K’Nex. When his sister Erica was Berks County dairy princess, Aaron and his older brother Gregory took over her bam chores. Now Aaron likes to be in charge of feeding the calves. He has three cows of his own, which he named after the Japanese exchange students who stayed with the family. Older brother Gregory plays volleyball on the high school team and is a 9th grade student at Kutz town High School, where he parti cipates in FFA. On Sunday, Gre gory can always be found listening to the car races broadcast on the radio. Daview Farm is one big happy family of children, cows, cats, and dogs. While the bam thrives with cows, cats, and dogs, home is domain for the family. “The most important part of our farm is the kids—not the cows or cats —although we are proud of what we accomplished here,” Teresa said. “We wanted to do everything we can to get them started on the right foot” 9 * * Aaron, 9, and Jllllan, 5, play with a few of the 60 cats onthe Davis farm. Each cat Is named and easily Identified by all family members. Not only Is 9-year-old an accomplished pianist, but he also enjoys building things with K’Nex. Here he built a grand piano with a pianist on the stool. / * I •>
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