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,
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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
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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.
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