Page 6—Dairy of Distinction Supplement to Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 25, 1998
Kieffer Farms Inc. is a partnership between a father and two sons.
The operation has two farmhouses, and 200 owned acres, and
another 100 rented acres. The operation is located along Stauser
Road, south of Lenhartsville. The father is Robert Kieffer, and he and
wife Gladys live in the seven-bedroom 1883 farmhouse that serves
as partnership headquarters. Son Ken, 44, and his wife Rosemary
live off the farm, and son Richard, 45, lives in another farmhouse. A
couple hundred yard macadamed farm lane is edged with white vinyl
fencing. A farm sign is at the mouth. Pasture stretches from the road
front back to the farm buildings, and a stone wall with flowers is at
the main farmhouse. Robert does a lot of landscaping and mainte
nance. They have a large yard. The 65-head, mostly grade Holstein
herd averages more than 20,000 pounds milk, and are kept in an old
er bank barn with 62 tie-stalls. There is an attatched pole building
with bunk feeder on one side and loose housing on the other. The dry
Dairy
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Distinction
KIEFFER FARMS INC.
cows use the loose housing during the winter and spend the sum
mer on pasture. On the farm where Richard lives, there is a pole barn
with side vents like a tobacco barn that is used for heifers. As many
do, they keep about the same number of replacement animals as
milking. All the buildings are painted white. There are two stave
silos an 18-by-60 silo for haylage, and a 20-by-60 for com silage.
They feed the cows a mixture of corn silage and haylage, and feed
grain in the barn. They depend on some grazing for the cows, but
don’t use intensive grazing per se, instead treating the fresh forage
as a supplement. A stream courses through the pasture. “To be a
good farmer means dedication, a lot of hard work and time,” Robert
said. Being accepted into the Dairy of Distinction program means “...
pride in having a nice-looking place.” While they’re yet to feel the
pressure, there’s residential development about a mile away.