82-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, August 1, 1998 Elizabeth Smith Wins National Brown Swiss Ambassadorship LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Farming Staff DENVER (Lancaster Co.) Elizabeth Smith has traded in her county dairy princess crown for the national ambassadorship of the Brown Swiss Association. “I enjoy talking and promoting something I love. I always want to promote the dairy industry, espe cially Brown Swiss,” Smith said as she related the events leading up to her selection at the National Brown Swiss Convention held in Kansas recently. Smith can talk for hours, her voice filled with passion and excitement, about the breed that she considers the best of the best “Although I’m for all breeds, I’ve always been a Brown Swiss fan,” said Smith. She helps on her parents’, Dale and Thomas Smiths’, 91-acre Reinhold’s farm, where they have 55 milking cows, fairly evenly divided between Brown Swiss and Holsteins. “As dairy princess I technically wasn’t suppose to express a bias, but underneath I’ve always been partial to Brown Swiss—they have wonderful personalities and are so beautiful. I’m thrilled to be an ambassador for the association,” Smith said. At the national convention, Smith was one of five finalists selected from 17 applicants to compete for the national ambassa dor title. The other finalists were Nichole Lee Boggs of Andover, National Brown Swiss Ambassador Elizabeth Smith shows off a hand-painted picture of her favorite breed. “I’m thrilled to be an ambassador for the association,” said Smith, who was a former Lancaster County Dairy Princess. Ohio; Clifford Helkenn of North field, Minn.; Ann Marie Magnochi of Carnation, Wash.’ and Venessa Johnson of Blue Eye. Mo. “Ambassadors are selected much the same way that dairy prin cesses are,” Smith said. Selection is based on application, interview with judges, and presenting both a prepared and impromptu speech. The ambassador tide replaces the former Brown Swiss Miss con test The title change was made about three years ago to enable both male and female applicants. Many people might expect someone so passionate about cows to be studying dairy science or a related field, but Smith is studying communications at the Penn State Harrisburg Campus. Her goal is to be a spokesperson for the dairy industry. “I really want to go into milk marketing. The public has mostly wrong perceptions about the dairy industry. It’s harder and harder to get people in high places such as the government to sanction farm ing. I want to affect how people perceive the dairy farming indus try,” Smith said. “Brown Swiss are the breed of the future,” Smith said. “They have high protein milk and are adaptable to varying climates and terrains.” “On our farm, we are replacing more and more Holsteins with Brown Swiss. They live longer than Holsteins and have less prob (Turn to Page B 4) Gordon Hoover Is the fourth generation to farm the family farm. Although they farm 188 acres, milk 100 Holstelns, and raise replacements, Hoover, his wife Carole, and daughters, Jill, Brenda, and Leslie strive to keep things simple so that they have time for church, community, and agriculture activities. Life With The Hoovers Rich In Family Relationships, Dairy Farming Success LOU ANN GOOD Lancaster Farming Staff GAP (Lancaster Co.) “Keep things simple,” is the strategy Gor don Hoover gives for being able to farm 188 acres, milk 100 cows, take family vacations, and volun teer time in church, farm, and com munity organizations. The picturesque farm, home for Hoover, his wife Carole, and daughters Jill, IS; Brenda. 11; and Leslie, 7; is successful from conti nual study and foresight put into its operation. “Maintaining a profitable opera tion is a key to any business suc cess,” said Hoover, whose philoso phy is that a farm must be run like a business and not like a way of life. To best fit their lifestyle and goals, the Hoovers run a stream lined operation. “We don’t invest in a lot of equipment Machinery is a poor investment Using custom harvest ing allows things to progress in a more dmely matter,” Hoover said. They store feed in trenches, which allows them to fill trenches faster and maintain quality. With 100 cows to milk plus rais ing replacements, the Hoovers are well aware of where they need to focus their efforts. “Cows pay the bills. We con centrate on herd health and feed efficiency,” Hoover said. Hoover is the fourth generation to farm what is really two adjoin ing farms. His parents live on one and continue to feed young stock. The younger Hoovers own all the stock and equipment but the farm is still in his dad’s name. They are working through the process of a farm transfer. Like many father son transfers, the Hoovers are find ing this a mind-boggling process. In recent years, three adjoining farms were sold, which Hoover would have liked to have added to the home farm, but, he said, “Busi ness sense must always prevail over desires when it comes to investing money in equipment, land, and cattle. The farms sold from $.7,000 to $lO,OOO an acre. At those prices, you can buy a lot of feed. With high land values, you can’t generate enough money through agriculture to make the returns profitable.” In today’s market. Hoover said that crops can be purchased cheap er than growing them. The only viable reason that he sees for far mers to rent additional land would be to get rid of manure. The Hoovers’ nutrient manage ment plan allows for expansion, but Hoover said that right now they are comfortable with milking 100 Holsteins and raising young stock. Although updated and main tained, the Hoovers’ milking facil ities are 41 years old. They have loose housing and use a double four milking parlor. “I anticipate that we will eventu ally expand because the facilities won’t last,” Hoover said. Expansion would require an increase in herd size to maintain cash flow. While herd averages are 22,000 pounds, Hoover said that it doesn’t matter what the averages are, the important thing is income over feed costs. “One can make as much money milking SO as well as 500 head, but the operation results in a different perspective. If you’re milking 50 head, you’re working seven days a week and long hours. If you’re milking 500 head, you’re working at a computer and managing employees. You don’t end up with more money, but you do make life a bit easier," he said. Just writing things down really helps keep control of the herd and Homestead No crops. “You can’t do everything in your head,” he said. While many farmers complain of government intervention and environmental policies. Hoover believes enviromental policies are realistically overdue. He said, “Agriculture has been shielded from a lot of regulations environmentally and from OSHA. If we want to farm into the future, we must make up our mind now to adopt and subscribe to safe prac tices voluntarily or they will be mandated.” Hoover and Carole believe it is especially valid for OSHA to become involved in farm safety. “Nothing makes me cringe more than to see a child riding on a trac tor,” Hoover said. In addition, he sees too many children helping with farm chores that puts them into accident-prone situations. He said, “We (farmers) can instill the work ethic in child ren without putting them a risk.” Carole worked in a local hospi tal for a number of years and saw too many results of children hurt in farm accidents. She said, “I’m leary of children operating equipment” Hoover understands that to con tinue, farming must be approached from the business perspective. ‘These are rapidly changing times—just because you have a farm doesn’t guaranteed you can farm the rest of your life,” he said. “We live in an information age. There is a wealth of information out there. We can’t be afraid to ask. My father was a great person to teach me the value of using exten sion research. It’s a learning pro cess to know how to use all the information we receive.” Hoover said that the biggest gain he had from studying dairy production at college was to learn (Turn to Page B 14)
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