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
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