Berks County School
Superintendents Tour
(Continued from Pago A2B)
packaged accordingly, including
citrus punch, lemonade, ice tea,
and others. One drink packaged
includes the Foodservice Resource
Health Shake. Clover also pack
ages milk for GAF Seelig from
New York City.
The group also toured the
refrigerator units which keep all
products at 38 degrees.
Afterward, superintendents
were allowed to tour a couple of
dairies.
After the tour, Myers spoke
about the size of Berks farming,
ranked fourth in the state in dairy
cows and milk production, with
221,511 acres in farms making up
40 percent of the county.
Market value of ag products
sold in the county in 1997 totaled
$247.78 million.
Of 1,586 farms in the county,
386 are dairy, 119 are swine, 89
sheep, 170 are poultry, and 212 are
horse, according to die 1997 Cen
sus of Agriculture.
Most agriculture is located in a
sort of “half-moon” around Read
ing, said Myers. The comprehen
sive plan being put in place in the
county is going to be “critical to all
of us,” and district superintendents
should be part of a say in how
much will remain agriculture.
Municipalities need more effec
tive ag zoning to meet these crucial
changes. The challenges of living
next to farms will occupy develop
ment planners in decades to come.
Tami Hildebrand, land preser
vation technician with the Berks
County Ag Preservation Board,
spoke about ag easement purch
ases in the county. With the state’s
help, in the next five years, $5O
million can be spent on
preservation.
Including state and county
funds, there will be $4 million to
spend on preservation for 1999,
Hildebrand noted. Last year, 198
farms applied for preservation in
the county and 23 easements of
land were purchased. With the
additional money, another 20 or
more farms on the list, established
newly each year, could be pre
served into perpetuity.
The list is not a waiting list, she
cautioned. Applications must be
sent in on a yearly basis for farms
wanting to obtain an easement. To
date, 13,000 acres representing
106 farms have been preserved,
but we “have a way to go,” said
Hildebrand.
“We need to update ourselves
from a planning aspect,” she said,
“with mote emphasis on it that on a
local municipality basis.”
Said Clyde Myers, extension
agent, “We all need a total agribus
iness system in place for us to stay
in business. That includes multi
municipal planning.”
Dr. Larry Schmidt, Conrad
W eiser Area School District super
intendent, visited the farm oper
ated by Dennis and Betsy Salta
zahn, Womelsdorf. Zahncroft
Farm is home to about 55 milking
stock and about 50 young stock, all
registered Holsteins. The farm, on
DHIA test, milks about 22,000
pounds on the rolling herd aver
age, 3.5 f, 3.2 p, using “no BST or
synthetics," said Dennis Satta
zahn. The farm records a low SCC.
A high producer, Zahncroft
Thor Sandra, 87 VG, milks about
28,000 pounds per year. Milking is
to pipeline twice a day, 5 a.m. and
S p.m.
Above each stall for the cows
are pedigree signs to track the sire,
blood lines, and score.
Herd health is important to
Zahncroft Dennis spoke about a
time when he lost a 7-ycar-old
cow, who was “dead, dead as a
doornail,” he said. That time, “I
rally cried.” It was the result of cal
cium deficiency.
Since then, herd health has been
tops. Zahncroftnoted that the cows
are regularly checked for a variety
of potential diseases, including
B3R, lepto, Johnc’s, leukosis, and
others.
The cows are fed a TMR of
alfalfa haylage, high moisture
shelled com, hay, minerals, and
soybeans.
The farm is home to 140 acres,
110 of which are tillable.
The farm was preserved in
1996. Ray, father of Dennis, pur
chased the farm in 1934.
Dennis noted that the cows are
Dennis Sattazahn checks information on each cow. Above each stall for the cows
are pedigree signs to track the sire, blood lines, and score.
this Samsung robot stacks juice and a health shake product simultaneously at the
plant.
replaced either by their own stock
or by purchasing. He’s paid as
much as $4,000 for a cow.
The Sattazahns recently pur
chased a combine which they use
with Clarence Sattazahn who
farms next door.
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