A2B-Lancaster Farming. Saturday. January 8, 2000
Farm Show Family Competes, Works Together
SANDY BRADLEY
Mercer Co. Correspondent
GROVE CITY (Mercer Co.)
When the Barbour family wel
comes visitors to discuss the
Angus cattle they plan to exhibit
this year in Harrisburg, brothers
Harry and Donald are respectfully
absent from the questions and
answers that precede a feature
story.
“It’s really about the kids,” said
Harry, who co-owns most of the
herd of about 75 Angus and about
12 Limousin with Donald, their
brother Bill, and their father, who
is also named Donald.
As a family that competes
together as well as works together,
the Barbours said, a big part of the
equation includes giving credit
where credit is due. For this rea
son, in talking about the animals
they will enter at this year’s event,
cousins Janice and Jeremy (whose
fathers are Donald and Harry,
respectively) point to each other’s
successes as eagerly as they point
to their own.
Janice, who has shown cattle at
the Farm Show in three previous
years, is quick to praise Jeremy’s
showmanship saying that
despite his newness at the state
level, Jeremy’s skills have
improved greatly.
“I’m very impressed with how
far he’s come," she said. “A lot of
people will rely on others for help
when they are starting out, but
Jeremy will do it all himself. He
will take the risks. He will do the
work, and he’s not afraid to make
mistakes.”
JINNY WILT
Adams Co. Correspondent
GETTYSBURG (Adams Co.)
A veteran showman and two
show-ring novices have high
hopes as they anticipate the up
coming Pennsylvania Farm Show.
Fairfield area cattleman Kevin
Diehl will undoubtedly still feel
the butterflies as he steps into the
show ring with his cattle despite
the fact that he has been doing it
since the early 1980 s when he was
in his late teens.
In fact he looks forward to the
Farm Show because it is not only
good for his business, it’s a social
occasion. He is a breeder of Polled
Hereford cattle, some registered
and some mixed.
New to the farm show ring this
year will be Laura Holtzinger, 6,
and her brother, Travis Holtzing
er, 4. The two are the children of
Kevin and Karen Holtzinger, who
operate a dairy farm west of East
Berlin.
They will be joined by their big
sister. Shannon Holtzinger, 17, a
senior at Bermudian Springs High
School, who will be showing
every day of the Farm Show ex
cept one, in dairy, breeding sheep
and market lamb competition.
She’ll also pick up the FFA Key
stone Degree at a special cere
mony.
While Shannon will travel back
and forth to the Farm Show Com
plex in order to continue practic
ing basketball with her high
school team, her mother, Karen,
and 3-year-old sister, Paula Holt
zinger, will join Laura and Travis
for the week at the show. The
family begins bedding on Jan. S
and will bring their animals in on
Jan. 6.
Karen notes that the Holtzinger
With this year marking his sec
ond time showing in Harrisburg,
Jeremy acknowledges Janice as a
mentor, friend, and role model.
“When she gets in the ring, she is a
<’ood showman,” he said. “And she
taught me a lot about showing.
When I started going to shows, I
started going with her, so I learned
from her.
She’s a lot of competition,” he
said, “but we’re family so it’s
not that bad.”
Janice agrees that competition is
a factor, qualifying her statement
by saying that it’s more than com
petition. “We have to work
together,” she said. “So I’m cheer
ing him on, too. In his succeeding
in a way I succeed because
we’re not showing individually,
we’re showing as a family. It’s like
we’re showing as if it’s our last
name, not our first name. We earn
credit for that instead of just for
ourselves.”
Janice and Jeremy are traveling
to Harrisburg along with their
fathers. In this year’s event each of
the cousins will enter two animals.
In the March 1998 bred heifer
class, Janice will show “Rains’ De
Gayla Skylight" (sired by
“Dequantae"), who earned the
supreme champion title this year at
the Stoneboro Fair. She will also
show a heifer in the February 1999
class. Janice took a first place rib
bon for a March heifer at last
year’s Farm Show.
At this year’s show Jeremy will
enter “Rains’ Dug Out,” a March
1998 bull (sired by “OCC Back
Showman, Novices Have High Hopes
family looks at it as a time to help
educate the general public about
farming. One of the particularly
educational times is when a calf is
bom, but Karen said she doesn’t
expect that to happen for her fami
ly this year.
Kevin Diehl looks forward to
the day when his son, Justin, 9,
who showed and sold a steer in
one of the Adams County shows
this year, will join him in the Farm
Show show ring. Right now, the
father said, his son has as much as
he can handle with one steer,” and
you almost need two if you’re go
ing to show at the Farm Show.”
Laura will be showing her
lamb. Marshmallow, which she
has worked very hard with over
the Christmas school vacation.
Weighing in at 42 pounds, the
dark-haired, bright-eyed kinder
gartner will face a challenge in
handling her nearly 700-pound
calf. She may need some help, her
mother said with a smile.
But, Laura appears undaunted
as she adds, “I like to show my
calf and win ribbons.” And, for
that matter, it’s also fun meeting
her Mends at the show.
As for Travis, he had just awak
ened from a nap when the inter
view took place, and only shook
his head yes when asked if he
would be showing his lamb Snow
ball.
The Holtzinger children give
credit to Ronald and Yvonne
Trestle of Red Lion for advice on
showing their Southdown sheep.
Kevin Diehl, who owns ISO
acres, farms 500 acres on which
he “makes a lot of hay.”
“The cattle thing is just one
facet of what I do. I make a lot of
hay and market that hay mostly in
southern Maryland. Most erf it’s
Stop") that took a grand champion
ribbon last year in Harrisburg
when owned by breeder Dale
Rains of Mercer. The bull, which
Jeremy co-purchased with his
10-year-old brother David for the
purposes of showing and breeding,
also earned reserve champion at
the 1999 Pennsylvania Breeders
Show and supreme champion at
the 1999 Stoneboro Fair.
Jeremy is also entering “M.B.
Queen Caiy 9205" (also called
“Heify" and sired by “OCC Emu
late") in the March 1999 heifer
class. At last year’s Farm Show,
Jeremy earned a fifth-place ribbon.
Both Janice and Jeremy agreed
that showing cows has had a posi
tive effect in their lives, and both
named responsibility as something
developed throughout the process.
“When you get up in the morning,”
said Janice, “you can’t say Tmtoo
busy for this today* it keeps a lot
of kids out of trouble," she said.
“And when you get in the ring it
really pays off.”
When they ate not preparing
cattle for show at the Farm Show,
Janice and Jeremy both maintain
busy schedules. Both have been
active in 4-H since early child
hood, and both reside in Stoneb
oro, where they participate in
extracurricular activities in the
Lakeview School District, where
Janice is a junior and Jeremy
attends seventh grade.
Janice started with cows by
helping her older brother, now in
college, she says. However, her
earliest shows included hogs
instead of cows due to her young
age and small size. Jeremy, along
timothy hay that goes for horses. I
raise some row' crops, but I’m
slowing phasing out of that It’s
going to end up where pretty much
all of my acreage is going to be in
growing hay. The farm has always
been a diversified farm we also
have an apple orchard. I’ve got 17
acres of apple trees... in Adams
County it’s really small.
“It’s been a good thing being di
versified over the years, but just
the way times are now in agricul
ture it’s very hard to stay diversi
fied because you’ve got to have a
different set of equipment for each
different enterprise and equipment
is a major expense. You have to
go one avenue and focus on that,”
he said.
“The cattle business and the hay
business kind of complement each
other. The cattle eat your mis
takes,” he said with a chuckle.
In addition he has had a part
time business, started right out of
college, showing cattle at the farm
show for other people. He started
it in 1984 when people wanted to
show their cattle, but didn’t want
to do it themselves.
“I’ll be going up to the Farm
Show this year and I’ll have two
head of my own and I’ll have
about seven head from three other
people,” he said.
What does the Farm Show
mean to him?
“That’s a good question,” he
said. “For many people farm show
is a tradition. People who show
livestock in general, it’s an enjoy
able time. For the most part,
you’re not showing cattle for the
profit of it,” although he said you
do promote your breed and it’s
good for busiess.
“The Farm Show is probably
one of the best shows that I go to
Jeremy Barbour, at halter, will show “Little Timmy,”
Jeremy’s crossbred steer. With him are Jeremy’s father,
Harry, and Jeremy’s cousin, Janice.
with his Ixothere Alex and David,
also began showing at an early age.
In addition to the cattle, the Bar
bour family collectively owns
about 600 acres, which supports
their herd as well as their
Stoneboro-based wholesale
that you’re able to accomplish that
(sales). There’s a higher percent
age of people who are interested in
agriculture, while at fairs only 98
percent of the people are just do
ing it because they don’t get to see
a cow every day.
“There’s a higher percentage of
farmers at the Farm Show. There’s
no carnival involved, it’s an agri
cultural show and you’re able to
talk to those people. The Farm
Show is as good a place to sell cat
tle, either there or off your farm.
We’ve had a good success selling
bulls at the Farm Show,” he said.
While a favorite memory of the
Farm Show is co-owning the
champion Hereford bull one year
and the reserve champion another
year, he also has had a few mis
steps.
PA Grange Sponsors
Biotech Panel Discussion
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
—The Pennsylvania State Grange
is sponsoring a panel discussion on
biotechnology during the Farm
Show. The meeting will be held on
Monday, January 10, from 1 - 2:30
p.m. in Room B, located above the
Main Exhibit flow.
Called “The Biotechnology
Brouhaha,” the discussion will
feature scientists, industry experts,
and educators on scientifically
altered agricultural products.
Questions answered will
include whether bio-engineered
nursery. The nursery, in business
since 1954, specializes in rho
dodendrons and a variety of
groundcovcrs that include ivy,
pachysandra, and myrtle. They
also own a second nursery that
deals in retail bedding plants.
One year he brought his bull in
side the day of the show and, be
cause it was cold and the animal
had stiffened up standing around,
he gave it aspirin to help limber it
up. But to his amazement, the bull
was allergic to aspirin and had
there not been a veterinarian near
by, he would have lost it.
Another time he was bringing
an animal off die back of a truck
and it slipped on ice, breaking its
leg. This time the animal had to be
put down.
Both families are geared up for
the show, and age doesn’t seem to
make a difference in how the
event is viewed. Just as you hear
excitement in 6-year-old Laura’s
voice when she talks about show
ing her animals, you catch the
same in Kevin Diehl’s, too.
agricultural products are safe for
human consumption, whether the
development of these products are
ethical, and what it means to farm
ing operations in Pennsylvania.
The meeting is open to the publ
ic and will include special guests
Sam Sherk, Penn Ag Industries
Asst. Vice President; Dr. Paul
Hackman, Director of the PA Agri
cultural Experiment Station at
Penn State; and Jeffrey Moyer,
Rodale Institute Farm Operations
Institute.