Page 14—Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 12, 2000
GRANTVILLE (Dauphin Co.)
The following were honored re
cently by the PFGC:
PFGC Special Award
The Special Award is the highest
recognition given by PFGC. It is
presented to an individual or com
pany that has made a major contri
bution directly to the Pennsylvania
Forage and Grassland Council as
well as an outstanding contribution
to Pennsylvania’s forage and live
stock industry and/or conservation
farming. The recipients’ contribu
tion may have been in production
agriculture, industry, research, ex
tension, teaching, or other public
service.
New Holland, North America
located in New Holland, Pa., is this
year’s recipient of the PFGC Special
Award. New Holland has been a
strong supporting member since the
PFGC was formed in 1960. They
have provided the PFGC with two
presidents in Albert Best (1979) and
Mike Bular (1988) and numerous
board members throughout the
PFGC’s 40-year history. In addi
tion, New Holland was a financial
supporter of the 1994 AFGC Con
ference held in Lancaster and the
“PFGC 40-Year History,” which is
being written.
New Holland has also been an
active participant in every PFGC
Forage Field Day. Considering the
many contributions of New Holland
to the PFGC, both past and present,
it is an honor to recognize them as
the recipients of the PFGC Special
Award.
Research/Extension/
Teaching Award
This year’s Research/Exten
sion/Teaching Award recipient is
Penn Jersey Extension Partnership.
The Penn Jersey Extension
Partnership is an educational union
between Penn State Cooperative
Extension and Rutgers Cooperative
Extension. The partnership recently
completed 16 years of successful in
terstate cooperation in agricultural
programming, with it’s mission
being to provide enhanced and ex
panded educational programs that
have demonstrable positive impact
on agriculture in Eastern Pennsyl
vania and New Jersey.
Many programming initiatives,
including multiyear and multidis
cipline educational programs, were
undertaken to address producer
needs. Some of the most successful
Lancaster
Farming
Check
Out
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www.lancasterfanmng.com
PFGC Award Program 1999 Winners
Partnership events include pasture
walks, pasture weed control demon
strations, a poisonous plant ID
. course, drought management news
letters, the Penn Jersey Tillage Con
ference, the Penn Jersey Dairy
Expo, and hay quality evaluation
workshops, just to name a few. Par
ticipants reported that the programs
were valuable to them and they had
applied management tools learned
through the programs which makes
Penn Jersey Extension Partnership
truly deserving of this year’s PFGC
Resear ch/Extension/Teaching
Award.
This year’s Conservation Award
recipient is J.B. Harrold, Project
Grass coordinator of the Somerset
Conservation District.
As coordinator for Project
Grass, JB Harrold is instrumental in
the establishment of rotational graz
ing systems in western Pennsylva
nia. JB oversaw the original grant
that provided cost-share funds to
the Project Grass counties.
Numerous grazing systems
have been established under this
program, with JB Harrold develop
ing grazing management plans, pro
viding suggestions on grazing
practices, gathering data from the
established systems, and preparing
reports that describe the economic,
nutrient management, and air pol
lution control benefits of using rota
tional grazing systems. He is now
involved in a research project to
determine if fly ash can be used to
construct stabilized areas associated
with pastures. Nearby counties have
seen the advantages of being a
member of Project Grass since JB
Harrold was hired. As a result, the
number of member counties is grow
ing, as is the range of impact JB
Harrold is making on grazing man
agement in Pennsylvania.
J.B. Harold was recently as
signed 12 more counties, which
makes him in charge of all the west
ern Pennsylvania counties. When
we asked J.B. what he thought of
this expansion, he just said, “More
research!” We believe J.B. Harold
has gone way beyond the call of
duty and deserves to be recognized
with the PFGC Conservation
Award for 1999.
Conservation Farmer Award
Dale Bracken has established a
rotational grazing system for beef
feeders at one of his farms.
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Conservation Award
Working with the Indiana
County Conservation District and
the USDA Natural Resources Con
servation Service, Bracken ex
panded his rotational grazing
system to include 16 paddocks that
cover approximately 44 acres. High
tensile perimeter fence was in
stalled, as were two stabilized
stteam crossings and a spring devel
opment.
Bracken’s concern about the
damage beef cattle were causing to
feeding areas during the winter led
to his developing a feeding area sta
bilized with stone. A water diversion
was installed above this feeding area
to channel runoff around the site.
A buffer area was established
between the feeding area and a
stream. Limited grazing buffer areas
were established along both sides of
the entire length of the stream in the
pasture. Dale had a nutrient man
agement plan developed for this
grazing system and submitted the
plan for approval under the Nu
trient Management Act. Bracken
hosted a tour of his farm and the
grazing system for Project Grass.
His efforts in teaching others about
conservation by example and imple
menting the many conservation
practices on his farm makes him
deserving of the PFGC’s Conserva
tion Farmer Award.
Outstanding Pasture
Producer Award
• Don Bothell, Indiana County.
Bothell has worked with the Indiana
County Conservation District and
the USDA Natural Resources Con
servation Service to establish a rota
tional p-azing Syslfeih*ifor dairy- -
heifers and beef feeders. Forty-one
acres are included in the pasture
system, and additional cropland is
used for grazing in the fall after
crops are harvested. High-tensile
perimeter fence (9,590 feet) and
8,900 feet of interior fence have been
installed in the system. Two stabi
lized stream crossings have been in
stalled to allow animals access to
drinking water and pasture areas.
Stream bank buffers have been es
tablished with the installation of
stream bank fencing. Don Bothell
has worked with the Indiana
County Conservation District to
conduct a pasture management
field day at his farm. This field day
allowed others to see how the system
worked and to ask Bothell about
pasture management. He also al
lowed the conservation district to
conduct an agricultural conserva
tion practice tour for legislators at
his farm. Bothell participated by
leading the group on the tour and
explaining his pasture system oper
ation.
• Glenn and Robin Gorrell,
Milan, Bradford County, The Gor
rells milk 185 Holsteins on 195 acres
of pasture near Milan in Bradford
County. They strive to provide all
roughages from the pasture during
the grazing season by timely use of
nitrogen and reseeding of pastures.
Glenn was the initiating force
behind the Bradford County Graz
ing Network and continues to facili
tate the 11 or so meetings they
conduct during the grazing season.
He has served as a speaker at sev
eral local, regional, and statewide
grazing/forage related events.
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