Good Attitude
(Continued from Pago A 32)
quality of your life.”
They also feel that having
bigger farms in the area won’t
push the smaller farmers out of
business.
“The 60-cow dairy can make
it as long as the family can ac
cept the work load, the time,
and all that. That’s a pretty
nice operation, but it’s a full
time operation,” said Roy.
Having bigger farms in the
area is also good for farm in
frastructure.
“There has been enough ex
pansion (in the area) to keep
the dealer and vendor outlook
brighter,” said Tim.
For Roy, the decision to stay
in dairying is simple, but when
it comes to making the jump to
a bigger operation he admits
being a little nervous.
“The older you get, the scar
ier it gets," said Roy. “You
feel sort of secure with what
you have, and Tim’s not 25, so
it’s scary. Our numbers have
outgrown our operation. It’s a
20-year-old barn, and that’s
old by today's standards. We
don't have the ventilation and
the cows don’t have the com
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Tim echoes Roy's senti-
ments, “You’re either going to
be in, or you’re going to be al
most out and working off the
farm. That’s the way I feel
about it. As you get regulated
more with manure and waste,
you better start thinking a little
differently about how to han
dle it.”
Another of the major con
cerns with expanding is the
amount of forage that will be
necessary to keep the herd
milking. Although the cro
pland is available, the distance
from the fields to the bam
would be great.
“We’ll need to move forage
so far and then you have to
move the manure back out,
which is even a bigger problem
sometimes than getting the
forage in,” said Roy. “ We
don’t know, but we’re looking
at our options.”
Over the past few years, the
Beardslees’ forage program
has evolved from an alfalfa
timothy mixture to one based
largely on orchardgrass with
alfalfa.
“Basically the orchardgrass
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will stand a lot better and take
a more aggressive cut, said
Tim.
Timing of the hay cutting is
also important. For the past
several years, Jerry Spencer
has been custom harvesting
their crops. When the Beard
slees aren’t milking cows and
doing general farm work, they
are active in several areas of
the community. Barbara is a li
censed practical nurse and is
working on becoming a regis
tered nurse. She plans to re
turn to work when she com
pletes her studies.
Roy sits on the Citizens and
Northern Bank, East Smith
field Branch, advisory board,
and is a former member of the
Ag Choice Farm Credit Board.
Tim and Cathy have two
children, Marc, age 13 and Mi
randa, age 10. Both children
and both like to spend time on
the farm.
The bottom line for the
Beardslees, whether they un
dergo the expansion project or
not, is to keep and open mind
and a good attitude.
“If you don’t look, you don’t
know what’s out there,” said
Tim.
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Tim Beardslee joined the partnership with his father in
1978. Since then, he’s helped make management deci
sions and is working with his father and consultants to
plan the dairy’s expansion.
Lancaster Chamber
Celebrates At
Oregon Dairy
LANCASTER (Lancaster
Co.) Thousands of attendees
are expected to have a mooving
experience at The Lancaster
Chamber of Commerce & In
dustry and Oregon Dairy’s
Family Dairy Days. This FREE
event will be held Tuesday, June
_l3 through Thursday, June 15
from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Oregon
Dairy.
Last year more than 8,000 at
tendees turned out to enjoy a va
riety of dairy- and agriculture
related activities in celebration
of June as National Dairy
Month.
Plans for this year’s Family
Dairy Days will include a wagon
From Sows To More Cows
(Continued from Pago A 34)
roasted corn, soybean meal,
water, and a mineral pack. The
citrus peels were added for
energy. The DeLongs are look
Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, June 3, 2000-A35
ride tour of the Oregon Dairy
farm, live chick hatching, agri
cultural exhibits and ice cream
and milk samples. Kids will
enjoy the straw tunnel, face
painting and a coloring contest
each child who enters will
receive a free ice cream sundae.
Chicken barbecue dinners will
be available for $2.50.
Oregon Dairy is located on
Route 272, north of downtown
Lancaster. For more informa
tion about Family Dairy Days or
National Dairy Month, please
contact Brent Landis at 397-
3531, ext. 62.
ing into a variety of energy
sources.
All cows are tagged and
recorded by computers. One of
the major challenges, Jim noted,
was learning the computer
system, which consisted of
“months of struggle,” he said.
The farm can manage up to
500 cows.
Building the numbers slowly
is key, Jim noted. Through im
provements in culling and
breeding, obtaining quality bulls
through an intensified AI pro
gram, will be key, according to
both Jim and Ken.
Ken noted that having the
children and full-time help with
milking allows them to put more
work in the fields. The DeLongs
farm more than 400 acres, in
cluding about 300 in corn, 100 in
hay, and 70 in pasture. The heif
ers are grazed on a simple pas
ture system.
Though the partnership
began in the early 19705, “we’ve
worked together all our lives,”
Jim said.
The DeLongs offer the chil
dren competitive wages.
Now, with labor shared
equally, the kids and the
adults are “enjoying them
selves,” Ken said.
“We have so much to be
thankful for,” said Ken. “Our
parents taught us many things,
and one of the most important
was how to communicate and
work well together.”