V 01.46 No. 5
From ‘A Pocketful Of Dreams’ To Their Own Herd
MICHELLE RANCK
Lancaster Farming Staff
LITITZ (Lancaster Co.)
“All we had was a pocketful of
dreams and our education,” said
Marie Sipler. “We went to the
bank and said, ‘This is what we
want to do.’”
In two-and-a-half years “we
went from weekend farming to
owning SO cows to owning 100
cows,” said Marie.
The couple was recently
awarded the Young Farm and
Rancher Achievement Award
from the Pennsylvania Farm
Bureau.
The couple received $5OO
from Dodge truck, use of a trac
tor for a year from Kubota, and
a trip to Orlando, Fla. to com
pete in national competition.
The Farm Bureau has been an
important part of the Sipler’s in
volvement with agriculture.
Oscar is enthusiastic about his
recent election to the Lancaster
County Farm Bureau board of
directors and getting younger
farmers involved with the Farm
Bureau.
“It’s nice to have an organiza
tion recognize younger people
for their achievement. We’ve
been farming two and a half
years and we’ve been recog
nized,” said Oscar.
The couple, both 25, has been
members of the Farm Bureau
Vtqr two years and attended lead-
Major New Farm Equipment Feature At Harrisburg Farm Show
EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Editor
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) In what Farm Show offi
:ials are calling a “first” for the
industry, a new farm equipment
display will be featured at the
2001 Pennsylvania Farm Show.
Sponsored by the major farm
equipment manufacturers, the
display will be in the center of the
inain exhibit hall in the Farm
Show Complex with members of
RFA chapters on hand each day
to give presentations about each
piece of equipment.
“I am pleased to announce
hat all of the major farm equip-
Patricia and James Hostetter,
McVeytown, accepted a farm-city award
for co-hosting the Third Grade Ag tour.
The Hostetters operate a dairy farm.
Four Sections
ership workshops sponsored by
the organization.
During the recent Farm
Bureau conference in Hershey,
Marie was a finalist in the
Young Farmers and Ranchers
discussion meet. The four final
ists displayed their communica
tion skills and grasp of
agriculture by presenting their
ideas on agricultural topics.
The couple has also partici
pated in the Young Dairy Lead
ers Institute (YDLI), sponsored
by the Holstein Foundation. In
addition Oscar and Marie are
active members of the Brown
Swiss Association.
Marie has been involved with
the Brown Swiss Junior Associa
tion and judges several dairy
shows a year in Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and New Jersey.
Expansion
The Sipler family, which in
cludes daughter Josephine, 18
months, has been in transition
much of the past two-and-a-half
years.
“lt’s always been our ambi
tion to farm,” said Marie.
“When we discussed expansion
with our loan officer, he sug
gested the Zimmerman facility.
It was a really fast transition.
From the time we first came to
check out (the Zimmerman
(Tum to Page A2B)
ment manufacturers will be
represented at the 2001 Pennsyl
vania Farm Show,” said Dennis
Grumbine, executive director.
“The Farm Show represents the
best of Pennsylvania Agriculture,
and serves as a true showcase of
the state’s largest industry as well
as a place for farmers to purchase
their agriculture needs. In addi
tion, the general public gets to ex
perience agriculture hands on.
“A committee of farm equip
ment dealers has been working
on this new feature for the past 12
months and we think we have put
together an exhibit that will fea
ture the cutting edge of the high
Raymond and Susan Bratton received a
farm-city award for helping host the
Third Grade Ag Tour. The t rattons oper
ate a Charolais beef farm.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 2, 2000
Beginning a venture such as farming may be intimidating to many, but for Oscar and
Marie Sipier the risk was worth taking. The couple, who began farming two-and-a-half
years ago, was recently awarded the Young Farm and Rancher Achievement Award from
the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. Photo by Michelle Ranch
market products in the farm
equipment idustry,” Grumbine
said. “The exhibit is set squarly in
the middle of our main exhibition
area and we are pleased with
what will be a first in Farm Show
history.”
In addition to regular exhibit
space, the new special farm
equipment display will iCature
farm machinery that is used for
soil preparation, planting and
seeding, grain harvesting, silage
harvesting, tractors, and mate
rialhandling.
FFA members will be on hand
at the display to give presenta
tions about the equipment and
help sales representatives answer
questions about the featured
equipment. The participating
FFA chapters are West Snyder
FFA, Newport FFA, Manheim
Central FFA, Upper Dauphin
FFA, Mifflinburg FFA, McCon
nellsburg FFA, Solanco FFA,
Dover Area FFA, Greenwood
FFA, Middleburg FFA, and
Cumberland Valley FFA. Pres
entations will begin at 9 a.m. and
Ip.m. each day.
The machinery dealers who
are participating in this special
event are Binkley & Hurst Broth
ers Inc., Hoober Inc., M. M.
Weaver & Sons, Triple H Farms,
Mifflin Presents
Farm-City Awards
GAIL STROCK
Mifflin Co. Correspondent
MCVEYTOWN (Mifflin Co.)
- Two Mifflin County farm fam
ilies received farm-city awards
for hosting 480 third graders
during the 2000 Third Grade Ag
Tour, sponsored by the Mifflin
County Farm Bureau. Raymond
and Susan Bratton and James
and Pat Hostetter, all of Me Vey
town, accepted their awards at
the recent Farm-City Banquet
with a few humorous comments.
“We received so many thank
you notes, I felt I needed to send
them some,” said Susan Brat
ton.
$32.00 Per Year
Valley Ag & Turf, and Wenger’s
ofMyerstown.
The Pennsylvania Farm Show
will be held from January 6 to 11,
2,001, with one of the largest
indoor agricultural events in
America. The Farm Show com
plex has 16 acres under roof, and
more than $300,000 in premiums
will be offered this year to com
petitive exhibits in all types of
farm livestock, youth, commod
ity and horticulture exhibits.
More than 500,000 people usu
ally attend the five-day annual
event.
(See map on page A3B)
“We learned a lot from the
third grade kids,’’ replied her
husband, Raymond Bratton.
“No one was there at his farm
the day before the tour. The day
of the tour, everyone rolled in
and seemed to know what they
were doing. It took a lot of effort
on the part of partners, work
shop leaders, and tour guides.
It’s a good program, and I hope
it keeps going at someone else’s
farm!” James Hostetter said.
The relaxed ambiance contin
ued as the crowd listened to fea
tured speaker Dr. Darwin G.
(Turn to Pago A3l)
600 Per Copy