6-Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 21,2001
1
Graziers Learn *Maximum Management ’ Techniques At Conference
MICHELLE RANCK
Lancaster Farming Staff
QUARRYVILLE (Lancaster Co.)
Careful management, agreed speakers
at the Southeast Pennsylvania Grazing
Conference in February, is the key to a
successful, profitable grassland opera
tion.
The conference brought together pro
ducers and speakers to exchange ideas
during the two-day event at the Solanco
fairgrounds.
In its eighth year, the conference at
tracted approximately 200 people for
the educational event sponsored by the
Lancaster County Graziers.
Each speaker reinforced the theme,
“maximizing management,’’ with their
own ideas and experiences on effec
tively managing a grazing operation.
Cove Mountain Farm
Glen Moyer, Cove Mountain Farm,
Mercersburg, Franklin County, chose to
try operating a grass-based farm be
cause of financial reasons. Previously
farming on a “retrofitted grass farm”
for 10 years, in 1996 Moyer took up the
challenge to develop seasonal dairy
farm from the ground up on a farm
willed to American Farmland Trust. Of
the farm’s 300 acres, 200 are in grass.
Bordered by the Tuscarora Moun
tains, the farm in southwest Franklin
County includes rolling grounds, a vari
ety of soil types, and the sizable Cove
Creek.
Moyer himself completed the stall
work, “quite a fun project,” on the barn
that also has sliding panels for ventila
tion and sunlight plus translucent
panels and a skylight for light purposes.
Last year Moyer and his family milked
118 cows.
On the grazing operation, “all the
calves are born on the ground, hopefully
not in the snow,” said Moyer. “The
toughest time of calving is when it’s
wet. The calves must be picked up and
taken to a warmer climate within an
hour or we basically lose the calf. It’s
like being dropped into an ice bath it
just sucks the life out of them.”
Not Black And White
Having begun with registered Hol
steins, Moyer was introduced to the
Jersey breed by a neighbor and over
time has added Jerseys to his
crossbreeding program. “We’re defi
nitely into color. It’s not all black and
white.”
The fencing is single, 16-gauge high
tensile wire on Vs inch corner posts and
Vs inch support posts. Old drums hold
water for the paddocks, however “as
the herd grows we find we need the 100-
gallon tanks,” he said.
To make a lane for the cows, he
topped an old diversion terrace with
loose gravel. Moyer feeds his herd
round bales with an unroller.
Cove Mountain Farm weathered a
tough lesson and was introduced to its
“number one challenge” with an endo
phyte fescue problem. Irrigating the
pasture too late, said Moyer, allowed
the fescue to grow while leaving other
plants dormant.
The endophyte problem, estimates
Moyer, has affected production, body
condition, and even reproductive effi
ciency.
The seasonal setup means that the
Moyer family milks from approxi
mately early March to early or middle
January.
Additional information on grass
based farming systems and Cove Moun
tain Farm is available at
Grassfarmer.com.
The Strite Family
Pastoring a church and raising four
homeschooled boys helped to put Harry
Strite, Williamsport, Md., on a mission
for a lower-stress, less time-intensive
way to farm.
After farming with his father since
1972, Strite took over in 1995. A grazing
conference inspired the Strite family
and helped them to decide to move to
an all-grass setup.
Roman Stoltzfoos, far left, reads audience questions during the
afternoon panel discussion for graziers Duane Hertzler, Loysville;
Dave Forgey, Logansport, Ind.; Kenneth King, Hutchinson, Kan.;
Harry Strife, Williamsport, Md.; and Glen Moyer,
Mercersburg. Photo by Michelle Ranck
“We came home from the grazing
conference in 1997 with goals,” said
Strite. The pace toward moving to a
grass-based operation moved even
faster than expected, however, and the
Strites exceeded the goals set and put all
their land in grass in two years and
went seasonal in four years.
“We made sure to make new goals,”
Built to withstand rugged conditions.
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*V
he said. “We’ve made progress but
we’re not satisfied with where we’re at.”
At the Strite farm, they do not feed
grain and are now feeding stockpiled
fescue, also with an unroller, to his
cattle housed on the pasture. “And
come spring, the manure’s all hauled,”
he said.
(Turn to Page 19)
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