V 01.46 No. 37
To Market , To Market
Haulers Care About Customers, Cattle
MICHELLE RANCK
Lancaster Farming Staff
NEW HOLLAND (Lancaster Co.) “Most
of the livestock haulers care about their cus
tomer, the cattle, and their equipment. They are
devoted to their job. They give up their week
ends, evenings, holidays, or go through snow
storms to satisfy customers.
“Truckers have to be flexible, understanding,
and patient,” said Buddy Brown, Bethel, a long
time livestock hauler.
It is, however, a job not without rewards.
“I like working with farm-related people and
animals,” he said.
Catching up with the farmers he routinely
sees or interacting with the children who come
out to watch the excitement of loading the ani
mals is what keeps Brown on the road.
The business has long been familiar to Brown.
His grandfather bought his first truck in 1942,
“something a little bigger than a pickup,” said
Brown. Four generations, since Brown’s son also
hauls livestock, have now been involved in the
business.
“It’s a family tradition,” he said. “I started at
16 and stayed with it.”
Brown’s father retired last year at 82 years old
after more than SO years of hauling livestock.
Brown used to haul hogs and steers to packing
plants, “point ‘A’ to point ‘B,’” he said. Now
that son Jeff, who owns one tractor and two
trailers, takes care of the hauling to packing
plants, Brown can continue his “farm pickup”
routine.
Car Runs On Hemp Seed Oil
LANDISVILLE (Lancaster Co.) This Mercedes Benz
station wagon that runs on hemp seed oil made a stop in
East Hempfield township last week, near the beginning of
a 10,000-mile tour of the U.S. and Canada to promote the
return of industrial hemp as an agricultural product. On
hand were, from left, East Hempfield Township supervisor
Michael Wagner, Lancaster County Farm Bureau chair
woman Jane Balmer, and local hemp broker Shawn House.
Although cultivation of the plant that produces indus
trial hemp is illegal in the U.S., Balmer said that the Penn
sylvania Farm Bureau and a number of other states have
approved hemp as “an alternative crop for the cash
farmer.”
House said that industrial hemp offers thousands of
uses besides biofuel, including a variety of food products,
building materials, and even as a structural component for
cars.
Lancaster County housed more than 100 water-powered
hemp mills during the late 18th and early 19th centuries,
when locally grown hemp was a major source of fiber for
clothing, said local historian Les Stark.
Photo by Dave Lefever
Laocos-Ver Farming
www.lancasterfarming.com
Five Sections
Mondays and Thursdays Brown hauls ani
mals to New Holland Sales Stables, Tuesdays
and Fridays to Lebanon Valley Livestock Auc
tion, and Wednesdays to Leesport Livestock
Auction.
A Familiar Process
Arriving at the sales stables is the beginning of
a first-come, first-serve process which most of
the truckers are very familiar with. Communica
tion, either verbally or via CB, will help the
truckers decide who was first in line.
“Many of them will work with you, if there’s
something wrong with the cow or there is an
other reason you need to get ahead,” said
Brown.
While the truck idles, Brown waves at the
truckers leaving the sale barn. “Most truckers
know each other,” he said. “We stand and talk
while we wait for loads. They’re helpful to
anyone who is new, with unloading or each sale
barn’s procedures.”
Brown, in fact, was voted New Holland Sales
Stables’ “Trucker of the Year” by other live
stock haulers. The award was given at the com
pany’s annual trucker’s banquet this March.
With a practiced hand Brown maneuvers his
truck into the unloading area. After he gets the
cows off the truck he herds the animals into the
barn where they are taken to be checked in.
Each sales stables has their own carbon paper
slips for animal and owner identification and
recordkeeping. Brown’s wife Lorraine has al
ready filled in with the date and each owner’s
Soon: A Bigger, Better Farm Show Complex
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) When you talk ot an up
grade of $66.2 million, that’s big
news.
And the Farm Show Complex
is getting an upgrade so big that
it’s going to make attending the
winter agriculture showcase
event hosted by the Pennsylva
nia Department of Agriculture
surelv a memorable, maybe even
completely new, event.
For years, people have talked
about making necessary im
provements to the Farm Show
Complex. But according to
Farm Show Executive Director
Dennis Grumbine, this is the
first time “since ’29 and ’32 that
anybody has made a financial
commitment to doing something
Pa. Dairy
Quality Program
Kicks Off
DAVE LEFEVER
Lancaster Farming Staff
UNIVERSITY PARK
(Centre Co.) The new Penn
sylvania Dairy Quality Assur
ance Program (PDQA) is slated
to begin this fall.
The voluntary program will
offer certification to dairy farms
who are following valid protocol
in the areas of milk quality,
meat quality, and biosecurity,
said Brenda Coe of Penn State
veterinary extension and one of
the PDQA program developers.
{” urn to Page A3O)
Saturday, July 14,2001
ANDY ANDREWS
Editor
Buddy Brown, Bethel, has been in the livestock haul
ing business since he was 16 years old. Truckers have
to be flexible, understanding, and patient, according to
Brown. Photo by Michelle Ranck
name and address. Brown brings handfuls of them in with each
load.
Every animal is given an identifying number and correspond
ing sticker on each hip while they wait in the chutes.
\fter the cows are unloaded, the job changes somewhat as
Brown and a sales stables employee sort out the calves. Each calf
has an identifying colored chalk mark or owners initial to help
keep them each separated from the other calves careening and ca
pering around the pen.
One owner, for example, may have calves with a “K" embla
zoned on its back, or have a pink and blue head.
The calves are then herded into the appropriate pen before they
move to the ring for to be sold. “I figure if .they (the customers)
trust me to haul their calves, it’s my duty to get the calves there
safely and correctly. I try to keep my truck cleaned out and be
here,” he said.
Grumbine spoke to about two
dozen exhibitor representatives
and media at the complex on
Thursday about the expansion
project.
He provided construction de
Expert Advice On Grazing,
Pastures In Foraging Around
Lancaster Farming includes the summer issue of Forag
ing Around, the newsletter of the Pennsylvania Forage and
Grassland Council (PFGC). Included are features that pro
vide expert advice on pasture maintenance, forage man
agement, and animal care. Here, Bob Boyce’s new cleanup
bull, 18-month old Whitestone Widespread 350 M, mean
ders up to the fence to greet Boyce, operator of a 100-
head grass-based Angus herd. Read the full story in this
issue of Foraging Around. Photo by Michelle Ranch
$34.00 Per Year
(Turn to Page A2Z)
tails and timetables on a com
plex that, when completed for
the Farm Show of 2003. will
house 27 acres under one roof,
including a large equine exhibit
arena.
(Turn to Page A3O)
750 Per Copy