Perrydell Connects Cows, Consumers
MICHELLE KUNJAPPU
Lancaster Farming Staff
Editor’s note: This feature is
part of a series that highlights
direct marketing operations.
These businesses are a part of
the Mid-Atlantic Direct Mar
keting Conference tour. The
conference will take place Feb.
20-23 at the Holidome in York.
LEADER HEIGHTS (York
Co.) When George and Roger
Perry purchased bottling equip
ment and opened their bottling
plant in 1963, they could not see
the varieties of milk, ice cream,
and even the farm market that
would follow in the years to
come.
Today George’s sons Greg,
Tom, and Chip, however, are
grateful for the brothers’ enter
prising move. The farm, bottling
business, and farm market now
support the entirety of the Perry
family, which has grown to in
clude Greg’s wife Laurie and
Tom’s wife Donna, plus the chil
dren that have joined the family.
While Tom takes care of the
bottling plant, Greg supervises
the milk and crop production,
and Chip works on the store and
paperwork facet of the business.
In addition two full-time herds
men help milk the 150 cows and
replacement heifers.
The Perrys own 170 acres and
rent an additional 300 acres for
the feed corn and hay produc
tion.
“Roger came home from col
lege in the late 1950 s and realized
that he wouldn’t be able to make
money on the traditional meth
ods, so he decided to come up
with a way to stay on the farm,”
said Tom Perry.
“He consulted three or four
nearby juggers and decided that
selling milk directly to the public
was the way to make money,” he
New Extension Program
Offers Vegetable School
CHAMBERSBURG (Cum
berland Co.) Market gardening
and larger vegetable production
systems can offer good opportu
nities to add substantially to a
farm’s bottom line.
Penn State Cooperative Exten
sion has organized a two-day
vegetable production school tar
geted to those seeking to get
started in this rapidly expanding
field.
This two-day' program will
cover all of the major issues relat
ed to commercial vegetable pro
duction in a concise, fast-paced
format.
Topics will include: Growing
Systems, Marketing, Season Ex
tension, Irrigation, Weed Con
trol, Pest Management, Post-Har-
said. “It has proven to be the best
way to keep the family on the
farm.” The original price was 75
cents a gallon.
“This farm basically supports
five families, which is pretty un
heard of,” said Donna. “We have
a very good location here. It’s
built up all around and we’re
close to the expressway. Word-of
mouth has pretty much adver
tised this place for more than 30
years.”
Diversity
“Producers have to be able to
diversify,” said Perry. “You can
make money on a small herd, but
we wanted to be able to carry
over to other generations and all
make money on the same farm.
“We’re lucky because we got
started early and have the bigger,
more traditional equipment,”
said Perry, noting that other pro
ducers beginning their own jug
ging operation could perhaps
start their own jugging operation
with the mini-dairy equipment. A
mini dairy may, unfortunately,
supress growth of the business
because of the limits of the small
er equipment.
The mini dairy equipment,
said Perry, has spurred a resur
gence of interest in on-farm jug
ging. Producers from Pennsylva
nia and Maryland, and even as
far away as Nebraska, have come
to Perrydell to observe the opera
tion.
The milk comes straight from
the parlor into the store area raw,
where it is processed. Although
the store uses most of the milk,
the surplus is picked up two to
three times a week.
Expansion Options
Flavored milk or growth in the
ice cream facets are possible ex
pansion opportunities. “Ice
cream has become pretty big,”
said Perry. The cream is shipped
vest Handling, Crop Sched
uling and much more.
New growers, new hires, and
those interested in starting a pro
duce operation are encouraged to
attend this program.
Vegetable School will be con
ducted Feb. 12 and 13, at the
Cumberland County Cooperative
Extension office in Carlisle. This
facility is convenient to the PA
Turnpike (Rt. 76), Rt. 81 and nu
merous motels.
Cost of the program is $95 and
includes all handout materials,
lunches, and break snacks. Pre
registration is required by Feb. 5.
For more information or registra
tion brochures, contact Steve Bo
gash at (717) 263-9226.
off the farm to be returned as ice
cream.
“We’re planning to focus on
ice cream sales to make a more
parklike atmosphere and add a
walk-up window,” he said. Cus
tomers come to Perrydell for ice
cream because they enjoy coming
to the farm and appreciate the re
laxing atmosphere, say the Per
rys. The calves that are housed in
hutches nearby are also a draw.
“We’re thinking about adding
walking trails to people can come
and spend a little time,” said
Donna. Plans include planting
trees, adding a split rail fence,
and trees to the area.
Milk, however, is the main rea
son people stop, according to
Perry. “Except, perhaps, in sum
mer for ice cream,” said Donna.
Northeast Order Uniform Price
Announced For December
BOSTON, Mass. Erik F.
Rasmussen, market administra
tor for the Northeast Marketing
Area, has announced that the sta
tistical uniform price paid by
milk dealers (handlers) regulated
under the Northeast Order for
December 2001 is $13.72 per
hundredweight ($l.lB per gallon)
for milk delivered to plants locat
ed in Suffolk County, Mass. (Bos
ton). The December statistical
uniform price is $13.62 for deliv
ery to plants in New York, N.Y.,
and $13.52 for delivery to plants
in Philadelphia.
The statistical uniform price is
the benchmark minimum pro
ducer blend price paid to dairy
farmers, prior to allowable de
ductions, for milk containing 3.5
percent butterfat, 2.99 percent
protein, and 5.69 percent other
solids. The price received by an
individual dairy farmer will vary
as the component composition of
a farm’s milk differs from the es
Pennsylvania Milk Production Down
Just Under 1 Percent In November
HARRISBURG (Dauphin
Co.) Milk production in Penn
sylvania during November 2001
totaled 870 million pounds, down
0.9 percent from last year’s pro
duction, according to the Penn
sylvania Agricultural Statistics
Service (PASS).
The number of milk cows in
the state during the month aver-
The country store, remodeled
and expanded in 1994, a refin
ished version of the 1963 store, is
almost outgrown already. In ad
dition, “I’d like to get new bot
tling equipment to speed things
up,” said Perry.
Expansion, however, will be
thoroughly researched. “We
don’t want to get too big and lose
the small-store feel,” said Donna.
“We want to grow but remain a
country store.”
The milk comes in whole, two
percent, skim, and chocolate va
rieties. The family also delivers
their milk to other nearby small
stores. The unique, heavy plastic
returnable bottles are also a sell
ing point, believe the Perrys.
The store has 26 employees,
most of them part-time help ex-
tablished benchmarks and by the
location of the plant(s) to which
the farm’s milk is delivered.
Rasmussen also stated that the
producer price differential (PPD)
for November is $1.92 per hun
dredweight for milk delivered to
plants located in Suffolk County,
Mass. The PPD represents each
producer’s share of the value
generated by the marketwide
pool on a hundredweight basis.
The PPD, which is added to the
payment producers receive for
their milk’s components, is ad
justed for the location of the re
ceiving plant. The statistical un
iform price and PPD decrease by
scheduled amounts the more dis
tant the plant receiving producer
milk is from Suffolk County,
Mass.
The Class prices for milk pool
ed in November are as follows:
Class I, $15.23 (Suffolk County,
Mass.); Class 11, $12.61; Class 111,
$11.80; and Class IV, $11.79.
Comparable prices for December
aged 596,000 head, unchanged
from October and 10,000 less
than November 2000.
Production per cow averaged
1,460 pounds in November, 40
pounds less than October but 35
pounds more than November
2000.
Milk production in the 20
states surveyed during November
2001 totaled 11.4 billion pounds,
up 0.4 percent compared to pro
duction during November 2000.
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 26,2002-A35
cept for a full-time manager.
Opening The Farm
Besides hosting farm tours for
the general community, the Per
rys often take 4-H dairy clubs
through the operation.
A fall festival this year also
drew the public to the operation.
“We saw big results after that,”
said Perry. A small newspaper
advertisement about the event
drew over 1,000 people to the
food, crafts, straw maze, and
farm tours.
In addition to being a popular
ice cream destination for chil
dren, the farm hosts school tour
in the spring several times a
week.
“It gives them a picture of pro
duction-to-processing,” said
Perry.
2000 were: Class I $15.38, Class
II $13.97, Class 111 $9.37, and
Class IV price $13.27. The com
ponent values for December are
protein, $1.9782 per pound; but
terfat, $1.4322 per pound; other
solids, $0.1517 per pound; and
nonfat solids, $0.7799 per pound.
Milk receipts from producers
totaled 2.078 billion pounds.
Class I utilization, milk processed
as beverage milk, was 43.8 per
cent of producer milk receipts.
The average Class I utilization
was 47.9 percent in December
2000.
The manufacture of Class II
products such as cream, ice
cream, yogurt, and cottage cheese
utilized 15.3 percent of producer
milk. Milk used to manufacture
Class 111 products such as cheese
(American and Italian) and evap
orated and condensed products
utilized 29.3 percent of total milk
receipts. Class IV usage (butter,
nonfat and whole milk powder)
equaled 11.6 percent of the total.
October revised production, at
11.7 billion pounds, was down 0.7
percent from October 2000.
The number of milk cows on
farms averaged 7.73 million
head, 78,000 head less than a
year earlier, and 8,000 head more
than October 2001.
Production per cow averaged
1,480 pounds for November, 21
pounds more than November
2000.