Vol. 47 No. 30
Berks County To Celebrate Farmland Preservation Efforts
Mark and Nancy Wolfskin built a progressive dairy facility on this farm with the
help of preservation funds. The Wolfskins have sold development rights on about 400
acres of land north of Robesonia. Their farm will host a field day June 7 celebrating
25,000 acres of farmland preserved in Berks County. Photo by Dave Lefever
Poultry Farming Is Best Job Of All, Says Bartho Family
LOU ANN GOOD
Food And Family
Features Editor
LANDISBURG (Perry Co.)
Optimistic that egg consumption
and prices are on the rise, Bill
and Sharon Bartho recently
erected a 150,000 layer house on
the family farm in Landisburg.
The couple, flush with the ex
citement of this new venture, are
eager to list the many pluses of
poultry farming.
Applications Of GIS
Focus Of Conference
MICHELLE KUNJAPPU
Lancaster Farming Staff
HERSHEY (Dauphin Co.)
Pennsylvania’s Geographic In
formation Systems (GIS) 10th
Annual Conference drew almost
500 GIS consultants, engineering
firms, township and borough rep
resentatives, exhibitors, and rep
resentatives of government or
ganizations to the Hershey Lodge
www.lancasterfarming.com
“This is the best!” Sharon said
when comparing farm and non
farming jobs the couple have ex
perienced.
“You aren’t tied down as
much as milking cows required,
and it’s cleaner than hogs,” Bar
tho said.
“It’s clean. You don’t need to
trample through pigs or neuter
them,” Sharon said.
But the best thing, the couple
and Convention Center this
week.
The two-day conference, spon
sored by Penn State Harrisburg,
featured sessions addressing envi
ronmental GIS issues, public
safety GIS issues, and new trends
in GIS.
Sherrill Davison, associate pro
, (Turn to Page A 26)
Four Sections
reiterates, is that they can work
together as a family.
“What other job offers the op
portunity and flexibility to work
together as a family at home?”
she asks.
“We are probably the only
chicken house with a playroom,”
Sharon said. The fully enclosed
room is decorated like a family
room, complete with sofa, televi
sion, and video recorder.
Producers
Highlight
Dairy Issue
Lancaster Farming
plans its annual festive
Dairy Month issue June 1.
The issue will be packed
with dairy farm features
from around the region.
Scheduled to appear: Bed
ford County dairy expan
sion plans, a family-operat
ed creamery in the
Shenandoah Valley, a dairy
goat feature, York County
dairy family feature, distin
guished Jersey breeders,
dairy princess feature, and
a young couple feature
from Mifflin County. Also
scheduled will be dairy reci
pes and columns of interest
to the dairy producer.
Saturday, May 25, 2002
DAVE LEFEVER
Lancaster Farming Staff
ROBESONIA (Berks Co.)
Longtime farmers Mark and
Nancy Wolfskill have a thriving
operation to
pass on to
their son
David and
his family.
A dairy
setup com
pleted in
January of
2000 includes
a double-12
parallel milk
ing parlor
and a
freestall bam
with manure
storage un
derneath the
slatted floor.
With the
help of sever
al hired per-
sons, the Wolfskills milk 230
Holsteins, finish upward to 250
beef cattle each year, and grow
most of the crops that feed and
bed the livestock.
The Wolfskills have sold de
velopment rights on about 400
acres here in Heidelberg Town
ship through the Berks County
Farmland Preservation Pro
The Barthos said the playroom
was a requirement, and one that
required reviewing many plans to
figure out how it could best fit
into the operation.
The room has a large window
facing the packing area so that
Bill and Sharon Bartho with Sarah, 3, and Nicholas, 5,
are thrilled with the opportunity to work together in their
new poultry layer operation.
Photo by Lou Ann Good, food and family features editor
** *> * pim'v «. • ***»#*■* % ***** * <*
$36.00 Per Year
gram, a move that has helped
them expand and update their
operation. They will host a field
day on their farm June 7 cele
brating a county milestone of
According to Mark
Wolfskill, the decision
to preserve land has
helped ensure the
family a future and a
livelihood in agricul
ture.
Funds from pre
serving two of the
family’s farms went
toward the purchase
of another neighbor
ing farm four years
ago and toward the
dairy facility they
built on it.
more farms have been preserved
in the county, totalling 27,208
acres on 219 farms preserved
since 1990.
Sharadin said the program
got a big boost in 1999 when the
Berks County commissioners
decided to take out a $3O mil
(Turn to Page A 22)
Sharon can see at a glance what
the children are doing.
“If they need supervision, I
can shut down the lines and go
into the playroom,” Sharon said.
(Turn to Page A 23)
$l.OO Per Copy
25,000 acres
preserved a
number that is
rapidly grow
ing.
The county
ranks second in
the state and
11th in the
country in
number of acres
preserved,
according to
program direc
tors Susanne
Sharadin and
Tammy Hilde
brand. Since
the 25,000-acre
mark was
reached last
winter, six