82-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 22, 2002
Pennsylvania Ayrshire Princess Deals With The Worst , Best
LOU ANN GOOD
Food And Family
Features Editor
ENTRIKEN (Huntingdon
Co.) One of the best and worst
days in Jodi Keith’s life hap
pened April 27. That was the day
that her favorite cow died from a
perforated rectum and the day
she was crowned Pennsylvania
Ayrshire Princess.
The usually cheery 16-year-old
was distraught from the death of
her cow, but she pushed aside her
emotions as she rushed from the
family’s farm in Entriken to par
ticipate in the princess contest at
the State Ayrshire Convention,
New Enterprise.
Flustered from the death of her
favorite cow, Jodi believed her in
terview with the judges “went
badly.”
Jodi told her parents John and
Cindy and siblings Stacie, 13,
and Andy, 14, to forget about the
possibility of her being selected as
princess.
But Jodi dutifully completed
the competition by answering an
impromptu question on stage
during the convention luncheon.
Afterward, Jodi was shocked to
hear her name called as the new
Pennsylvania Ayrshire Princess.
The designation could not be
more fitting. Jodi is a full-fledged
Ayrshire advocate and is deeply
involved in her family’s dairy op
eration.
She daily feeds the calves while
her dad and brother take care of
milking parlor duties.
The Keith family have a
50-head herd of Holsteins. Ayr
shires were not introduced to the
herd until Jodi joined 4-H. In the
beginning, Jodi’s parents thought
it appropriate that she show beef
calves since the family’s Holstein
dairy herd had an abundance of
bull calves. But that required sell
ing the dairy projects after the
shows. Although the money was
designated to Jodi’s college fund,
the plan had a downside.
“After each show, we had to
deal with buckets of tears,” Jodi’s
mom said. “Because Jodi had be
come so attached to her projects,
she couldn’t bear parting with
them.”
The parents reevaluated their
plan and decided it would be bet
ter for Jodi to raise animals that
Getting an early start on the intricacies of cherry pick
ing is 2-year-old Tristan, held by his grandfather Richard
Haas, who purchased Cherry Hill Orchards in 1970. Haas
recently transferred ownership to his son Tom.
Perfecting their milk moustaches are Pennsylvania Ayrshire Princess Jodi Keith, cen
ter, her sister Stacie, 13, and Taylor Mitchell, 8, who Jodi babysits during the summer
months.
The Keith family includes parents John and Cindy, Jodi, 16; Stacie, 13; and Andy, 14.
could be added to the herd to
build equity instead of sold. Both
parents had grown up showing
animals. They knew the smaller- purchased an Ayrshire calf for
sized Ayrshires would be easier to Jodi.
handle than Holsteins. So they Since then, more Ayrshires
Cherry Picking Season Opens
LOU ANN GOOD
Food And Family
Features Editor
LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.)
Cherry picking season in Lan
caster County opened June 12
and is expected to run for two to
three weeks.
Plump, perfect cherries hung
in abundant clumps at Cherry
Hill Orchards, Long Lane on
Marticville Road, where a pick
your-own cherry operation at
tracts hundreds of families.
It’s one of the best seasons
ever, according to Richard Haas,
whose family has operated the
orchard since 1970. An early
spring frost thinned out the blos
soms, resulting in larger and bet
ter flavored fruit.
Cherry Hill has more than 25
varieties of sweet cherries on 60
acres and 5 acres of sour cherries.
A Pennsylvania survey showed
that Cherry Hill produces 20 per
cent of all sweet cherries in the
state and is also listed as the
state’s largest sweet cherry or
chard.
Pick-it-yourselfers are free to
pick wherever they prefer in the
acres of orchards.
Haas said when he took over
the operation, customers were as
signed to one tree and were ex
pected to thoroughly pick it.
“I got an ulcer trying to en
force that rule,” Haas said.
So he relaxed the rules and
things have turned out much bet
ter for everyone. The customer
have been added for projects for
Jodi’s younger siblings Stacie and
Andy. In addition, heifers have
been bred and the herd size in
creased.
“But I seemed to have lots of
bad luck with mine,” Jodi said.
In addition to bull calves, her
Ayrshires have met some untime
ly fates.
Showing them also started off
badly. The first year in 4-H com
petition, “Pixie” refused to walk,
resulting in a bottom of the class
placing. But the next year. Pixie
took reserve junior champion at
the Huntingdon Fair, 4-H Fair,
and open show.
When the bovines becomes old
enough to milk, the Keiths no
longer take them to competition.
“Dad doesn’t believe in taking
milking animals to the fair,” Jodi
said of the potential for problems.
As experiencing both the bot
tom and top placings at fairs,
Jodi is philosophical. She said,
“Even if you’re at the bottom,
you still have the opportunity to
work and train an animal. That
accomplishment helps build self
esteem.”
The Keiths’ farm has been
passed down through the
generations from the Civil War.
It is thought to be the first farm
that was settled in the Hunting
don Valley. Family stories related
that during the Civil War, four
women and their children moved
into the farm house while their
husbands went off to war.
The log home has been recent
ly remodeled, but the family lore
continues.
“All I ever wanted to do was
farm,” Keith said of growing up
on the farm with the rich heri
tage. His mother, a school teach
er, pushed him to go to college in
case farming didn’t work out.
At Penn State, Keith studied
ag economics and rural sociology
because the school hadn’t estab
lished a dairy science department
at that time.
Following graduation in 1977,
Keith returned to the family
farm. Within the year, he in
creased his father’s herd from 22
head to about SO. In 1985, he
begin renting additional ground
totally 400 acres. He put up an
(Turn to Page B 12)
chooses what he or she thinks is
best. The cherries left behind
ripen into even bigger and sweet
er fruit because the trees are less
stressed.
Over the years, orchard grow
ing has changed. Trees are small
er, making them easier to pick.
Although many dwarf varieties
are planted, the older, mature
trees, mostly planted in 1977, are
topped to keep them from grow
ing too tall.
Recently, 1,400 special ladders
replaced the tall, unwieldy wood
en ones.
New stock planted is one-year
old trees about the diameter of
Haas’s smallest finger. The trees
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