10-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 16, 2002
B
Kids
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Lindsay Fessler’s family joins her on stage at the Berks
County Dairy Princess Pageant where Lindsay was
crowned Lil’ Dairy Miss. With her are her parents Leslie
and Mark, and brothers, Matthew, 13, and Dustin, 8.
This is Lindsay singing her promotional song before a
classroom. As the Berks County Lil’ Dairy Miss, Lindsay
hands out dairy-related goodies and tells them about the
importance of drinking milk and eating dairy products.
Lindsay, her brother Dustin, and Grandfather David
Strunk take a calf to school. Many of the first and third
grade classes they visit have never seen a calf before.
% Korne if#
Lil’ Miss Berks County Dairy Miss Lindsay Fessler tells a third-grade class at Conrad
Weiser West Elementary School all about living on a dairy farm.
Six-Year-Old Sings To Promote Milk
LOU ANN GOOD
Food And Family
Features Editor
Wolmesdorf (Berks Co.) Six
year-old Lindsay Fessler loves to
sing. She sings in the car, in the
house, and in the barn.
In fact Lindsay is seldom quiet.
She has a loud, clear voice, which
is what musical professionals
classify as an excellent voice for
her age.
Every since she was three years
old, Lindsay has wanted to be
come a professional singer and
dancer like country singer Shania
Twain.
It’s Lindsay’s voice and sing
ing ability that helped influence
judges to select her from five con
testants to represent Berks Coun
ty as the Lil’ Dairy Miss for one
year.
To the surprise of the audi
ence, Lindsay’s performance at
the pageant in May was the first
time she sang a solo before an au
dience. Since then, she sings at
about four promotional events a
week.
The song Lindsay sings is
called “Matt’s Milking Song.”
Matt is her brother who got the
song from his second-grade
teacher. This is the words to the
song that Lindsay sang at pag
eant and sings at dairy promo
tions:
Matt’s Milking Song
Early in the morning let me
tell you what we do. We milk
the cows and we wash them
too. Mom and Dad and my sis
ter Dee, we all work together
we’re a farm family
Milk with cereal. Milk with
cake. We get the milk that cows
make. Milk for breakfast and
dinner too. I like milk. How
about you?
We keep the bam nice and
clean. To milk a cow we use a
milking machine. We got many
cows not just one. It takes quite
awhile to get the job done.
Milk with cereal. Milk with
cake. We get the milk that the
cows make. Milk for breakfast
and dinner too. I like milk.
How about you?
The cows are fed grass,
grain, and hay. We milk the
cows twice a day. To get the
milk that you buy, my family
works hard and so do I.
Milk with cereal. Milk with
cake. We get the milk that the
cows make. Milk for breakfast
and dinner too. I like milk.
How about you?
Lindsay’s parents, Leslie and
Mark Fessler, milk ISO Holsteins
on their family farm, which has
been in the family for three
generations. They farm 650 acres
and raise replacement heifers.
Lindsay helps on the farm. She
helps feed the calves, gives them
water and grain. She also helps
get the cows in from pasture.
Lindsay loves to ride bicycle and
play outdoors.
Lindsay has two brothers: Mat
thew, 13, and Dustin, 8. Matthew
helps on the farm and drives
equipment.
The family is building a new
free-style bam and a herringbone
milking parlor, where they can
milk 11 cows at a time.
Lindsay’s mother did not grow
up on the farm, but she works
hard on it and enjoys it. She is
the main milker and prefers that
more than the job she held work
ing outside the home for 10 years.
Lindsay’s mother said, “I like
milking because I can come and
go in between. She gets up at 3:30
in the morning to be ready to
milk cows at 4 a.m. In the after
noon she milks the cows at 2:30
or 3:00 in order to be able to at
tend evening events.
Much of the time she drives
Lindsay to many activities. Lind
say is a cheerleader for Conrad
Weiser Little League Football,
and she tap and jazz dances for
Marie Shaw Studio in West
Lawn.
Lindsay had been shy, her
mother said. But the experience
as Little Miss has helped her ma
ture and really come out of a
shell.
Lindsay visited Conrad Weiser
West Elementary School, where
she is in first grade. She told her
classmates about cows and milk.
Lindsay took her calf to show
students at the school. She hand
ed out coloring books and erasers
to all first graders in school.
Most of the children had never
seen a calf before. They really en
joyed petting the calf and watch
ing it drink out of bottle.
Lindsay attends many interest
ing events such as throwing the
first pitch at a Reading Phillies
game.
She also helped with a promo
tion at local banks, where she
banded out goodies to many peo
ple who attended. Lindsay con
tinues to get requests for mag
nets, pens and other ‘got milk’
stuff that help people remember
to drink milk.
She also helps the dairy prin
cesses with serving milk drinks to
visitors attending promotional
events. Lindsay’s favorite flavor
is pina colada. She said adding a
teaspoon of sweetened Kool Aid
or Daiquiri mix to milk gives
milk a totally different and
yummy flavor. Her favorite ice
cream flavor is chocolate.
Lindsay reminds everyone to
drink milk, because it is impor
tant for all ages to drink milk for
strong bones and health.