To get ready for a show, Meredith Hennip walks her hogs almost every day. This builds .more lean muscle and helps the hogs get used to peo ple. The PA Crop Insurance Assistance Program has been extended for crop year 2003. Benefits To receive these insurance agent www.rma.usda.gov Enrollment Deadlines: January 31 - Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) AGR-Lite March 15 - Spring Planted Crops Pennsylvania encourages growers to have crop insurance protection as part of their farming risk management plan. All policy fees and approximately 20 percent of net premium costs are paid for growers. Sponsored by the PA Department of Agriculture with cost share support from RMA/USDA. .i.i nun 11 u.u iuu 11 ui.i 11 ilu i i Miumuniur.irt um mui tin FREE “CAT” Coverage Discounted Premiums & Fees (Paid for “Buy-Up” Coverage) A Sam Hayes Secretary of Agriculture Pennsylvania Crop insurance Program «- - ' ■TfJ!"' benefits, contact a crop List available at today. Bradford 4-H’er Plans First Trip To Farm Show As Exhibitor CAROLYN N. MOYER Bradford Co. Correspondent ROME (Bradford Co.) For Meredith Hennip, January not only marks the start of a new year, it marks the beginning of a new venture. This Northeast Bradford sixth-grader plans to exhibit a hog at the 2003 Pennsylvania Farm Show. “I’ve never even been to the hog show at the Farm Show. I’ll probably get kind of nervous,” she said. Meredith first got interested in showing hogs when Loyd Ebersole, a friend of her father’s, suggested that she and her sister try it. “His brother has a pig farm. He (Ebersole) started talking about pigs and got us interested,” said Meredith. Lloyd’s brother, Glen Ebersole, who runs a small hog farm near Duncannon, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 11,2003-A35 supplies the girls with their project hogs. In fact, he supplied club pigs to people in 12 Pennsylvania counties and four coun ties in Maryland last year alone. Glen’s son, John, also raises hogs and exhibits them at local fairs and the Farm Show. “We keep about 30 to 40 sows. We breed them for club pigs and purebreds,” said Ebersole. “We sell them all privately. Last year we sold all we had.” Ebersole wants each 4-H member who purchases a pig to succeed, and will help them in any way. By selling the pigs pri vately, rather than through a sale, he is able to keep prices at a place that most kids can afford. “I like to see the kids do well with them. There’s only one winner at each fair. A lot of kids go out and pay a lot of money for pigs. That doesn’t mean they’re going to win. They have to take care of them. Ge netics count too, but you have to have them ready on the day of the show,” he said. The Hennips enjoy the trip down to his farm every year to pick out the perfect pig for the fairs and shows. “He usually picks out some of the better ones and my sister and I get to pick from those,” said Meredith. The pigs usually weigh between 40 and 70 pounds when they are purchased. “We try to figure out what it will look like when it reaches 270 pounds,” said Gary Hennip, Meredith’s father. “It’s a lot like cows. You want them straight across the top with lots of style. You want mus cle, but not too much rib. You especially wqpt a stylish head and neck.” Meredith has been exhibiting hogs at the Troy Fair for three years. Her older sister, Elizabeth, also shows hogs at the Troy Fair, but opted not to show at the Farm Show this year. Last July, the sister duo captured grand and reserve grand champion honors with their hog projects at the local fair. The year prior to that, Meredith took home both grand champion honors and the master showman award. She also exhibited a champion hog the first year she took the project. For this year’s farm show, Meredith will We Sell, Service & Install PH: 570-345-3724 Fax:s7o-345-2294 STOLTZFUS WELDING SHOP Owner - Samuel P. Stoltzfus PA 17963 (Turn to Page A 39)
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