A22-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 22, 2003
Snowstorm Challenges Producers Across Southeast Pa.
(Continued from Page A 1)
After weathering the first big
snow, the Click family’s Hol
steins experienced a second del
uge when the roof, snow load and
all, caved in T uesday morning.
At 8:30 a.m., the trussed roof
fell in on the 49 Holsteins below,
according to Jonas Click, Leola
farm owner. “They all walked
out with scratches,” he said. “It
was surprising, the way it looked.
Some of them, of course, were
trapped until we got to them.”
The morning milking, which
began at 5 a.m., was already
completed. Click’s son Samuel
operates the dairy.
The roof, built in 1993, was al
ready weighted with the first
snow load when the wind blew
snow from the other, steeper
sloped roof two feet above. The
additional snow proved too big a
load.
“When we get wet snow, I
think about it (shoveling it off),
but this snow was dry and fluffy,
so I never gave it a thought,’’ said
Samuel Glick.
Instead of the trussed roof,
“it’s going to be a new design,”
he said.
The Clicks were hoping (o
Tfflaer cover to
milk that evening, with help from
the 50-60 volunteers that showed
up at the farm throughout the
day.
Jonas Click is “not sure” how
the word got around so quickly.
“One man told the next, I
guess,” he said. “We had the fire
company here, too I guess
that’s how it got around.”
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The cows were relocated out
doors, where they snacked at a
bunk feeder all day. “We kept
feed in front of them all day long
they were happy,” said Samu
el.
Hauling Milk
Milk haulers throughout the
region worked overtime from
Sunday through Wednesday to
keep bulk tanks on dairy farms
from overflowing before the milk
truck could reach them.
“For the conditions, things
went really well,” said Clair Hoo
ver of H&H Liquid Transport,
New Oxford, Adams County.
“We have a lot to be thankful for.
“There was very little milk
dumped. We put chains on the
trucks and made use of all our
equipment.”
Hoover said that all 27 of his
crew of full- and part-time driv
ers were on duty making the
rounds to 100 dairy farm clients
in Adams, Lancaster, and York
counties, as well Frederick Coun
ty, Md.
H&H uses 16 tractor-trailer
trucks to haul milk for compa
nies and cooperatives including
Rutter’s, Land O’ Lakes, Mary
land and Virginia, Dairy Farmers
of and riimlwrlimd
Some of the milk goes as far
south as Georgia.
“It was rough going for the
drivers,” Hoover said. “They
were maxed out.”
According to Hoover, the snow
was the most challenging storm
since the blizzard of 1996. That
blizzard dropped 30 inches of
snow in southeastern Pennsylva
nia, setting the record.
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“No problem here.” Scottish Highland cattle gather around the hay feeder Tuesday on
the farm of Peter Sheppard, a few miles south of Hanover in York County.
Photo by Dave Letever
Larry Mummert, York County
dairy fanner, said that H&H
hauled his milk out on time
throughout the snow crisis.
“We’ve been very lucky,” said
Mummert, who milks about ISO
Holsteins along with his.-family
on Yellow Buttercup Farms just
cm ith fti Geoot -B«rlsn.*Tht "Tc*l 111 IS
situated along Rt. 194, a major
road and snow emergency route.
The milk truck came and went
smoothly, except for one small
hangup when it got stuck negoti
ating a comer of the lane.
“We had to pull him out,”
Mummert said.
Mummert is looking ahead to
spring and anticipating a good
crop season. He grows about 800
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acres of alfalfa, com, barley, and
soybeans.
The snow helps restore
groundwater levels after last
year’s drought, plus the long,
hard freeze should serve to loosen
the soil, Mummert said.
Calving Time In Virginia
Thirty- inches of aiIUW IUppCCI
with sleet on Sunday night has
also posed challenges to Virginia
producers.
“We’ve had probably around
14 calves since Sunday, and we
hadn’t had but one or two be
fore,” said beef producer Roger
Hockman, Hockman Farms.
The farm is located in Stras
burg, Shenandoah County, Vir
ginia, 80 miles west of Washing
ton, D.C.
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The farm’s heifers are sched
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Hopkman operates the more
than 1,200-acre farm with his fa
ther, John, and brother, Wesley.
The commercial herd includes
heifers, cows, and steers of main
ly Angus but also black white
face and 15-20 Charolais cattle
totaling 300 head with the 150
first-calf heifers.
Since the cows have already
calved, it is the first>«a|o&tfiers
whose numbers are up foray
ing.
(Turn to Page A 23)
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