‘Reach For The Dream 9 At 2004
Sustainable Farming Conference
Bill Henning
Small Farms Specialist
Cornell University Extension
Daydream for a moment. You
are in the midst of your milking
herd. You have just turned your
cows into a new paddock. The
only noise you hear is that of suc
culent green grass succumbing to
the predation of voracious appe
tites. The living mowing ma
chines are contentedly harvesting
and processing their nutrients
while simultaneously recycling
fertility back from whence it
came. Your cows are consuming
some of the highest quality; low
est cost feed known to exist on
Gods green earth.
Looking at the last paddock,
the remains of a salad bar are
being cleaned up by slick young
heifers following literally in their
mothers foot steps. Ahead of the
cows lies a dark green, luxuriant
carpet of vegetative mass that
promises an abundance of some
of the most economical milk that
FARM SHOW 2004
What a treat we have in store for the annual Lancaster
Faming issue of Farm Show!
Scheduled for the Jan. 10 issue: features from farmers who
are going to the winter agricultural showcase event at the
Farm Show Complex and their experiences in attending the
great event in Harrisburg. Also scheduled: the yv
annual FFA Keystone Degree winners and a com- ayw
plete schedule of events, including the many Jfflk
demonstrations for farmers during Farmer Days.
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will ever be produced.
The cows are healthy. They are
in their natural habitat doing ex
actly what nature intended they
should do. Your son and daugh
ter are at your side. One just han
dled the gate for the cows while
the other handled the gate for the
heifers. No need to worry no PTO
shafts involved.
Surveying your land to its
boundaries reveals a panorama of
more fields like the one youre
standing in. Milk production
could be higher, but then the
cows wouldnt be as healthy. The
vet bills are down, as well as feed
costs, machinery costs, fuel bills,
electric bills, breeding costs, re
placement costs, and the ware
and tear on buildings has been re
duced. Is it any wonder there is
more money left for the family?
Aside from the money you also
have more time for that family.
Farming is good! Life is good!
Does this sound too good to be
true? It is extremely difficult to
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achieve something you cant con
ceive. But believe it or not, this
has been the experience of more
than one grazier.
Top quality grasses and leg
umes provide the foundation for
the above dream come true.
Given adequate moisture and the
right management, these forages
can increase profitability on those
poorly drained side hills or the
best river bottoms.
You have the opportunity to
leant more about these top quali
ty forages. You can have a
sounding board for all your for
age questions. What varieties
work best together? What forages
are best for stockpiling? At what
vegetative state can you expect
the best milk yield per acre?
What forages stand up best to
early spring grazing? These are
just some examples.
You bring your questions and
also learn from the questions of
others. We’ll do our best to pro
vide the answers. Just attend the
Low Input Sustainable Farming
Conference at Jordan Hall
New York State Experiment at
Geneva, Saturday, Jan. 17,2004.
Sit in on the Grass Manage
ment Panel composed of four
seed company representatives
from New York and Pennsylva
nia who have agreed to answer
your questions in a generic man
ner. Panel Participants include:
Greg Davis of Seedway, Hall,
NY; Tim Fritz of Kings Agri-
Seed, Ronks, PA; Rod Porter of
AgriCulver, Trumansburg, NY;
and Tim Gutteridge of Bare
nbrug, Milton, PA.
When was the last time you
had this opportunity? For more
__ information or a registration
packet just call Cornell Co-
operative Extension of Yates
County at (315) 536-5123.
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 22, 2003-A33
Auburn Township farmland in Susquehanna County,
owned by Ted and Becky Place, is part of Pennsylvania’s
Farmland Preservation Program, first in the nation in
number of acres preserved.
Applications Sought For
Farmland Preservation
MONTROSE (Susquehanna
Co. ) Applications are now
available for the 2004 farmland
preservation program. The Sus
quehanna Country Agricultural
Land Preservation Board was es
tablished by the County Commis
sioners in 1989 to help preserve
farmland in Susquehanna Coun
ty by administering a program to
purchase agricultural conserva
tion easements from landowners
in the county.
Agricultural Conservation
Easement defined; A legal agree
ment the property owner makes
that restricts the land to agricul
tural production in perpetuity
while retaining private owner
ship. As the private ownership
changes, the restrictions remain
with the land.
To date 18 farms containing a
total of 4264 acres have been pre
served in Susquehanna County.
The Susquehanna County Board
is currently working with two ad
ditional farms consisting of over
200 acres to become part of the
county program by the end of
this year.
The Susquehanna County pro
gram is part of the Pennsylvania
Farmland Preservation Program.
With over 263,325 acres consis
ting of 2,245 farms, the Pennsyl
vania State Farmland Preserva
tion Program is first in the nation
in number of acres preserved and
is continuing to preserve farm
land at a faster rate than any
other state.
Local funding comes from an
annual allocation by the Susque
hanna County Commissioners.
These county funds are matched
by the State program, which also
awards grant money to counties.
To be eligible, farms must be
located in an agricultural security
area; contain at least 50% of soils
in class I through IV, land must
be contiguous acreage of at least
50 acres in size unless the tract is
at least 10 acres in size and is ei
ther utilized for a crop unique to
the area or is contiguous to a
property that has a perpetual ag
ricultural conservation easement
in place, the land must contain
the greater of 50% or 10 acres of
harvested cropland, pasture or
grazing land.
Susquehanna County program
applications will be accepted be
tween November 1, 2003 and
January 15, 2004. Each applica
tion is ranked against all other el
igible applicants. A
farm’s rank is based on
the quality of farmland,
stewardship, and the
likelihood of the conver
sion of the farm to non
agricultural uses.
For an application
and/or more informa
tion, contact Evie Goff
at the Susquehanna Co.
extension office in Mon
trose (717) 278-1158 or
one of the Susquehanna
County Board members.
The Susquehanna Coun
ty Board members are:
Dewey Lyon, Byron
Hunsinger, Clarence
Smith, Eleanor Kurosky,
John Benscoter, Brian
Gesford and Jim Wolf.