, Vol. 49 No. 5
Sheep Milk Cheese Anyone?
Wajswol tends his young East Friesian dairy ewes. After lambing next
their milk will be used exclusively in Wajswol’s specialty cheesemaking
'iin. See story on page A 32. Photo by Dave Lefever
'Awards Banquet Honors Jennings For Environmental Excellence
' V BROWNLEE
a Correspondent
IAWFORD, Va. On
Nov. 13, Thomas Jef
ings of Luray, Page
eceived the Environ
:ellence Award for Vir-
pas Jeffrey Jennings, left, of Luray was named
I of the Environmental Excellence Award for Virgin-
In Gangwer, environmental affairs director for Pil
f ride, made the presentation.
|by Gay Brownlee, Virginia correspondent . ~.
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SERIALS RECORDS
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UNIVERSITY PARI Ri> it. 802 1808
www.lancasterfarming.com
ginia at the fourth annual Envi
ronmental Awards Banquet
hosted by the Pilgrims Pride or
ganization.
In garnering the top honor,
Jennings also received a compa
ny sign and a cash award. John
Four Sections
Gangwer, director of environ
mental affairs, made the presen
tation for Pilgrims Pride.
Gangwer mentioned how trib
utary strategy is everyones busi
ness because Virginia joins other
states that are in the Chesapeake
Bay watershed.
He discussed animal feed oper
ations (AFO) and explained for
chicken and turkey growers what
identifies a concentrated animal
feed operation (CAFO).
“Changes are coming quickly,”
he said. “The more involved you
are, the more you know, the bet
ter off you are.”
On the Jennings’ farm, the
South Fork of the Shenandoah
River is the waterway that passes
the 500-acre spread of cropland,
pastureland, and timberland.
Jennings said he has fenced the
stream banks there, so his beef
cattle cannot get to the river.
The 120 head of beef animals
that comprise his cow and calf
stocker operation have access to
water that is piped to a trough
from a well. Jennings said the
cattle are on a rotational grazing
system.
He is making headway toward
his goal to clean up the farms six
ponds. The one thats already
done had fencing installed, as
well as a culvert. It controls the
water level and functions in a
way that benefits a wildlife area
on the property.
These things take time, but
Jennings is ready to begin fenc
ing the next pond. He also plans
Saturday, November 29, 2003
House Rejects Bill That
Could Have Jeopardized
Farmland Preservation
CHARLENE M. SHUPP
ESPENSHADE
Lancaster Farming Staff
NORTH WARREN (Warren
Co.) House Bill 66 was defeat
ed Tuesday afternoon in the
House of Representatives with a
vote 150 to 50.
This decisive vote closes a
chapter on a bill that has the po
tential to set precedent with
farmland preservation on state
owned farmland.
The bill introduced by State
Trout Deal Bad For Pa, Growers
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
Pennsylvania trout growers say
that the bidding terms for con
tracts to supply trout in the state
helped give competitive advan
tage to an out-of state fishery.
The commonwealth recently
awarded a North Carolina trout
farm a contr&ct to stock 650,000
rainbow trout in 96 Pennsylvania
lakes during the next five years,
according to Frank Kane, spokes
man for the Pennsylvania De
partment of General Services
(DGS), the agency that handled
flow of water into a trough by
gravity.
Jennings keeps 14,000 chick
ens in a 624-foot-long double
broiler and breeder hen house.
The egg and gathering room in
the center is flanked on either
side by a unit of 7,000 birds. Jen
nings said the 4-year-old facility
is serving its intended function
very well,
“I’ve been very pleased with
the way it works,” he said.
The chickens are not caged.
Instead, they are free to roam be
fore moving to the nest at egg
laying time. The eggs are auto
matically conveyed to the gather
ing room. There, an employee
takes charge of their care.
Another piece of equipment
Jennings invested in following
the 2002 avian influenza (A. 1.)
outbreak was an incinerator.
Inside
The Farmer
✓ Lancaster Cham
ber Ag Banquet page
page A 22.
✓ Holiday Glitz
Ideas page 82.
✓ More State Dairy-
One DHIA Reports
page 825.
✓ Peanut Butter
Heritage page 817.
....
$37.00 Per Year
DAVE LEFEVER
Lancaster Farming Staff
$l.OO Per Copy
Rep. Jim Lynch (R-Warren
County) was set to remove the
agriculture use restriction on 22.7
acres of land outside of North
Warren, clearing the way for the
commercial development of the
land.
The projected plan for the
farmland was for the construc
tion of a Wal-Mart.
Agriculture organizations who
lobbied hard for the defeat of the
(Turn to Page A 26)
the contracting process for the
Pennsylvania Fish and Boat
Commission (PFBC).
Tellico Enterprises, Inc. of
Franklin, N.C. won a contract to
supply all of the fish 130,000
annually through February of
2009 for a bid of $141,541.
According to Pennsylvania
trout growers at a recent Pennsyl
vania Aquaculture Association
meeting, Tellico’s advantage was
partly because fish disease testing
in North Carolina is performed
free of charge.
(Turn to Page A 25)
“Thats been a great help,” he
said. “I love it. My experience
with composting was not good.”
Jennings is the ninth
generation of his family to live on
the land. He and his wife, Winn,
have three sons Joe, 16,
Phillip, 13 and John, 10 who
comprise the 10th generation.
On 80-100 acres, Jennings
sows com. He puts hay on 50
acres, soybeans on 30, alfalfa on
16, and barley on 15 acres.
“Were not cropping on highly
erodable land,” he said.
Five farms were Environ
mental Stewardship winners.
They were Cathy Alger, Luray;
S&F, LLC operated by Bud
Shaver of Weyers Cave; Ray J.
(Turn to Page A 24)
Office Closed