History		The Future
The Current Operation		Family Pages
The Partnership

The farm is a 5th generation farm located in northern Lancaster county. The farm was purchased in 1875 by John R. Hershey, great-great-grandfather of the current partners. While waiting for his sons to be old enough to work the farm, he rented it out. Children playing with matches started the barn on fire, and burned it to the ground. The barn was re-built, and the farm taken over by John’s son Jacob in 1888.

Jacob developed a business selling cattle, horses and mules from the farm. One of his sons eventually developed the business into a partnership in New Holland Sales stables in nearby New Holland.

Jacob’s son Milt took over the farm, and developed a dairy herd, from which a large number of the current herd trace their bloodlines. Milt was always a progressive farmer, being one of the first in the area to have electricity, tractors, registered cattle, and DHIA testing. When he heard that we had started milking 3X, he was interested, saying that he had milked some cows 3X by hand, getting as much as 70 lb. a day.

Milt’s son Bruce took over the farm, expanding to 50 tie stalls in 1965. In January of 1980, Dale came home from where he had been working with Penn State Extension in western Pennsylvania, and with Steve took over the day-to-day operations of the farm. By the end of the 80’s, it became evident that 50 cows could no longer support 2 families, and plans were made to expand. At this time, Clair, who was working in South America, was also looking at the possibility of change, and came home to join the partnership.
 

The expansion was finalized in 1992, when plans were made for a new free-stall barn and milking center. We are currently milking 200 cows in a 150 stall barn with a double-8 herringbone milking center. Much of the design was made as a result of a lot of traveling and research of other new facilities, as well as a lot of help from Dan McFarland, Ag Engineer from Penn State.

The free-stall barn is a four row barn, with the stalls facing each other. There are two 60 stall sections, a 30 stall section, and a box stall special needs area. The barn is a center drive through, with Norbco head locks. The stalls have mattress covers over shredded rubber. They are bedded once a week with shavings. The milking sections are split into 1) a heifer/fresh cow group. 2) High group. 3) Low group.

The milking parlor is a Surge herringbone double 8. We have Omni detachers, but do not have rapid exit, or meters, although both have been discussed. The decision was made to focus money on facilities, and not on movable equipment. The herd currently is at 210, milked 3 times a day, with a RHA of around 24,000 m., 875 f., 740 p.

The forages are provided on the 500 acres cropped in corn, alfalfa and soybeans. Much of the harvesting is done by custom operators. Most of the crop storage is done in above ground bunkers, with three bunks for haylage and corn silage, and high moisture corn stored in Ag-Bags.

Dale is the senior partner, in charge of nutrition and young stock. Dale has his Bachelors Degree in Rural Sociology from Penn State, returning to the farm in 1980 to form a partnership with Steve. His duties include nutrition, bunk management, and management of the young stock and facilities on the three other farms included in the operation. Young stock care includes about 50 heifers custom raised for several other dairymen. Nutrition work is done in partnership with Glen Flickenger of 21st Century Consulting. Dale and his wife Dot live in ½ of the nearly 200 year old farm house.

Clair joined the partnership in 1992, from his position in South America. He has a PHD in plant genetics from Cornell University. Clair is in charge of crop management and finances, providing both management as well as a large percent of the labor needed for the partnership’s 400 acres. Winters are spent in building and equipment maintenance, as well as the occasional genetic consulting job with CIAT in Columbia. Finances are done on the Horizon accounting package.

Steve is the general herd manager, taking charge of genetics, milking, and herd health. Steve’s duties include milking employee management, equipment maintenance, sire selection and mating, herd health and post-fresh cow monitoring, and herd record keeping. His wife Brenda is in charge of baby calves. Steve is the President of Lancaster DHIA, and also does program support for the PCDART herd management program. He is also the chairman of the advisory board at DRMS. (The Raleigh processing center.)

We do not have any goals of being the largest farm in the county. We do wish to leave behind an efficient and profitable farm, hopefully for the sixth generation. The current focus has been on management, attempting to lower cull rates and raise production and efficiency on the farm. We have given some though to some minor expansion, but at this point we see enough places to improve management in the current operation to keep us busy for a while.
 
 

Dale's Family Site

Clair's Family Site

Steve's Family Site