GEORGE & JANET SAVKO, SUGAR-LOTT FARM
by Mark Lawson, Future of Ag Task Force and Warren County Farm Bureau

LOTTSVILLE — George Savko thought his pregnant 6-year-old cow — known only as No. 154 — might be carrying twins.

“I told my sister that I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Savko, who helps run the family’s 300-acre dairy farm on Route 957, just east of Lottsville. “She was carrying pretty low.”

Savko and his sister, Janet, a longtime first-grade teacher in the Youngsville School District who also works the farm, and their mother, Florence, were in for a bigger surprise.

The 1,150-pound Holstein delivered not one, not two, but three seemingly healthy calves early Tuesday morning.

To top it off, the newborns were all female calves, known as heifers, which makes the triple births even rarer still.

A young female calf from birth is called a heifer until she has had a calf of her own.

“You look at one and then there are three — yikes!” said Savko, whose family has owned the farm since the early 1950s. “They’re little cuties.”

The Savkos had never experienced triplet births at their farm, which now has about 100 head of cattle. Not many dairy farmers have, said George Wilcox, the Penn State Cooperative Extension’s dairy agent based at Penn State Behrend.

“I’ve been involved in this job for nearly four decades, and I can remember there being only one other set — in Erie County,” Wilcox said. “To have triplets is rare, to have them born alive is even rarer, and to have them born healthy is even more exciting.”

Savko estimates each calf weighs about 50 pounds, which is quite a bit smaller than the typical birth weight of about 90 pounds. Still, they appeared to be in good health, he said.

Wilcox, who has not seen the animals, said the Savkos were fortunate to have their cow deliver three heifers.

If a cow has multiple births — twins or triplets — that include a male calf known as a bull, the heifers would have been infertile, Wilcox said. That means the heifers would not have calves of their own and would not produce milk, he said.

“But three heifers can be raised, bred and become productive,” Wilcox said.

Savko knew No. 154 was nearing her 9-month term Monday evening.

“She wouldn’t come into the barn,” he said. “She wanted no part of it like she usually does.”

When Savko hopped on his four-wheeler to check his animals at about 5 a.m. Tuesday, he found the cow lying in a small pasture near his barn with a black calf. He scooped up the newborn heifer and took her to the barn.

When he returned, his intuition about twins had been confirmed. Another newborn heifer he hadn’t noticed before was nuzzling up to her mother.

The mother cow soon headed to the barn leaving the second calf behind. He took the other calf to the barn and then rode his four-wheeler to tend to other cows in the pasture.

In the barn, however, Janet Savko noticed something. “A foot was coming out,” George Savko said.

Janet Savko caught the third — and final — calf as it was born.

“Twins — that’s fantastic. But having a third heifer, that’s a shocker,” George Savko said. “She turned into a Xerox machine.”

Wilcox said it would take a little time for the mother cow to recuperate.

“That’s hard on a cow,” Wilcox said. “She’ll sacrifice a little milk production, but I expect the Savkos’ excitement to supersede losing a little milk production from the mother.”

The cow, who was bred by an 1,800-pound bull named Gus that recently was sold, deserves credit, Savko said.

“She’s a dandy,” he said.

Source: http://www.thecorryjournal.com/articles/2010/06/10/news/doc4c0fda3fdebd9439626002.txt

4-H Program Looks to Past to Help its Present Members
By LYDIA COTTRELL lcottrell@timesobserver.com Times Observer
POSTED: May 17, 2010. 

4-H members and leaders of the past have an opportunity to help the young members of the present.

The Warren County 4-H program has announced the development of the Warren County 4-H Alumni and Friends Association.

The concept of establishing an alumni association was cultivated by the Warren County 4-H Development Board as a means of financially supporting the current 4-H program, according to Jennifer Grooms, 4-H extension educator for Penn State Cooperative Extension.

"If this was a university, you would have an alumni association," she said.

The concept involves reaching out to past members and volunteers. By tapping those sources and asking for a membership donation, the current 4-H program is able to raise funds while gaining valuable information from the alumni's past experience.

"It would be great to do some of our leadership (seminars) with the past leaders," Grooms said.

As a framework for giving, the development board created four contribution levels: Green Clover, $20 to $50; White Clover, $51 to $100; Silver Clover, $101 to $250; and Gold Clover, $251 or more.

The goal for 2010 is to raise $10,000 through membership contributions.

"It will help with our after-school (program)," Grooms said of the funding.

She added, "We have numerous opportunities for the (4-H) children to travel outside of the county and this money can help offset those costs."

For example, local 4-H members travel to other counties for regional and state camps, seminars and activities.

"4-H is bigger than your county and the county fair," Grooms said.

The alumni association will also benefit its members.

"It gives them the opportunity to continue to be involved," she said. "People can have the opportunity get a foot in the door for the development of new clubs and to have new volunteers screened."

Grooms would also like to plan alumni social functions so former members can re-connect.

"I would like to do an alumni day at some point during the fair," she said. "We're definitely open to ideas to get the association going."

Membership is not limited to Warren County's past members and leaders. People who were involved in 4-H in another county or state are welcome to join.

"That's a way to bring outside experience in," Grooms explained.

Although the alumni association is in its beginning stages and the development board is just starting to get the word out, the association already has its first Silver Clover contributor. John and Lynn Allen of Sugar Grove recently made the second-highest level membership contribution. For their generosity, the Allens' names were etched on the Silver Clover plaque which will be displayed at the 4-H center. There is a plaque for the Gold Clover level as well.

According to Grooms, both John and Lynn were 4-H members as kids and both became leaders as adults. They passed their 4-H roots on to their children, who also participated in the program.

The mission of the 4-H program is to provide opportunities for youth to acquire knowledge, develop life skills and form attitudes and practice behavior that will enable them to be self-directing, productive and contributing members of society.

In Warren County, the 4-H was established in the late 1920s. Currently, over 20 clubs exist and there are hundreds of members countywide.

For information about the Warren County 4-H Alumni and Friends Association or to join, contact Grooms at 563-9388 or email WarrenExt@psu.edu.

Farmers in Pennsylvania may soon have to adhere to the same rules as commercial truck drivers when operating farm vehicles.

George Wilcox, director of the Warren County Penn State Cooperative Extension, said his first reaction to the rules was they could have been worse, and he thinks they're doable.

According to the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration determined PennDOT's exemptions of farm trucks were deficient and the state would lose federal funding if not corrected. New regulations go into effect March 31.

Todd Benedict, owner of Sunset Dairy in Bear Lake, said the requirements would not be good at all even though some of the original proposals had been lifted.

Farmers with trucks would have to keep daily inspection logs, Wilcox said, which would add to the record keeping.

Such record keeping would be onerous, Benedict said, citing the "ungodly" hours farmers already work.

All trucks weighing at least 17,000 pounds would be subject to most regulations, Wilcox said, which is not a very high limit. This may prove to be more cumbersome than the daily logs.

Vehicles weighing at least that much are on the road all of the time, Wilcox said, reaching that amount when hauling a cattle trailer with only three or four animals.

Currently, Wilcox said the state Farm Bureau and others are trying to lobby to get the limit raised to 26,000 or 27,000 pounds. The upcoming state budget may put such alterations on hold, however.

Other than that, Wilcox said farmers will have to comply with the regulations which also require annual medical examinations for drivers.

Throughout the county, Wilcox said a few people haul grain while four or five are in the cattle hauling business. Almost any of the bigger farms have 60 or 70 animals and transport them to fairs, farm shows and sale barns.

The Farm Bureau also listed a minimum age requirement of 18 years old to operate vehicles.

The age limits would not affect his business as much, Benedict said, as the equipment costs so much he already trusts it only with responsible drivers.

Exemptions do apply on the regulations, Wilcox said, including for trucks operating within a 100-mile radius. Trucks operating during the harvest season are also exempted as well as farm tractors.

Benedict said he has not yet taken steps to implement compliance and just plans to wing it.

PITTSFIELD, Pa. -- Ten years ago Mike and Reta Doty, who farm near here in Warren County, purchased their dream farm. It was a dilapidated farmstead with collapsing buildings and weed-encroached fields. They weren’t naive about the state of the farm; but where others saw despair, they saw hope. The Dotys thought they’d raise beef cows and Jersey bulls, but when a neighbor needed six cows milked by hand, the Dotys stepped in. Before too long, Mike Doty  was envisioning pastures filled with a healthy dairy herd and proper facilities to care for them.

This hard working and industrious couple began the laborious transformation of the farmstead, doing a vast majority of the work on their own, and primarily using the existing physical resources of the farm. “The only part of the milk house that isn’t made from re-used materials is the plywood on the wall,” explains Mike. “Similarly, the first-class milking parlor was purchased for $200 from a producer who wanted to see it used by a fellow family farmer.”

The Dotys were open to whatever resources were available to them, and decided early-on to work closely with the local conservation district in the improvement of their farmstead. Since 2002, improvements have included: clearing brush, creating tree windbreaks, and building fencing for intensive grazing; installing running water in a 1200-gallon in-ground holding tank in the pasture; a hard-packed surface holding area and laneway to decrease hoof problems; and two diversion ditches to keep water from pooling at the barn. Their efforts earned them the 2008 Conservation Farm of the Year Award.

For Mike, all the physical work involved in the farm’s transformation has come at a steep price. A few years ago, he took a pretty hard fall onto his back and backside. It hurt pretty badly at the time, but with no health insurance, he decided not to get it checked out. The effects of the fall continued to linger, and a few months later, while they were digging out their proposed milking parlor by hand, Mike found himself flat on his back in bed for more than three weeks. The diagnosis was a herniated disk and severe arthritis in the upper back, and surgery wasn’t a viable option.

Since then Mike has continued his efforts to transform the farmstead, working around his condition as much as possible and accepting the support of his family, neighbors and friends when it proves to be too much. However, when he noticed an advertisement about the AgrAbility program in Hoard’s Dairyman this past spring, his natural curiosity and willingness to explore resources led him to contact AgrAbility for Pennsylvanians’ Project Coordinator, Linda Fetzer.

“Mr. Doty has been a true pleasure to work with,” states Ms. Fetzer. “He is so hard working and resourceful, and we were glad to assist him in identifying ways to decrease the amount of stress on his back on a daily basis.”

Fetzer and David Troutman, AgrAbility case manager, completed an on-farm evaluation of Mike and his needs on the farm, and provided that information to the local Office for Vocational Rehabilitation, or OVR, at their request.

“Our OVR agent, Sara James, had never worked with farmers,” explains Mike. “However, she went out of her way to help us, and was willing to learn all she could about farming, and the challenges of farming with a bad back.”

With the financial support of OVR, the Dotys completed the work in the milking parlor, as well as, procured additional mirrors and ‘quick hitches’ for the tractor to reduce the need to get on and off as frequently.

“We are so grateful for all the assistance we received from OVR,” says Mike today. “It would have taken us another year or more to finish the parlor, and in the meantime it would have meant more hauling milkers and bending to milk in the tie-stall barn. Also, the hitches and the mirrors have really decreased the stress on my neck and back.”

The hitches and mirrors were installed on the Dotys’ ‘new’ International 1586 that they purchased from a neighbor with additional assistance from AgrAbility. In Pennsylvania, the AgrAbility partners include Penn State Cooperative Extension, Easter Seals Central Pa., and the Pennsylvania Assistive Technology Foundation, or PATF.

PATF is an under-used resource by producers who are farming with a disability or health condition. The organization provides low-interest loans for the purchase of assistive technology, or equipment that helps people cope with a disability.

The Dotys were able to receive a $5000 loan at 4% interest. The tractor was more powerful, and came with a more ergonomic seat, power steering and brakes, and hydraulic clutch – all of which made a world of difference in the level of discomfort Mike was experiencing on a day-to-day basis.

“We were so glad to be able to work with Mr. Doty,” says David Troutman, AgrAbility case manager and PATF employee. “He is exactly who we want to be helping more – hard working farmers who can really benefit from new or modified equipment that will make their lives easier and their pain less. Our organization exists to help anyone with a disability, and farmers and farm family members are just not taking advantage of the resources we can offer. I hope Mr. Doty’s story will help change that.”

AgrAbility for Pennsylvanians helps individuals who are coping with many different kinds of physical challenges, including arthritis, stroke, knee and back problems, amputations, vision and hearing disabilities, and many others. AgrAbility is a funded project by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry (PDLI) Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (OVR).

For more information about the project, or to find out how AgrAbility can help you or someone you know, call toll free in Pennsylvania: 800-416-6061. The project may also be found on the web at http://AgExtEd.cas.psu.edu/agrab/. PATF may be reached by calling 888-744-1938; their TTY number is 877-693-7271.

For more information about Farmshine, a weekly newspaper serving the farming community, visit their website  www.farmshine.net