April 09 Register The Lady Knows Cows

The Lady
Knows Cows
A Pennsylvania Simmental breeder, through persistent self-education, has
gained a high level of understanding of what drives the beef industry.
By Dan Rieder
L
aurie Fantom of Powell’s Valley Simmentals was raised on a
small rural acreage near the town of Halifax, 15 miles north of
Harrisburg, the Pennsylvania state capital. “We had some
land, but we didn’t farm it. My parents had no cattle, but we did have
ponies,” she said. “I always had a deep feeling for the rural setting
and my best friends were all farm kids. I really fell in love with farming through going to my friends’ homes and helping them bale hay,
feed turkeys and assisting with other farm work.”
After high school she “tried a little bit of everything. I worked on
various farms in this area and when I was 20, I moved to Big Piney,
Wyoming, where I worked for almost a year for Miller Land and Livestock, a commercial cattle ranch that ran a large herd of Hereford and
black baldy cows. Then, I drove a tractor-trailer for about 18 months,”
she commented.
“After that experience, I was certain that I wanted to somehow
work my way into the cattle business, even though I didn’t really
know much about what it might take,” she recalled.
Her infatuation with beef cattle began in 1997, breeding Holstein
heifers and selling them before they calved. Shortly thereafter, she
purchased a couple of registered Limousin heifers, followed that up
with acquisitions of Hereford and Angus heifers and even contemplated buying some Shorthorns.
Not satisfied with any of the breeds she had tried, she purchased
her first Simmental in 2001. “A neighbor up the road had a herd of
traditional Simmentals and they always looked so good out there in
the pasture—they seemed like substantial, well-muscled cattle,” she
says. “So I bought a traditional-colored, bred Simmental cow from
Messick Farms of Middletown. She delivered twin heifers and weaned
them off at 650 pounds each with very little creep feed. That experience hooked me on Simmental.”
10
April 2009
“When I established my Simmental cattle
and joined the Association, I signed up for all
the sale catalogs and just memorized them.
I’d read every word in the Register and began
to listen to anything people would tell me.
I tried to absorb as much information as I
could— and found the Register and SimTalk
together provided a very good understanding
of the purebred and commercial ends of the
business,” she said. “Now, when I meet new
people who may be interested in getting into
Simmental, I always try to lend them my
copies so they can see what is going on in the
breed. One other thing — I have always registered and transferred every animal I sell
whether the people ask for the papers or not.”
The following year, she purchased two red
Simmental cows from the Blockbuster Sale in
New Oxford, and followed that up by acquiring a few black cows from Mohler Simmentals
in Rockbridge Bath, Virginia. “My herd has
just grown from there —buying a cow here,
another there, keeping back some of our own
replacement heifers. We calved 35 cows in
2008, mostly black, but with a sprinkling of
solid reds,” she says.
Laurie, who was widowed in 2005, was
recently remarried to Danny Fantom, who
grew up on a dairy operation. “We met at
an artificial insemination school. Danny has
extensive knowledge about cattle health,
vaccination programs and is very proficient
at AI,” she reported. “He drives regionally
for a trucking company, mostly into New
England and New York and I have a parttime, night position with United Parcel
Service, working five-hour shifts on the loading dock. It’s a job that permits me to spend
time with our cattle.”
Her younger sister, Annie Duncan, is also
deeply involved with the cattle. “She lives
about 15 miles from here, and we couldn’t
get along without her. She’s not a cow person, but helps me with everything at the
shows we go to,” Fantom said. “She’s an
outstanding professional photographer and is
very good with the computer. She takes our
cattle pictures, and was responsible for setting up a website www.pvsimm.com for us.”
Farm Management
Powell’s Valley Simmental draws its name
from its picturesque location nestled in the
Appalachian Mountains, less than a mile
from the Susquehanna River.
“We run our cattle on about 100 acres,
and rely heavily on a good stand of orchard
grass for hay as well as pasture,” she explained. “We utilize moveable
electric fence for purposes of rotating our grazing. We require that our
cows stay in good condition on orchard grass alone. We don’t supplement our mature cows, but we do creep-feed our calves, and yearling
heifers are fed up until they’re bred.”
The Fantoms bale their hay at 40% to 60% moisture. “We lease the
baler and wrapping equipment to help keep expenses down and do
all the work ourselves. We’ll get about 350 four-by-four-foot round
bales and keep it all for feed to get us through the winter,” she said.
Breeding is strictly by AI. “Both of us can inseminate and we base
it all on natural heat — no timed synchronization. We get most of
our females settled on the first heat,” she added.
Selection is based on several factors. “My cows have excellent dispositions— if they don’t, they’re gone. I look for easy-keeping cattle
that are moderate framed, well-muscled with great volume and capacity. Udders are very important because if she can’t nurse her calf over
her lifetime, there is no sense keeping her around,” she says with
obvious conviction.
They utilize the show ring effectively for promotion and pleasure.
“We’re pretty busy, but we do show at the Pennsylvania Farm Show
and Keystone International Exposition, both of which are held in Harrisburg. That helps get our name out there in front of potential
buyers, plus we enjoy the experience very much,” she related.
“We sell quite a few heifers to kids in this area and go to a few junior
shows to support them. We also sell a handful of bulls each year— five
last year, and it looks as if we’ll sell at least that many this year. The
Farm Show is a great venue for selling bulls —we take them down there
and put them on display. The traffic is very heavy and many commercial
(Continued on page 14)
Laurie and Danny Fantom with
one of their new arrivals.
April 2009
11
The Lady Knows Cows
(Continued from page 11)
breeders show up just to buy bulls.
Bill Shoemaker (Mann’s Choice, PA)
is famous for being able to sell bulls
at the Farm Show,” she said.
A member of the Pennsylvania
Simmental Association (PSA), she
serves on the organization’s Board
of Directors. “We joined as soon as I
bought my first Simmental and it
has been a good experience. Sadly,
we lost two strong PSA members
and good friends within the last year
in Nat Shoemaker and Bob McQuiston,” she added.
“We’ve been expanding our herd,
but may be near our limit for now.
We presently have 15 replacement
heifers and have been culling our
cowherd pretty hard,” she says.
“I’ve been very pleased with our
relationship with the American
Simmental Association. The staff is
always pleasant and very helpful
whenever I have a problem or a
question,” she concluded. “We
14
April 2009
Laurie’s sister, Annie Duncan (right) assists with the show cattle.
register all of our cattle and the THE program just continues to get
better. In the past few years, the overall perception of Simmental has
greatly improved. Pennsylvania’s commercial cattlemen are beginning to realize that Simmental are an outstanding choice.” ◆