The Rural Voice, 1990-04, Page 40FROM THE
BOTTOM UP
IT HAS TAKEN MANY YEARS
for Percy Moyer, and his father before
him, to build the Moyer dairy farm up
to the successful operation it is today,
but patience and hard work have paid
off. Percy Moyer has learned from his
Patience and care over many years
have helped the Moyer family to build
a solid dairy operation on a farm once
dubbed "the frog pond."
of three phases of tile drainage was
completed.
Tile drainage was spaced out over
a number of years as Moyer could
afford it. The same approach was
made to other major projects on the
"If you haven't got the money to
pay for it, don't buy it. Some people
buy something because it's cheap. It
doesn't matter how cheap it is. If they
don't need it, it's expensive."
The Moyers began selling milk in
mistakes and, with a few minor
adjustments underway, he is ready to
meet the new decade with optimism.
When John Moyer, Percy's father,
bought the 100 -acre Normanby
Township (Grey County) farm in
1943, it was locally dubbed "the frog
pond." Open ditches provided drain-
age for the low, clay -bottom land.
Today, the entire farm is tile drained,
but Moyer recalls when "you could
chase cattle into one of the fields and
the cattle would disappear, it was so
grown up in willows."
His father set to work pulling the
willows and got the field into produc-
tion. Fence bottoms were also taken
out, and when municipal road drains
were installed 20 years ago the first
farm. "Every fanner has to have a
certain amount of patience. You can't
go and do everything at once to make
everything Al. Before the tile drain-
age, we had to be patient. We planted
crops a little later when we could get
on the land, but we still got good
crops," Moyer says.
He attributes much of the success
of his operation to the fact that he
keeps a close eye on his financial
situation. He keeps his spending to a
minimum and a project must justify
itself before any money is put on the
line. There also has to be money in
the bank before Moyer will go ahead
with the project. "I don't do any
unnecessary spending on anything,"
he says.
story and photos by
Mary Lou Weiser -Hamilton
1974 and installed a pipeline in
1975. A 16 by 60 -foot tower silo
followed in 1978, and Moyer
purchased the farm "lock, stock,
and barrel" when his father retired
to Hanover in 1982.
In 1983, more tile drainage
was put in, and a third phase in
1987 completed the system.
Moyer built a 50 by 80 -foot
implement shed in 1986, and two
steel granaries with hopper bot-
toms along with a feed bin and
roller mill were erected in 1988.
There was another major
project in 1989, but of a different
nature, when in August Kathy
Moyer gave birth to twin boys,
Brendon and Kyle. The twins
have brought double joy to the Moyer
household, especially when two pairs
of eyes and double smiles greet Percy
as he comes in from chores.
In the barn, Moyer is gradually
building up his 30 -cow dairy herd.
Ten of the cows are registered and the
remainder are enrolled in the National
Identification Program. Moyer says
he has had marginal success with the
program (it stipulates that the female
offspring of a fourth-generation dam
of a grade cow, bred to registered
bulls, may be registered if the dam
meets the requirements of a good -plus
classification and has a composite
BCA of 160 or 20 points above the
herd average. If she does not qualify,
her offspring are eligible).
36 THE RURAL VOICE