![Paul and Shirley Hoover](/now/is/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2011/06/paul-and-shirley-hoover-300x200.jpg")
Paul 鈥�79 and Shirley 鈥�80 Hoover milk about 70 Jersey cows at their farm in Greencastle, Pennsylvania. They let their cows go dry each winter to give themselves a break, and feed them almost entirely with grass 鈥� unusual approaches they鈥檝e adopted to minimize cost and stress.
The fact that Paul 鈥�79 and Shirley 鈥�80 Hoover had no background or experience in the dairy industry did little to stop them from entering the business in 1991. Neither did the fact that they had five children at home.
And after two years in partnership with another couple, they struck out on their own, founding Willow Bank Jerseys with 30 cows and a bit of beat-up equipment on a rented farm beside I-81 near Greencastle, Pennsylvania.
The Hoovers鈥� inexperience led to plenty of rookie mistakes at Willow Bank. The time the cows鈥� teat dip got accidentally switched with an acid solution was an early lesson, generating some ugly veterinarian鈥檚 bills.
鈥淭he school of hard knocks is no joke,鈥� says Paul, able to chuckle now over the early follies. But at the same time, the Hoovers鈥� inexperience blessed them with an enormous asset 鈥� open minds.
鈥淵ou learn to think. You don鈥檛 just do something because that鈥檚 the way Grandpa did it,鈥� says Shirley. 鈥淵ou be flexible. You change course in the middle when it makes sense.鈥�
Change course they did in 1997, after they鈥檇 paid off their start-up loan and gotten their farm legs under them. Then, after consultation with friends and mentors, the Hoovers decided on an unusual, seasonal approach to milking, allowing their entire herd to go dry for about seven weeks each winter.
A major advantage of seasonal management is simple economics. Utility costs, for example, are far lower when the Hoovers aren鈥檛 milking. The dairy herd鈥檚 synchronized lactation cycle allows the couple to minimize expenses by buying supplies in bulk quantities, drastically simplifying farm management.
At least as important, though, the dry weeks give Paul a much-needed annual break from the daily farm grind (Shirley works part-time off the farm at a hospital in Hagerstown, Maryland.) Almost every year, he鈥檚 gone on service trips with Mennonite Disaster Service and other groups during the farm鈥檚 idle period, and each time, he returns refreshed and eager to start up again.
While Paul is 鈥渘ot a die-hard鈥� on by-the-book organic agriculture, his 70-some Jersey cows are almost exclusively fed on grass 鈥� an approach that made economic sense for the farm, and one that happens to carry a variety of environmentally friendly side-effects. By grazing the pastures, the cows harvest and fertilize their own inexpensive and healthy food, also allowing Paul to spend far less time on the tractor and far less money hauling feed in and hauling manure back out of the barn than his conventional dairy neighbors.
The Hoovers have been members of the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture ever since they began farming, in part due to the group鈥檚 willingness 鈥渢o think outside the box,鈥� says Paul.
Change on the farm is afoot again; the spring of 2011 will be the last milking season at Willow Bank Jerseys. An intermodal rail terminal is going up a few fields away, and the Hoovers鈥� rented pastures will grow warehouses soon. Besides, Paul and Shirley鈥檚 mission all along had been to raise their children on the farm, and with their youngest graduating from college this spring, that goal has been met. They鈥檒l be moving to Harrisonburg, Virginia, where Shirley鈥檚 sister, Sharon Miller, 黑料正能量 assistant professor of music, lives. Shirley is looking for a hospital job, and Paul is open to ideas, as they embark on a new season of their own lives.
