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Cattle Operation Preserves Land

By PATRICK WALTERS
Associated Press Writer

ROYERSFORD, Pa. (AP) — More than a century ago, county-run farms could be found just about everywhere across Pennsylvania, providing meat, vegetables and grain for people in county facilities — including prisoners, the elderly and the poor.

But gradually, as farming became less profitable and food became more affordable through mass-production, those county-run farms began dying out one by one. Today, state agriculture officials say they believe Montgomery County's beef-cattle farm is perhaps the last still in operation.

The 170-acre farm used to provide food for the residents of the county's Geriatric and Rehabilitation Center. Now, with more than 400 residents, that's no longer feasible.

``There's no way in the world we could raise all the food for all of them up there now,'' said Dale Kriner, a county employee who manages the farm with the help of two others.

Residents at the home used to work at the farm to make money, but now there is almost no interaction between the residents and the farm across the street.

What the unique farm does now is generate income for the county through the sale of fattened-up cattle for beef, along with the sale of pigs and crops.

Although the county basically only breaks even — and sometimes loses money — officials said the farm serves to preserve the land and is a good educational center.

``I just don't ever see the land being converted to any other building use,'' said Michael Marino, chairman of the Montgomery County commissioners. ``It's beautiful open land — I don't think while we're here it will be disbanded.''

Farms like Montgomery County's were common across America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, said Doug Hurt, director of the graduate program in agricultural history and rural studies at Iowa State University. Many began to disappear in the 1920s and 1930s when the federal government began providing more money for social services, Hurt said, and few are left today.

Each year, Montgomery County pays approximately $50,000 — out of its $400 million annual budget — to buy cattle for the farm, which runs about 150 cattle at any given time. The cattle are sold some 15 months later, after being fattened up, and the county usually makes about $400 on each cow.

Kriner also raises pigs purchased by the county and sells them at auction. Each pig, after it's fattened up on the farm, can bring the county an average of $100, Kriner said.

The farm may soon return to one of its original uses.

Kriner said the farm is about to enter into a pilot program where it would again begin providing some — but definitely not all — of the food needed at the geriatric center.

Andrew Frankenfield, the county extension agent, said the farm is valuable for preserving the agricultural nature of the fast-developing county.

``It's getting so distant in this county,'' Frankenfield said of the farms that once dominated the landscape. ``I think they're the biggest farm in the county.''

That's probably the way it will stay for quite some time, according to county officials. The agriculture industry is hardly growing in the county, as a population influx brings more and more development.

And the people of the county don't appear to want the farm to go.

Marino said county officials several years ago discussed closing the old farm operation, but the public outcry was so great the idea was scrapped.

``I don't think the public would allow us to close it,'' he said.