Newburg-based heifer replacement facility was site of legislative tour
Nobody understands the trials and tribulations of a farmer, except for maybe another
farmer. With that in mind, Allen Rice along with his wife Lori and children, third and
fourth-generation farmers, have decided to launch what they call an “agriculture first
movement.”
Rice, a member of the Franklin County Farm Bureau Board of Directors, shared that
sentiment along with his background and success story with visitors recently at Dream
Farms during a legislative tour organized by the Farm Bureau.
The Rice family’s dairy heifer replacement facility in Newburg boasts over 7,000 head
of livestock as part of a contract process for dairy farms spread across the
commonwealth and into neighboring New York. On a weekly basis, daughter Emily Rice
noted, 100 calves enter the farm for a thorough vetting process that includes
vaccinations, dehorning, preventative care and identification, which gets entered into a
database.
That strict record keeping within database allows the calf’s home farm to monitor its
care and progress and also provides them the opportunity to ask questions as they
follow the calf’s movement onto group pens and eventually into the breeding process.
Each heifer remains on site for up to two years.
“Our customers have to succeed for us to succeed,” Allen Rice told the crowd of 30,
which included Sen. Doug Mastriano, Rep. Chad Reichard, Rep. Rob Kauffman, Rep.
Rich Irvin, Aidan Shandley for U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, Elizabeth Farley for U.S.
Cong. John Joyce, Don Palesky with the Mercersburg Borough Council, Lurgan
Township supervisors, Farm Bureau members and others.
Fortunate to have children who want to remain an integral part of the farm, the Rice
family has also been lucky to source a reliable set of on the farm help that range in age
from 14 to 72. Most of what the crew does now was self taught and learned from being
hands on at the operation.
Future plans could possibility include an on-farm digester for manure, said Rice, who
went on to talk about food processing residuals (FPRs) that were recently addressed in
the fiscal code as part of the recently passed state budget. Other high-priority topics
discussed during the farm tour included the Transource high-voltage power line project
that dates back a decade in Franklin County.
Rice touched on why the project is not only invasive but destructive to agriculture citing
the cost and time to engage, stray voltage, dangers of working under or near the lines,
limited ability to expand infrastructure and GPS equipment that is unable to function
properly when working in close proximity to the lines.
“…If our elected officials don’t educate themselves, then the future of Franklin County
farming is in big trouble,” Rice elaborated. “…I am promoting an agriculture first
movement, not as a second thought. Enough is enough. Farmers are too nice of people,
and we let ourselves get taken advantage of way too often.”
Other legislative priorities for Farm Bureau at this time include eminent domain
compensation and support for Senate Bill 225; supporting school infrastructure that
helps connect school age children with Pennsylvania-produced milk through Senate Bill
1362; year-round sale of E15; and Securing Agriculture’s Workforce Act of 2026.
