The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, September 25, 1969, Image 9
The Newberry Sun, Newberry, S. C., Thursday, Sept. 25, 1969—PAGE 5
Automation is the key to keeping down man*
power requirements in the Greenslade poul
try operation. Dave works the panel of
switches which controls automatic feeding,
watering, and egg collection.
All members of the family help out in the
poultry operations, with this young daughter
doing a man-sized job in picking up eggs.
Mr. and Mrs. Dave Greenslade, operators of a
modern laying hen operation here, check one
of their producers. The young couple teams
up to take care of the 35,000 flock.
Greenslades operate modern poultry farm
When young Dave Greenslade
and his wife talk about a family
poultry operation, they mean it.
In any given day, they will
pack 25,000 to 30,000 eggs and
tend to the 35,000 flock of hens
without the aid of outside la
bor.
A five-year-old daughter and
8-year-old-son do their share.
The five-year-old has been at
it since she was three and “she
can pick up more eggs in an
hour than most men,” says her
father.
It’s an unusual operation in
many respects.
Dave is a native of Bermuda
who came to Presbyterian Coll-
Jabs article
is published
An article exploring reason
and the religious faith of college
students by A. E. Jabs, dean
of students at Newberry College,
appears in the current issue of
the “South Carolina United
Methodist Advocate”.
“There is a proper and nec
essary role of each in the Lib
eral Arts institution of today,”
Jabs declares. “This dialogue
of reason and faith should per
meate all of the disciplines. Let
him see that the best dialogue
of faith and reason takes place
when student and professor both
approach reason and faith with
an honest commitment and a
sense of discovery.
“In this way,” he concludes,
“student, professor, educational
institution, and society itself
can grow and flourisl in the
way they should.”
Jabs joined the Newberry
College staff in 1968 as an
assi ant professor of history
am director of student teach-
he assumed his present
osition September 1. Prior to
coming to Newberry, he was
on the faculty at the Univer
sity of Akron, Akron, Ohio.
ege on a tennis scholarship and
after graduation spent three
years as an industrial engineer.
His wife is the former Mary-
beth Regnery of Newberry and
attended Converse College.
They started their operation
three years ago. “I wanted to
get outside, get into some kind
of business,” Dave says. “This
appealed to us. And I spent
a lot of time studying the field,
visiting other poultry farms,
trying to get the total picture
before we got into it.”
Influencing the decision was
a 300-plus acre farm they al
ready occupied with a modern
lake-side home.
They started with 17,000 lay
ers in five houses.
Now, the original operation
has been nearly doubled to the
35,000 layers in 10 houses. All
are narrow, cage-type, five of
them 280 feet long and the new
est five running 300 feet - -the
length of a football field. The
White Leghorn hens are housed
two to a cage, eight by 18
inches each.
It’s a contract business. The
Greenslades supply housing, eq
uipment, and labor. A commer
cial firm puts in chicks, fur
nishes feod, and handles the
egg marketing.
Along the expansion route
there have been some changes
as the former engineer and his
wife worked to make the oper
ation as mechanized and auto
mated as possible.
Feeding and watering are now
completely automated. A flick
of switches does it.
Eggs roll down to a conveyor
belt where a flick of another
switch brings them to a central
pick-up point in each housing
complex.
Only manure disposal is man
ual, and it’s the one function
requiring outside labor.
“We saved at least four hours
a day by mechanizing egg col
lection and feeding,” Dave es
timates.
The young couple find them
selves in the houses every morn
ing about 8:30, usually with
their two youngest children,
five-year-old Shelly and 10-month
old Stephanie. Dave, Jr., 8, is
in school but helps out in after
noons.
They take a dinner break a-
round noon and come back a-
bout 1:30 to stay until 4:30 or
five. This is seven days a week,
unless special preparations are
made for a time when they
want to be off.
Three egg pickups a day
take a total of about four
hours.
The rest of the time is re
quired for general housekeep
ing and flock maintenance.
“It’s the things you don’t see
around a poultry operation that
take the time,” says Dave. A
big chore is culling-checking to
see which hens are laying and
which aren’t-and pulling out
the non-layers.
Cleaning water and feed
troughs and maintenance of
equipment also are time-con
suming.
Here, Mrs. Greenslade gets
a word of praise. The couple
worked together all the way to
get the operation off the ground
and going. They also install
ed all the equipment.
“She does everything I do,
sometimes more,” says Green
slade. “She does the work of
two men, packing .eggs, cull
ing birds, even handling ad
justments on the machinery or
anything else about the place.”
In addition, she does the home
making with only part-time
cleaning help.
It all adds up to a lot of
work, but so far they’re satis
fied with the row they’ve picked
to hoe.
“We’re still young at it, and
learning,” says Dave, “but we
looked into it carefully before
taking the plunge. So far it’s
been just about what we ex
pected.”
You’ll have a hard time finding a wagon as easy to get into as a 1970 Chevrolet.
Try it sometime.
Climb into any other wagon, then climb into
one of ours.
Chevrolet wins in a walk:
With a dual-action door that swings open
without any jutting hinges.
With a rubbered stair built right into
the bumper.
With a roof that slants thoughtfully forward so .
you won’t hit your head.
Look into a walk-in at your Chevrolet dealer's.
Putting you first, keeps us first. Ofl TTl6 MOVG.