When Scott Kiskaddon and his family were awarded Conservation Farmer of the Year in Franklin County, PA, Kiskaddon wasn’t sure he was worthy of the honor. But honor was due because he was willing to do what it took to reduce nutrient and sediment runoff.
S&J Farms is a beef and poultry operation that includes three farm properties with a total of 530 acres of crops and pasture. The Kiskaddons have 300 beef animals, including 180 cows, a varying number of calves on cows and a group on feed.
Kiskaddon spent 23 years operating his own custom harvest business. “I was getting tired of that and wanted to diversify,” he said. “I thought about poultry. I was looking for cash flow – my dad was getting ready to retire, and he could help out.” The first two layer buildings were erected in 2016, and a third barn was added in 2019.
The poultry barns house 92,000 cage-free layers. Barn design allows eggs to move to the front of each building and directly to the packinghouse. Eggs – and people – can travel among the buildings in a unique underground structure.
While the chicken barns are high on a hill and isolated for biosecurity, the rest of the property is typical south-central Pennsylvania terrain. Rolling and steep hills and a lot of slate ground dictate how Kiskaddon manages his acreage and his beef herd.
One of the farms Kiskaddon purchased was severely neglected, and as he phased out of custom harvesting, he made plans to improve the property. With grant money and guidance through the Franklin County Conservation District, Kiskaddon made major improvements in water usage and quality and manure management.
“The reason I got started in barnyard renovation is because I couldn’t afford to put a barnyard in,” said Kiskaddon. “That’s when we found there was money available, and I started working through the cost share program.”
Kiskaddon said he tends to overdo projects, and this one was no different. “In every one of our projects, I’ve incorporated ideas for changes I might make in the future,” he said. “That has helped tremendously.”
Designing the barnyard meant working around an existing free-stall barn. The barnyard goes all the way around the barn, and there’s also a new liquid manure pit. Everything that goes into the pit is gray water from runoff with little nutrient value. However, there’s ample poultry and beef manure for crops.
“We do a lot of double cropping, including 360 acres of wheat and barley,” said Kiskaddon. “The majority of forage for the brood cows is forage sorghum.”
Manure from the poultry barns and improved beef cattle housing provides valuable nutrients, which Kiskaddon applies according to a grid sampling system. Autumn and early spring moisture are ideal for small grains, with late beans planted after wheat harvest.
Scott Kiskaddon and his family, named the 2024 Franklin County Conservation Farmer of the Year, with PA Rep. Rich Irvin and FCCD Chair Evan Burkholder. Photo by Sally Colby
While the three farms have plenty of acreage, much of the land isn’t suitable for year-round grazing. Kiskaddon also needs to grow crops on a good portion of the land to provide sufficient feed and forage for beef cattle.
“I went with confinement for the cattle because I didn’t have a good area that would allow both cattle confinement when necessary as well as access to grazing,” he said. “There was no area big enough that I would be able to control because it’s so high in slate. Confinement takes management, but it’s what works best.”
Cows are bred in summer for early spring calves. “As soon as calves are up and doing well, we put them on pasture on another farm for as long as we can,” said Kiskaddon. “It helps the calves get started better. As soon as pastures are down, the cows and calves come back.”
Cattle are fed a mixture of forage sorghum and grass hay and do well on it. “I want to keep the brood cows healthy but I don’t want them to get fat,” said Kiskaddon. “We struggle to keep them from getting fat.”
Two of the farms are set up for limited rotational grazing. “We started years ago with barnyards on those farms,” said Kiskaddon. “They have stack pads for manure, and we get rid of gray water through fence line sprinklers. We collect water from all the spouting drains.”
By the end of July, most of Kiskaddon’s herd has returned to the confinement area. “Before we did this project, I couldn’t house any animals here,” he said. “I spent a long time on water design and making the area into paddocks and sorting area.”
One of Kiskaddon’s priorities was to easily sort and move animals. Gates in the barnyard provide a means to divide or combine pens. “We tried to figure out where we wanted waterers – how we wanted to section it off so everything would be easy to handle,” he said.
Barnyard management is critical for cattle health. Kiskaddon prefers to leave a thin layer of manure, which stays dry, to make a better surface for cattle hooves. If rain is predicted, he scrapes the manure to a stack pad, and if the area is sloppy following rain, it’s easy to scrape manure into a pit with a rubber tire.
“There’s always more we can do, something to change, but we’ve done a lot over the years,” said Kiskaddon.
by Sally Colby
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