Spring Mills man honored at Farm Show

SPRING MILLS — On Jan. 10, Abraham Allebach, of Spring Mills, was inducted into the Pennsylvania Farm Show Draft Horse Hall of Fame during the 100th annual Farm Show in Harrisburg. Allebach and his family own and operate Windermere Farms, located at 3971 Brush Valley Road in Gregg Township, where they breed, raise and train world champion-class Percheron draft horses.

The Allebachs’ horses have won several world championships, and five years ago Windermere Farms had produced three world champions in a row — a feat never before accomplished by any other farm.

Allebach purchased the 400-acre farm in 1962. He has the original deed from when the farmland was actually land granted from William Penn. He and his wife, Mary, raised standard bred horses and dairy cattle for several years, then decided to raise draft horses. Their son, Gerald, who was 7 years old at the time, wanted Percherons, so that is the breed they chose.

Gerald, his wife, Melissa, and their son, also named Abraham, operate the farm now, and were very pleased at the award presented to Gerald’s father. “My dad has been an exhibitor at the Farm Show since 1976. He has always been progressive in the betterment of the Percheron breed and shared his knowledge with new breeders and all the exhibitors. It was a real honor for him to receive this award.”

The Allebach family has been busy in equine competitions at this year’s Farm Show. They brought Addie, their 2-year-old mare, to compete for her first time in the two-wheel cart class. Addie was sired by Moose, Windermere Farms’ world champion stallion. Another of Moose’s offspring, Bentley, who was the Junior World Champion Stallion at the World Percheron Congress in Springfield, Mass., last year, also competed at the Farm Show.

Allebachs’ Percheron horses were enlisted to pull a carriage hauling Farm Show dignitaries in the show’s opening ceremony, and the family also sponsored the feed scurry equine competition event at the show.