Importance of Balanced Ration Is Stressed at Dairy Day '^ ian 300 persons attend- up in the form of decreased stant effort to achieve the best Ctt ihe Annual Dairy Day at the production and health problems, possible ration. |arm and Home Center Tues- Adams explained. He said forage analysis and - ' .In 'arriving -at a balanced mineral analysis of the farm - pr y? cttons ration, Adams suggested that the er ’ s feed can be a valuable tool ; l d ?^ y v l n ‘ iorage. should; provide 40 to 50 m setting him on the right path / Ps x ?enr’or bore of the dry mat- toward a quality feeding pro pWMteins and howttrsolve them. t er ..and'-7^-per cent of the g’-am e. Adams, Penn State energy Crain.'feeding, he said, In feeding minerals, he said, , ( dairy specialist, spoke -should.'be the “balancer” a free choice supply is not al &S?PrScUon^ eedinS '- He ‘dcoipmended that the adec l u f e because some an- ' ■ “ fc™«r use forage at whatever imals do not eat their minimum ! the lm P°u Jevef his farm operation allows retirements A small amount taiwvof glanced rations whph .and'toVd'd’whatever amount of in fe€d 13 also necessary, he elements and nu- gram , is he cessary to balance said fnetttfi needed for optimum per- ' t jj e r £t lon The Pollution Issue fomumce and'health. „ . ~ . „ , „„„ , ~ * c - ' . , ~ , -He emphasized that grain in He suggested that farmers He emphasized that good dse if 1S insufficient without Sive the various feed firms a fattens -can he achieved using necessary additions chance to assist by recommend many different kinds of combin- mg a comnlete feeding s\stem ations of bay, corn, gram, and The farmer should think in , R ‘ r . t p ‘ ~ . Supplements. The important ttnns ora total ration which in- Exten fi o n a«ticultuial enomeer thing, he explained, is to make dudes 12 to 14 per cent of crude E k “Waste Disnosal and Sure that the feed contains the protein, 16 to 20 per cent of p% n Hf,r>» rm-it JL-j the proper balance of such .basics crude fiber, 65 per cent or more natlonal hend to waid a neater as energy protein, and vitamins of digestibility about 35 per cent emphasis on e nvuonmental con- He said he has found that of carbohydrates, one to two per rQ j t6 !^T^ baVe p ™ bl ® ms^ sm = cent ° f non-protein nitiogen and In artlcular> he pointed out rations built around a high level smaller amounts of calcium lhe R P ew environmen P tal prolec . phosphorus magnesium, and tlon vln Wash and . / h3Ve^ Vei l VltammS A ’ B and E the renaming of the AGP pro low teeete of protein and not Adams noted that it’s difficult gram to REAP, a change not enough digestible fibei This tQ ackleve the proper balance only in name but in emphasis, Joes not allow the cow s rumen but he emphasized that efficien t he said. to worlc properly. herd management requires con- Grout also said that the new He also pointed out that some dairymen have serious problems using a ration built almost ex- -t clusively around corn silage " One herd of Holsteins, given all ‘ the com silage the animals could eat, was producing less than 10,000, pounds of milk. The * Cows were “hog-fat” because the , radon had high energy hut low - protein levels. He cited another example of a dairyman who ran into serious trouble with a lot of “downer” cowd“-'with a ration which in cluded,* no vitamin or mineral supppinents during a'-two year peifwil. Adams stated that many dairy men with good quality forage get better results than some dairymen who use a combination of forage and grain. The secret is in the quality and content of the feeds and in providing the proper combinations to get a balanced diet, Adams emphasiz ed He also noted that sometimes a former can get by for any where from two months to two years without serious conse quences when he feeds an in ferior ration to his animals How long tte can get by depends on the condition of the animal, and , the extent to which the ration is The flag swings free and members of deficient. the family of the late Victor Plastow hoist But when the ration is defi- it to the top of the flagpole. The flagpole cient, “the cow is robbing from was dedicated to the memory of Plastow her own sptem” to make up for during ceremonies at the Farm and Home the deficiency and sooner or Center Tuesday afternoon in conjunction later the -deficiency will show Milk Leukocyte Count Cited As a Herd Management Issue Dr. Samuel B, Guss, Penn farmers should not wait until State Extension veterinarian, after the problem already ex spoke at Dairy Day Tuesday on ists, he emphasized. the importance of good herd The goal of every herd owner management practices to main- should be negative milk or milk tain a tow leukocyte count in whlch has a leukocyte count roillc. under 500,000. When the count Leukocytes are white blood caches 1,500,000 the point at cells which resist infection and whlch rt 18 re J ected at consider serve2tte udderi first Une S able financial loss to the dahy ' ml man, the problem has already defense against injury. When ’ r,.. ri ./„ the leukocyte count rises,-the ° ott( r n out , of contlol > Dl - Guss #^Swa^S?in°ii milkSUf ‘ '“He 'explained that a high fers, it was expla ed. leukocyte count, even when Dr. Guss emphasized that the the rejected milk is not consid responsibility for a high leuko- ered, is extremely costly to cyte count always rests with the dairymen, because the factors herd owner and it is up to him leading to the high count result to correct the situation. He m a loss of milk production of urged owners to make continual anywhere from five to 25 per checks of their milk to make cent or more depending on the sure that the count remains seriousness of the situation low. Corrective actions should with each animal and the extent be taken immediately as soon to which all the animals in the as the, wont begins to rise; herd are involved. A ‘ He noted that piocedmes used in milking the held are extremely impoitant in deter mining leukocyte counts Ab noimal milk heids “without ex ception take over eight minutes to milk ” Milking should take five minutes or less, even with 16,000 pound heids, according to Dr. Guss He emphasized that the level of vacuum m milking is ex tremely important Cows can be ruined with “either too much or too little,” he said. He also emphasized that by the time a herd leaches the point of a 1,500,000 leukocyte count, at least 60 pei cent of the quarters of the cows in the herd are giving unsatisfactoiy milk “It ought to be every daily man’s goal to have negative milk (less than a 500,000 count) on the California test or know the tiend toward environmental pro tection has exceeded new knowledge on the means of solving pollution problems. But he noted that research is underway to. find the answers Penn State has been working with equipment which puts manure in liquid form directly into the soil and covers it in one operation Noting that farmers have been “recycling manuie through the soil for manj. years,” he predict ed that “a lot more lesearch will be done on how to get nd of wastes without disturbing the neighbors ” Good Management Factors “Herd Management in „ the 70s” was the topic of Donald L. Ace Extension dany special ist, who told dairymen that “man’s ability to manage” was the single most important fac- —Systems management, or tor m successful dairy opera- integrating vanous operations tions so that they woik at peak effi- Dairymen, he said, should be ciency concerned with Cost Squeeze Projected , William F Johnstone, Penn Too much overhead, a factor g(- a (- e agncultuial economist, that takes the profit out of the predicted dairy costs will rise milk sale faster in the 1970’s than will Too many pm chases for the p r i ces received for milk, leading herd size and production level. j- 0 a lower net income for dairy men with Dairy Day. Placing the flag is Mrs. Victor Plastow, left, and daughter, Mrs. Thomas Warner of Centre County. Max- Smith, Lancaster County agricultural agent, assists. leason why,” Dr. Guss said, Dr Guss also noted that the piesent so-called abnoimal milk program is basically a penalty system because pro ducers with more than a 1,500,- 000 count are penalized He said he thinks a positive piogram of lewaiding “the good produc ers” would be moie successful In discussing the types of tieatment used to maintain a low count, Dr Guss emphasized that the wrong type of tieat ment can be woise than no treatment at all If the cow kicks at you while being treated with a dip, it means teat ends aie sore and piobably the wrong material or wrong method is being used for tieatment Improper tieatment can ‘hum the herd in five days,” according to Dr Guss He also noted that the dip- Lancaster Farming. Saturday, March 13,1971 •**A v J|rv * yp' i *><■ *s W ' * Dauymen also can expect the 1970’s to bung greater involve ment in public issues, such as milk promotion, Class I base price and state milk control, ac coiding to Johnstone Master of ceremonies of Dairy- Day was Donald S Eby, presi dent of the Red Rose Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA). •SSV * * ft*> ' s VO V S Many local dany equipment dealers and suppliers had exhibits and displays for in spection by faimers > , \ •* ? J I Daily Day was conducted by the Lancaster County Agricul tural Extension Service in co operation with the Milk Distri butors, Milk Maiketmg Coopera tives and Dairy Breed Associa tions. ping does “no good in less than six months and if you miss one milking, you have to stait the six months all over.” He emphasized the import ance of working with and get ting materials thiough reput able dealers He noted that some kinds of udder injections have been found to contain yeasts that cause mastitis Also, the leukocyte count normally uses near the end of the lactation This helps explain why one heid that had several cows with a 450 day lactation had problems, he noted. Noimal good heid manage ment practices and prompt cor rective action as soon as the count moves above the 500,000 level will eliminate this man agement problem, according to Dr. Guss. Too much hired help, for example. —Reasons for change Make a change if it will improve op eiations, he said, but don’t change unless there is a good reason. —Using management tools such as iccords of feed costs, milk production, cow selection, sire analysis These tools, he said, can make the diffeience in operations. —Direction of the dairy opera tion Is a fanner concerned only with marketing milk, 01 does he want to sell both milk and an imals’ —Liking his dauy operation. He said that no matter how modern an operation, if the farmei doesn’t like it, he won’t be able to do a good job with it He also predicted increased production through 1972 based on factois such as increased availability oi laboi, a slow down in the culling rate and in creased production per cow He did foresee a possible in crease in 1971 in the federal price support level for Class I milk Under federal law, milk parity is set between 75 and 90 per cent, the present price of $4 66 pei hundredweight is about 77 per cent of parity But he projected a slowing of the rate of price increases, in dicating an increase in 1971 of less than the 15 to 20 cents in 1970 9
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers