ft-UncMter Farming, Saturday. Nov. 1 1 Feeding (Continued from P*f* 1| fibre, are aUo being blamed (or problems. Some doubts arc being raised about the trend to more and more shelled corn as opposed to utilizing the com and the cob Such {acts as well as a brief assessment of the dairy industry's future were presented last week by Don Ace, dairy specialist at Penn State, in a talk given before approximately 60 veterinarians, nutritionists, and agri-businessmen from Lancaster, York and surrounding counties. The occasion was the third an nual Dairy Seminar on Feeding and Health held here at the Quality Courts Inn. Ace sees grain prices softening slightly when compared to prices a year ago; no improvement is seen in beef prices; milk production is down by one per cent which should help to keep milk prices up; butter and cheese are in low supply and being consumed as rapidly as they are produced; skim powder is overflowing the bins; im ports are not expected to increase, and the blend price for milk is seen at above $lO.OO per hundredweight. Going into more detail, the Penn State dairy scientist cited this year’s record com crop as being of excellent quality; soybean supplies are up 17 per cent; world production of feed grains is up four per cent, and with reduced dairy supplies this should all add up to a better future for dairymen. Ace was reluctant to go out on the limb with the dairy import question, however, when a member of the audience asked about it. Although he sees no increases in import levels, he added it is difficult to predict something like that because government actions and intentions present something of a guessing game to economists. Ace continued his com mentary, entitled “Sex and the Hungry Cow,” by proclaiming that ‘‘many diarymen have to take a pretty hard look at their management practices.” “Many feed companies and many nutritionists are taking a second look at lead feeding,” he claimed. Studies have shown, he noted, that some dairymen have fed grain to their cows m amounts as high as two CUSTOM BUTCHERING DEER PROCESSING i WE MAKE VENISON BOLOGNA v & DRIED BEEF Hogs Processed the old fashioned way. Sausage, pudding, scrapple. Hams and Bacon cured Beef cut, wrapped and frozen Dried beef and bologna WE ALSO SPECIALIZE IN U.S.D.A. GRADED SIDES AND QUARTERS. FOR HOME FREEZER Call PAUL A. HESS (717) 464-3374 or Home 454-3127 changes per cent of animal's body weight per day prior to freshening. This is wrolng, scientists now announce. Experiments have shown the practical maximum for this type feeding is 0.5 per cent of the cow's bodyweight per day, Ace said. Amounts exceeding this level may (and often do) result in problems, particularly retained placentas. Advising that dairymen should aim for greater grain intake after freshening, Ace noted that it would result in better health and greater productivity. He also recommended lower grain feeding levels at the end of lactations. Fibre is the most im portant thing in the cow’s diet, Ace stressed, to the accompaniment of a couple of raised eyebrows. He explained that this “lack of fibre” problem is com pounded when low quality forages are fed and dairymen seek to make up for that shortcoming be feeding more protein. “Cows need good, digestible fibre,” he exclamied, “for a good working gut.” On an overall basis, Ace suggested that cows have a dry matter intake equivalent to about three per cent of their body weight. At peak production this ratio of dry matter per bodyweight should increase to about 3.75 per cent; and for dry cows and heifers it's about two per cent. A digestive tract free of abnormalitite, and with adequate fibre moving through it has an effect on butterfat tests, he remarked. Eyebrows were raised again when Ace told the audience that he wouldn’t throw the com cob away if he were dairying. According to Penn State experiments, leaving the com cob in the field amounts to losing 20 per cent of the corn’s feed value. Ace said the com cob is a good source of fibre - palatable and digestible - and “you gain nothing by throwing it away.” Acknowledging that ear corn does not fit into everyone’s management program today, and that the textbooks do not indicate any particular value for the cob, he stood by his statements and added that “the cow does not believe the text book.” In other words, cows are finding something valuable in the cob which textbooks do not show. Herds with low fat tests have been on the increase in recent years, according to findings at Penn Slate. Ace listed Insufficient fibre, poor quality fibre, extra thin cows, fat cows, extremely fine ground feeds, and pelleted feeds as potential causes for low fat tests. Fat cows cause more problems than thin cows, Ace noted. "If the cow Is over-conditioned, the ration needs to be looked at," he said. Aside from scrutinizing the feeds themselves, Penn State dairy specialists also cite fat tests, appetite, manure, urine, haircoat. udder congestion, retained afterbirth, condition of off spring, reproduction ef ficiency, and condition of the animal as being indicators of a feed’s value and ef fectiveness. Com silage is good feed, Ace said, but some in dividuals are feeding too much of it. “Anytime you concentrate an ingredient you increase the chance for problems because of the greater chances for im balance,” he warned. Ace said “you don’t want to see the feed moving through the cows too fast or too slow,” and added that a number of things affect appetite, including barn ventilation. Imbalances of minerals, vitamins, and protein cause appetite problems - excess amounts are as harmful as too little. Speaking on trace minerals specifically, Ace stressed the importance of not “doubling up” on trace mineral sources. “If you get them in the salt, don’t get them again in something else,” he suggested. He noted that such a problem has become rather critical in some herds, and that “we’re finding too many herds which are fed more than needed amounts of trace minerals.” Another topic Ace discussed is mastitis and milk quality. He stressed the necessity of low leucocyte counts, claiming that a count of 1.5 million may reduce production by as much as 40 per cent. A count of 800,000 Model 98-A Silo Unloader m \ Door Bracket (1) Used Patz Mod 98-A Silo Unloader, used 6 mo., will fit 14’ to 18' silo. Like New Swivel Wheel MARVIN J. HORST DAIRY EQUIPMENT R.D. 1 (lona Phone 717-272-0871 Located on Rt. 897 Between Schaefferstown & Lebanon Member Patz Top 50 Club U.S. & Canada- Her ahoy wins creed contest Steven I- Hcrshcy. son of Mr. and Mrs. Donald Hcr shcy, Manhclm R 6, captured first place in the Creed Contest, held Oct. 30 at Hinklctown Alternative School in conjunction with the annual I Lancaster County FFA leadership Training Conference. In the contest, greenhand FFA'crs were judged on their ability in public speaking as well as how well they knew the creed. Steve was presented his award during a banquet held in the Blue Ball Fire Hall following the conference. XXX Members of a fox hunt in Belton, England, learned why the fox got away and spoiled their day. The man who showed up and blew the wrong calls on the hunting hom was a spy from the League Against Cruel Sports. Speaking of New York City’s attempt to solve its financial mess with taxes on more forms of legalized gambling. Red Smith in his New York Times column, made this pertinent ob servation: “American politicians have a single solution for fiscal crises tax sin.” One may go wrong in many different directions, but right in only one. Aristotle cuts production by around 20 per cent, he noted. To help reduce incidents of mastitis, Penn State may be taking somatic cell readings directly from individual DHIA samples, Ace revealed. A last subject touched upon by the Penn State specialist is reproduction. Silent heats are a particular problem today, he said, hinting that deficient energy situations, and anemia may be responsbile at least in part. ‘1349 00 LESS MOTOR Counterweight Guide Arm Dr.ve Wheel Chute Pole ir Cap Blowi Caster Wheel Lebanon, Pa
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers