Free eartags issued by state ITARRISBIIRG -- Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Agriculture Kent D. Shelhamer has announced that the- department’s Bureau of Animal Industry is currently providing free of charge ear tags for cattle identification. The ear tags are prenumbered in conformance with national standards. The official Pennsylvania ear tag,” Shelhamer said, EVERY WEDNESDAY IS mf DAIRY i 3 MY AT NEW HOLLAND SALES STABLES, INC. New Holland, PA If you need 1 cow or a truckload, we have from 100 to 200 cows to sell every week at your price. Mostly fresh and close springing Holsteins. Cows from local farmers and our regular shippers including Marvin Eshleman, Glenn Fite, Gordon Fritz, Blame Hoffer, Dale Hostetter, H. D. Matz, and Jerry Miller. SALE STARTS 12;30 SHARP Also Every Wednesday. Hay, Straw & Ear Corn Sale 12:00 Noon. All Dairy Cows & Heifers must be eligible for Pennsylvania Health Charts. For arrangements for special sales or herd dispersals at our barn or on your farm, contact - Abram Diffenbach, Mgr. 717-354-4341 Norman Kolb 717-397-5538 V*' WHO'S MINDING THE MIIKP “is available to our prac ticing veterinarians, and will provide a standard per manent identification which will be invaluable in the issuance of health cer tificates and identification of tested cattle.” The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture is supporing the new iden tification program spon sored by the Pennsylvania Holstein Association for tank. Here's what it provides: • Permanent proof that proper temperature was maintained. • Record of cooling equipment effic mcy. • Cleaning temperature recording on the same chart The Sentinel is also available with provision for actuating an alarm or warning light if pre-set tempera ture is exceeded Remember —if it prevents the loss of only one tank of product, the Sentinel has paid for itself It minds your milk. rj 1 PARTLOW See your dealer about die Sentinel —or drop us a line PO. Box 433 Elizabethtown, PA 17022 grade Holstein cattle, Shelhamer explained. '‘Our cattle ear tag is available to any Pennsylvania fanner who wishes to have his calves tagged for this program.” Shelhamer said that many female calves in Penn sylvania are vaccinated for brucellosis between the ages of two and six months. “Now the veterinarian can tag grade calves at that time, so application for grade registry can be completed within the required time limit. Other calves can be tagged by the farmer or veterinarian for iden tification purposes only.” Shelhamer noted that the ear tag also provides another service to the farmers of the Commonwealth, as a method to trace infected cattle found through the department’s disease surveillance programs. “Traceback information is very im portant in our disease programs, and particularly tuberculosis and brucellosis,” Shelhamer said. “As the disease in cidence continues to decrease, we cannot afford to neglect identification for the potential threat of ex posure to disease that still exists.” BE ALERT If you depend upon your milk check for a living, who’s minding your milk? , one-shot insurance you can tiie 10-inch recorder which tout milk-cooling x>r holding While John Blyholder of the Pennsylvania Guernsey Association and I were over eating at a luncheon banquet several weeks ago, the discussion came around to what it cost to raise a replacement animal. John had overheard a county agent from central Penn sylvania using figures in excess of $7OO per replacement. While Don Ace took a third helping of dried com, he observed that the normal figure used was closer to $550 per animal but costs are rising. Since Roger £mig from Atlantic Breeders Coop was with us someone quickly brought up the rising cost of semen as a reason for the high cost of heifers. Up to this point Roger had been con centrating more on his pork and sauerkraut than the cost of heifers, but he quickly joined the'discussion poin ting out that it takes six units of semen for every " LIQUID MANURE SPECIALISTS 1 PEARSON takes the work and waste out of manure . . . with Better-Bilt Liquid Manure Systems for hogs, dairy, beef and poultry. • Two types of manure spreaders han dle liquid, semi-liquid and heavy slurry fast and easy • Eight models, capaci ties up to 31 SO gallons • Truck mount ing optional for all models • Manure is spread over 3S’-40' swath or injected into soil (up to 1 2") • Three PTO pow ered, heavy-duty pumps agitate and break up solid manure into massive slurry; pumps are reversed for filling spreader • Powerful mono pump is used m irrigation systems • Heavy duty electric pump available DISTRIBUTOR WILLARD HAAS & SON Klingerstown, Pa. 17941 717-425-3698 Lancaster Faj i* r Facts for dairymen Assoc. County Agent Lancaster, Fa. replacement female that enters the milking string. Well, our discussion was never completed because the program started, but I did have a chance a few days later to talk with Larry Specht, our Extension dairy specialist who works with dairy breeding. He had some interesting thoughts about sire selection and semen costs. Larry says that it’s easy to be convinced that semen from highly advertised sires is worth $4O-$5O or even $6O per unit - but look at the cost! He agrees that it takes six units per replacement and at $lO per unit you have $6O invested in each heifer from breeding costs alone. If the semen cost $5O per unit you have a $3OO investment. Unless the second heifer can be sold for $240 more than the first one, you are paying too much for the higher priced semen. Semen from the average (BETTER-BHJ) IMH Vacuum Bpraadar ScH Rllbif—Rear Dear Optianal r r ling, Saturday. April 16,1977 AI sire is sold for about $8 per service. Such sires usually have a Predicted Difference (PD) for milk of 500 pounds. Several studies show that you can afford to pay about one dollar per 100 pound increase in PD milk above the base figure. Therefore, a plus 1000 PD milk bull is still a good value at up to $l3 per unit while a plus 1500 PD milk bull would be a good investment at up to $lB per unit. With all this information it’s really too bad that Larry missed the shoofly pie with ice cream! “Slippery free stalls are not a good place to observe cows in heat” was just one of the many straight forward management hints that Dr. Robert Gutzwiller threw out at the second of our breeding meetings held several weeks ago. Sounds simple enough, but how many of you dairymen with free stall bams are willing to do something about the poor footing in the bam! Daily scraping of the concrete alleys will eve ntually make them smooth - no matter how rough you had them to start with. Matt Young from Red Nob Farm at Wakefield, has told me several times that this was one of their concerns when they were designing their new bam. By going to a flush manure handling system the problem of smooth floors was taken care of. Obviously not all diarymen can solve the problem this way, but there is a reasonable solution. Rubber cutting edges for scraping blades are avilable. This rubber edge fits bet ween your present steel edge and the backing plate. From what I hear, this cutting edge will scrape clean, but will not smooth the alley concrete. It also lasts longer and costs less than a steel blade. Dairymen who are using them really like them - to me that’s the most important measure of their worth. Check with your equipment dealer - your cows will appreciate your efforts and the number of “missed” or “silent” heats may be reduced. TRY A CLASSIFIED AD! Aufar-Madc *#raaU«f 99