Fanning, Saturday, Pacamber 30,1978
Chester County dairyman Jefferson Yoder has
won 12 Progressive Breeder Awards from the
Holstein-Friesian Association of- America, an
achievement which distinguishes him as being
among the best in the country.
Potato stocks are record high
WASHINGTON, D.C. -
Potato stocks continue to be
at record high levels, ac
cording to statistics fur
nished to Lancaster Far
ming by the United States
Department of Agriculture.
The estimated 219 million
hundredweights in storage
as of December 1 was up six
per cent from a year ago,
and record high for the date
for the third straight year.
The record high stockpile
came about even though the
total in the seven eastern
states, including Penn
sylvania, was down by nine
per cent from a year earlier.
The count for those states as
of Dec. 1 stood at 31.6 million
hundredweights.
The potato inventoiy of the
eastern states is the lowest
for the region since 1973. The
eight cental states’
production, at 48.1 million
hundredweight was up seven
per cent over last year and
the eight western states, at
139 million hundredweights,
was up 10 per cent from a
year earlier.
Home-bred cows keep
Jefferson Yoder on top
By DIETER KRIEG
ELVERSON - Jefferson
Yoder is no ordinary
dairyman. The Chester
Countian makes that much
obvious rather quickly. First
of all, he has a DHIA herd
average of 19,722 pounds of
milk with a 4 per cent test
and 795 pounds of butterfat.
Secondly, he doesn’t pay
much attention to what the
so-called experts off the
farm suggest, and he won’t
necessarily follow the crowd
either. Yoder, who has been
milking cows for 22 years, is.
a man who makes his own
decisions and follows his own
path.
Also, Yoder proclaimsthat
the dairy business is better
now than it ever was. While
many other dairy farmers
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FARM SYSTEM
CHAMBERSBURG
409 E. Grant St.
Chambersburg, PA
717-263-4197
LANCASTER
FARM STORE
1140DillervilleRd.
717-394-0541
(agway)
might agree, not all will
come right out and say it.
The most predominant
evidence of Yoder’s
maverick approach to dairy
farming is that he strongly
favors his own bulls. He says
a good dairy farmer can
achieve significant im
provement with his herd
production if he uses bulls
out of his own top cows, even
if the top cow only produced
13,000 pounds of milk per
year.
Neither Yoder nor his son,
Carl, who works full-time
with his dad, is quick with
culling programs. Despite
their just under 20,000 pound
herd average, they’ll keep a
heifer which finishes with
just 12,000 pounds of milk or
less. They’llreadily give her
AND
TEMPLE
SUPPLY CENTER
N. sth St. Highway
Temple, PA
215-929-5264
YORK AVONDALE
WEST STORE SUPPLY CENTER
26 W. Market St.
York, PA
717-792-2674
TANEYTOWN
Frederick St.
301-848-3225
another year to improve,
confident that she’ll do just
that. Their emphasis is on
longevity.
“A 2-year old has to be
pretty bad before we’ll cull
her,” remarked Carl,
“especially if she has good
type or belongs to one of our
best cow families.” To
emphasize , his. point, he
asked: “How do you cull a
cow you’ve fallen in love
with?”
Most of Yoder’s “Rocky
Side Holsteins” are sired by
home-bred bulls. He claims
that all but a few have done
quite well for him.
Ironically, they’re all given
minus proofs when the'U.S.
Department of Agriculture
analyzes the statistics. “But
they’re doing the job for us,”
Junction U.S. 1 & 41
Avondale, PA
215-268-8238
CHAPMAN STORE
RO2
Wescosville, PA
215-395-3381
Yoder laughed in defense,
adding that he never pays
attention to plus or minus
ratings.
“We don’t care if a bull is
plus or minus,” the younger
Yoder agreed. “We just look
at the bull’s dam’s
production.”
“We dofi’t just want to see
what is on paper, we like to
see the bull’s offspring, his
dam, and granddams on
both sides,” his father ad
ded.
Yoder defends his own
brand of breeding
philosophy by claiming that
neither Osbomdale Ivanhoe
nor Paclamar Astronaut - v
two of the all-time top sires
of the Holstein breed - might
have been kept if present
(Turn to Page 98)
ENTERS
AL
CARLISLE
E. North St.
Carlisle, PA
717-243-4312
DUBLIN
Rt. 313
Dublin, PA
215-249-3556
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