I
Home-bred cows
?
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Rather than be satisfied
with what he sees in sire
catalogs, or magazines,
Yoder will'frequently go to
farms and bull studs to study
the animlas in question
personally. “I want to see a
bull’s daughters,” he
remarked during a con
versation in the family’s
thick-walled stone house.
“We don’t just go by pic
tures.” V
“We like to keep'a cow as
long as we can,” Yoder
continued. “We’re looking
for a good, sound, type cow.
The older cows, he says, are
the ones "which “bring home
the bacon.”
“It doesn’t matter how
well you feed a cow, or bow
well you take care of her, if
- she isn’t genetically bred to
you might as well
forget it,” the award
winning dairy farmer
opinionized. Breeding is
where the Yoders place most
of their emphasis, but they
don’t neglect feeding and
management either. Among
their rules for top production
one might include high
quality feed, a regular
feeding and milking
schedule, and good health
care-
Yoder’s herd of 60 milking
age Holsteins boasts a
classification average of
104.8 per cent B. A. A. Type is
strongly considered in
breeding and culling
programs, the Yoders ad
mitted. While they' might
keep a heifer which is a low
producer, they will not keep
one which is lacking good,
functional type, regardless
of her production.
The Yoder herd’s
classification score is one of
several factors which are
considered annually for
Progressive Breeder
Awards. Yoder has won 12 of
them.-The Holstein-Friesian
Association of America
sponsors the recognition.
Progressive Breeder
Awards require meritorious
official production records, a
classification average of at
least 102 per cent 13.A.A.,
herd health- accreditation,
state and national Holstein
association membership, 75
per cent or higher home
bred herd, and up-to-date
registries.
The Yoder family has
numerous handsome award
placques on several walls of
the house. They’re into
Holsteins in more ways than
one. This Fall, Yoder’s wife,
Reba, got the idea of making
a quilt which is adorned with
a drawing of the True Type
Holstein cow. A friend, Mrs.
Mary Jane Stoltzfus, did the
artwork. They hope to have
it completed in time for the
Pennsylvania Farm Show.
Di February they’ll display it
atthe Pennsylvania Holstein
Association Convention, to
be held in Reading. Plans
are that the quilt will be sold
at auction.
Yoder, who was bom and
raised on a Mifflin County
dairy farm, came to Chester
County during World War II
to help his older brother,
Raymond. In 1948 he headed
West to help with the small
grain harvest. That was
followed by eight years of
truck-driving.
After purchasing his first
farm and 11 purebred hfeifers
in 1953, he devoted a portion
of his time to farming. Three
years later he dove into it
full-time. He remembers
being the last man on the
D.H.I.A. list that year, but
came up rapidly in sub
sequent years and has been
at or near the top for the past
decade. ‘T had a 360 pound
(Turn to Page 100)
Yoder, who began dairy farming full-time in 1956, remembers being a the
bottom of the D.H.I.A. list that year. He has been at or near the top for the past
decade. His 1978 D.H.I.A. average stands at 19,722 pounds of milk and 795
pounds of butterfat. He credits his own bulls for much of the advancement.
Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, December 30,1978
99