Houser honored as top herd owner in Lebanon County
BY LAUREL SCHAEFFER
Staff Correspondent
SCHAEFFERSTOWN
Climaxing their 50th year,
the Lebanon County Dairy
Herd Improvement
Association met on
November 13 at the
Schaefferstown Fire Hall,
here, for their annual
meeting
Highlighting the evening,
which began with a delicious
family style dinner, was the
presentation of awards to
members whose herds
averaged over 700 pounds
butter fat Topping the list
was Ruben Houser,
Lebanon
Houser’s herd, which is on
test for the first time this
year, averaged 20,474
pounds milk and 766 pounds
fat, out producing all other
herds in the county in both
categories Following with a
fat production of 729 pounds
was the Bennetch Brothers
herd, R 2 Myerstown This
herd of 71 cows on test had a
milk record of 19,358 pounds
Roy E. Noit, R 1 Richland,
had a fat record of 716
pounds for his herd with 44
cows on test Nolt’s herd
averaged 18,820 pounds
milk. Behind Nolt with a
record of 705 pounds fat was
the herd of Willow Maple
Farm, R 1 Newmanstown
This herd had the second
highest milk production
record with 20,416 pounds,
just 58 pounds below the top
herd of 1979
Willow Maple also had the
high individual cow for milk
and fat records, a repeat
performance of last year
Also noted were the forty
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herds producing over bOO
pounds fat, and a total of 101
herds, with an average of
five or more cows producing
records over 400 pounds
butterfat
Lebanon County was
ranked fourth in the state for
milk production and ninth
in butterfat production fhe
Lebanon County DHIA also
has twelve herds on Owner-
Sampler Test, eight of which
are producing fat records in
excess of 500 pounds, while
the other four are above 400
pounds
Presently 52 herds in the
county are enrolled in the
Somatic Cell Counting
Program Raymond Pruss,
administrative assistant of
state DHIA, reported that
the fourth somatic cell
counting machine would be
installed in about a week
With this machine all in
terested dairymen should be
able to be on the program by
January or early February,
he reported.
Pruss also commented on
a relatively new program
which would sample
progesterone as a pregnancy
test. Reports from New York
where the testing is
currently bemg used show
that it is approximately 80
per cent accurate and costs
about $2.50 per sample. The
state administrator said that
Pennsylvania is not using
the test and doesn’t intend to
do so until it is more ac
curate and less expensive
DHIA will also start to use
another method for
calculating production
averages With this method,
every herd will be adjusted
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Ruben Houser’s (left) dairy herd out produced
other herds in Lebanon County. The herd
averaged 20,474 pounds of milk and 766 pounds
of fat. Roy Nolt, Richland and Marlyn Bennetch,
Myerstown, also had herds averaging 700 pounds
downward from two to three
per cent, Pruss told the
dairymen
Another change in the
DHIA policies was also noted
by the state administrative
assistant This change would
allow herds with 90 per cent
or more registered cows to
be classified as registered
• wii
ill
herds. This would allow for a
little leeway, Pruss com
mented, because presently
there is none.
Harold Bollinger gave a
brief state director’s report,
and Newton Bair, County
Extension Agent, noted the
progress DHIA has made in
the past 50 years. He com-
>own
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 24,1979
« ,
of fat. Donald Bollinger of Willow Maple Farm,
Newmanstown, owns the top milk and fat
producing cow for the year. These awards were
given at a recent Lebanon County DHIA banquet.
mented that the Lebanon
DHIA presently is testing a
goat herd and made note of
the Farm-City Tour planned
for Farm-City Week
Lebanon County Dairy
Princess, Diane Maulfair,
also addressed the large
audience during the evening.
An election was also held
for three directors whose
terms expire December,
1979. Reelected for another
two year term were, Robert
Lentz, Kenneth Sellers, and
Harold Bollinger.
Entertainment for the
evening included a slide
presentation by Glenn
Eshelman.
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ing, & gestation buildings
Modular 12-ft wide farrowing nursery
& gestation buildings.
Lot or pasture fountains.
Hog lot gates & partitions
Heavy duty hog 4 cattle waterers
Big capacity feeders
Ventilation equipment.
Round feeders.
Feed delivery systems
Galvanized vertical pen partitions
Hog troughs.
Porcelamized Steel slats.
Rotary feeders
Porcelamized watering cups
Baby pig feeders
Farrowing stalls & pens.
Pig heaters
Nipple waterers
Space-saver nursery feeders.
Flex auger systems & feed bins
Gestation stalls & buildings
Soft-Grip Flooring.
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