A2o—Lancaster Famine, Saturday, November 29,1980
HERSHEY - Harold and
Norman Davis, R 2 Hun
tingdon, were recognized as
the 1980 Alfalfa Growers
champions during the 20th
Anniversary Conference of
the Pennsylvania Forage
and Grassland Council, held
here on Monday and
Tuesday.
The Davis brothers
operate as partners on their
farms in the western part of
the state, going by the name
Daland Farms.
This is only the second
year they entered the
competitive Alfalfa Growing
Program, and took the
championship with a yield of
8 6 tons hay equivalent for an
acre of alfalfa. The crude
protein analysis for the
stand was 3410, with a Total
Digestible Nutrient value of
9765.
According to Harold
Davis, the plot entered in the
program was a May 1, 1978
seeding of Apollo alfalfa.
“We disked the field to get it
ready for planting. The field
got too wet after we seeded
it, so we got essentially no
weed control. As a result, we
had volunteer corn in our
alfalfa stand.
“That year, we wmdrowed
the first and only cutting and
put it in the silo. The stand
straightened itself out last
year and we got three cut
tings off. And this year it did
Harold Oavis, second fronrleft, of Huntingdon,
accepts the award for 1980 Alfalfa Grower during
ceremonies at the 20th Anniversary Forage
Conference on Monday. Also pictured, from left,
are David Kauffman, Huntingdon Co. Assistant
Extension Agent; Harold Kockhaff, Huntingdon
County Agent; and John Baylor, Extension
Agronomist.
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Daland Farms is 1980 Alfalfa Growers cha
okay, giving us four cut
tings.”
Davis pointed out his area
of the county was not hurt by
lack of rainfall this past
summer. His records
revealed 5 inches fell in May,
4% inches fell in June, 2%
inches fell in July, and
August had 5 inches of ram.
But, he stated, some of that
rainfall came during
thunderstorms where Ife
inches of ram fell in an hour.
Daland Farms’ 125 acres
of alfalfa is grown on
predominantly Hagerstown
or other limestone base soils,
Davis said. Their herd of 92
registered Holstems’ DHI
record stands at 18,650
pounds milk and 715 pounds
fat.
“Along with the alfalfa that
Davis explained is wilted
down and put up as haylage,
they round bale about 20
acres of hay on fields he
called “too steep.” They also
raise 300 acres of corn.
Said Davis, this year’s
championship can be at
tributed to paying attention
to all the fine details, like soil
testing and fertilizing.
The reserve championship
in the Alfalfa Growing
Program went to the Milton
Hershey School Farms,
located here. Their acre of
alfalfa was on August, 1978
seeding of WL 311. Its 1980
yield was 8.1 tons hay
equivalent, with 3024 crude
protein and 9027 TDN.
In their fifth year of
competition, this is the
second time MHS Farms has
taken the reserve cham
pionship.
According to Alfred
Dugan, the reason the school
enters the program is “to see
just what we can get off an
acre of ground as far as
quantity, quality, the cost of
production and the net
return.” He pointed out the
TDN information is then
used in formulating rations
for their 750 grade Holstems.
- The cost to enter the
competition is $5O, Dugan
explained. But the expense
and the extra tune taken to
collect six samples at the
time of each cutting allows
the school to have a scien
tific yardstick to measure
their) age production.
Dug i recalled their plot
was < tabhshed in a field
consis ng of Berks shale
soils - not a limestone base
soil. “I knew what our
limestone soils could
produce -1 wanted to see just
how much our shale could
grow.”
He noted the stand was cut
when the alfalfa was ui the
full bud stage, with the
exception of the fourth
cutting which did reach 3/4
to full bloom.
“We cut the hay every 30
days religiously,” Dugan
remarked “If we would
have had more ram, we
would have done better But,
between the first and second
cutting, we had only 3.15
inches of ram; between the
second and third cutting, we
had 3 3 inches; and between
the third and fourth cutting,
we had 2.55 inches ”
Despite the unfavorable
weather conditions, MHS
Farms was able to tie up the
reserve championship in this
contest, along with the
championship for their
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age producers recognized for their outstanding programs are, fr
left, Alfred Dugan of the Milton Hershey School Farms, Hershey, second place;
Paul Dotterer, Mill Hall, third place; Jesse Balmer, Lancaster, fourth place; and
Frank Reist, Lebanon, fifth place. Presenting the awards is John Baylor, Penn
State Extension Agronomist.
haylage at Ag Progress
Days.
In third place in the Alfalfa
Growing Program was Paul
Dotterer, R 2 Mill Hall,
Clinton County. From a pure
stand of WL 311, Dotterer
harvested 8.2 tons hay
equivalent with 2854 crude
protein and 8694 TDN
Dotterer explained his is a
strictly no-till operation. His
test plot was seeded in 1979,
and was selected for fourth
place in the program last
year.
The Clinton County farmer
works 950 acres of land with
350 acres of pure stand
alfalfa, all of which is put in
the silo, he said Dotterer
attributes some of his suc
cess in raising alfalfa to
following the soil analysis of
Brookside Laboratories,
Atglen
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Lancaster County
dairyman Jesse Balmer took
fourth place in the com
petition with an alfalfa
orchardgrass mixture.
The plot, seeded in March,
1979 with 18 pounds of Apollo
alfalfa and 4 pounds of
Pennlate orchardgrass per
acre, yielded 7.8 tons hay
equivalent this year, with
2593 crude protein and 8643
TDN.
In its establishment,
Balmer fell back on an old
conventional method of weed
control sowing the forage
crop with a companion crop
of oats
Balmer, the father of
Lancaster County’s 1980
Dairy Princess, Connie
Balmer, milks a herd of 80
Guernseys His feeding
program includes haylage,
on
corn silage and high
moisture com.
Fifth place in the program
went to Frank and Carl Reist
of Lebanon County. Their
partnership, Ferndale
Farms, is operated by four
brothers, Frank, Carl,
Donald and Gary.
Then- 1979 seeding of
Pioneer 531 yielded 7.4 tons
hay equivalent, with 2865
crude protein and 8237 TDN.
This year, the stand
produced five cutting, said
Frank.
The Reists filled their silo
and made about 5000 bales
on 125 acres of alfalfa. They
farm an additional 300 acres
in South Lebanon Township.^
Their herd of 90 registerea
Holsteins have an average
record of 16,100 pounds milk
and 615 pounds fat, black and
white evidence to the Reist's
forage quality as well as
quantity
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