A32—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, Decanter 13,1910
BY SHEILA MILLER
LAMPETER - What’s the
difference between a milk
tester and a DHIA super
visor? About twenty-five
years of service, according
to J. Wilbur Houser, who’s in
his twenty-sixth year of
sampling Lancaster County
dairy herds for production
records.
Fifty-nine year old Houser
explained that when he first
started his career in the
county’s Dairy Herd Im
provement program in 1955,
he used to be responsible for
testing each cow’s milk that
he sampled Now, he said,
Penn State does all the
testing and he is officially
called a “supervisor” rather
than a milk tester
What else has changed in
those twenty-five years of
sampling milk in Lancaster
County herds 9
With a grin that never
seemed to leave his face,
Houser recalled, “Back
when I first started, there
was only one milking parlor
operation on my circuit The
rest of the farmers milked
with bucket and pail and we
weighed the milk with
scales And, only one fanner
had a bulk tank
Now, it’s the other way
all the farmers have either
pipelines or parlors and
everyone of them has a bulk
tank.’’
Houser also remarked that
in the quarter-century he’s
been on the job, he’s seen the
size of the milking herds
increase dramatically
“In the 11/50’s, if a farmer
had 50 cows, that was con
sidered to be a big herd Now
the county average for herd
size is 58 7 cows The
average 25 vears ago was
about 30 '
What also has changed,
said Houser, is the method of
testing milk He recalled
i
*: £ -
_
Houser mixes Rhelda's milk in the milk meter
before sampling it. He said, “The first milk always
tests the least and the last tests the highest. This
way the sample is accurate. Last month, Rhelda’s
milk production record was 101 pounds, and it’s
going to be high again."
Lancaster County’s Wilbur Houser
talks ‘testing’ for quarter century
that when he first became a
tester he ran the Babcock
test, using a centrifuge and
sulfuric acid. Now, the
testing is done electronically
by Penn State
“I was glad to get away
from that,” Houser smiled,
“because keeping that acid
in the home was dangerous ”
The age of computers has
made the job of a DHIA
supervisor easier, too
Houser said he used to have
to do all the bookwork on
individual lactations and
production records by hand.
“The computers that are
available today give you
more information that’s
more uniform. And it’s done
in a much faster time,” he
conceded
When Houser gave up his
dairy farming profession to
become a milk tester in 1955,
there were more mixed
herds on his circuit, he said
But today there are few
mixed herds on his 30 herd
circuit.
“1 sample one Brown
Swiss herd and several
Guernsey herds but the
predominant breed of dairy
cattle is Holstein, and mostly
all registered cattle, too ”
The reason why there are
fewer grade cows in his
circuit Houser attributes to
culling
“I think it can be said that
the grade cows you still find
are some of the best cows in
the herd But farmers cull
their grades a lot harder
than their registered cattle I
believe they’re hoping those
poorer producing cows that
have papers will come
around someday,’’ he
chuckled
Houser, along with his
wife, Elsie (who came from
a Guernsey farm but
Houser said he didn’t hold
that against her) milked
Holsteins for 11 years until
'£-'s* T i
' " r*
¥
he was forced to give it up
for health reasons. Now, as a
DHIA supervisor, Houser
said he appreciates the
opportunity of working with
good livestock even though
he doesn’t have any cows
himself
Coming. •.
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tISIHM
69 E. Main St., Lititz
Phone 626-0251
100 E. Main St., New Holland 335 Fifth St., Quarryville 519 A Leaman Ave.
Phone 354-4427 Phone 786-1010 Millersville Phone 872-4665
61 East Towne Mall, Lancaster Phone: 393-0488
What about the high
production records on some
cows milking close to 30,000
pounds? Houser remarked, “A general rule of thumb I
“These heavy milkers ob- learned from an old dairy
viously are under more farmer when I was milking I
stress, but some cows can think still holds true in most
handle it better than others, cases. If a heifer does extra
First Federal
II II SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION OF LANCASTER
23 East King Street, Lancaster Phone: 393-0601
Park City Center, Lane. 24 E. Main St., Mt. Joy
(In Sears Mall) Phone 299-3745 Phone 653-8121
And you’ll find some cows do
better one lactation and
taper off the next
4
at...
well on her first lactal
she won’t match
production later. Maybe
overdoes herself I di
know.”
In 1955-56, the Lanca;
County herd average
(Turn to Page A 33)
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