B2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 13,1980
Test breeding , fine-tuned feeding
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
MAN HEIM Butterfat
production has shown a
steady increase for the herd
of Nelson and Alma Wenger,
R 6 Manheim, since they
started farming on their own
seven years ago
Their herd average has
climbed nearly 200 lbs in
that time to a high of 771 lbs
during the past year And
that was enough to bring
them the high herd butterfat
honors at the Lancaster
County DHIA Banquet this
week
That average also is
believed to be an all-time
record for the county.
Looking back, Wenger
points to three mam factors
which came together during
the past year to hike the
butterfat production to the
771-lb average, which was a
90-lb. jump from just the
year before.
First, he has continued a
specific p ogram of breeding
for test, which was actually
started under his father
Arthur
Second, he's been able tc
fine tune his feeding
management to the poml
where he’s getting gooc
production results with a
minimum of problems
And finally, the Wengen
admit they had their share ol
good fortune with the herd
There were no major dif
ficulties, other than some
breeding trouble during the
peak of the summer’s hot
and humid weather.
The foundation for the
butterfat honors moved out
of the Wenger herd during
this past year just at the
tune the achievement was
being attained She was a 13-
year-old cow, Valley Run
Smokey Rocket, which had
come from his father’s herd
One of her calves was a
bull, Valley Run Silver
Tiger, who was sired by
Silver Tip, a Curtiss bull
Rocket was a 4 8 percent test
cow and Silver Tip had a plus
test.
Half of the present Wenger
herd can be traced directly
to Tiger, who was a minus
bull in so far as milk was
concerned, but has been
proven to be an admirable
sire for test.
“His offspring are slow
maturing and usually don’t
Standing next to their farm sign along Earhart Road, west of Manheim, are
Nelson and Alma Wenger, who have built top butterfat herd in just seven years
of farming.
bring butterfat honors
u
»v f *
,i V ~
I K *
Nelson H. Wenger, R 6 Manheim, scatters some hay to his award-winning high
butterfat herd of Holsteins.
have high milk production as
first-calf heifers,” Wenger
explained
“But generally by the
third lactation, they become
some real good producers.”
Concerning test, Wenger
cites 18 of the offspring who
are all over 4.0 percent and
five with at least 5 0 percent
The Wengers had four
cows over 1000 lbs. of fat in
305 days during the past
year.
Della, freshened at 7
years, 4 months, had 27,807
lbs of milk and 1138 lbs of
fat at 4.1 percent test.
Vanessa, freshened at 5
years, 2 months, had 26,426
lbs and 1085 lbs. of
fat at 4 Itest
Winner, freshened at 5
years, 9 months, had 20,172
$
<
>
* t *
lbs. of milk and 1019 lbs. ot
fat at 5.1
Cotton, freshened at 0
years, had 22,326 lbs of milk
and 1118 lbs. of fat at 5.0 test.
And another member of
the Wenger herd recently
recorded an additional
significant production
achievement
Cinnamon, freshened at 4
years, just finished test in
October with 30,373 lbs of
milk and 1021 lbs of tat at 3 4
percent
"She’s our first cow to top
30,000 lbs. of milk in 305
days,” Wenger said
"During her top month,
she was giving 137 lbs. a-day
and was still producmg'»y29
lbs daily the following
month.”
The Wenger herd averages
about 45 milkers and 40
young stock They raise all
their own replacements and
market quite a few heifers
and bulls for breeding.
Recently, a heifer went to
Arkansas, three to Illinois
and another sold at the state
calf sale.
A number of the bulls are
destined for overseas, where
greater emphasis is placed
on the butterfat differential.
One of Della’s bulls is in
Holland and the next is
scheduled tor Carnation
And a Cotton bull is con
tracted for Holland.
The Wengers have a
limited supply of Tiger
semen left, which they’ll
continue to use. But they also
include other sires in their
breeding program, such as
Creek and Ace from Sire
Power and Cinnamon irom
Select Sires
In addition to breeding,
Wenger places emphasis on
feeding management,
especially the fine tuning of
his in., 1 , moisture shelled
corn ratio.
• About luo and a halt
years ago we started feeding
the high moisture shelled
corn,” Wenger said.
The moisture levt' is
critical and, at first, !
believe we were feeding it
too wet.
m
Now, we ve been keeping
the moisture lower in the
teed and eliminating a lot ot
acid conditions in the rumen
We try tor a happy
medium - moist enough to
get propel fermentation but
dry enough to avoid the
pioblems.
I he teeding progiaiu also
includes hay luge, corn silage
and a limited amount ot hay
Koasteu soybeans with
nnneials and i itaimns
added ai c ted as lop di essing
to the high ns. c coi n
(Turn to Page B 4)
\
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