A36—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 24,1981
Milk analysis can be backup to heat detection
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
LANCASTER Increased
emphasis on heat detection
and consideration of milk
progesterone analysis as a
backup to determine if cows
are pregnant were stressed
by Michael L. O'Conner,
Extension dairy specialist,
in a concentrated dairy
reproduction workshop held
at the Farm and Home
Center on Monday and
Tuesday.
“One of the biggest things
that dairymen can do in their
reproduction management
programs is to improve heat
detection practices,”
HARRISBURG -
Members of the Penn
sylvania State Grange
Legislative and Agriculture
Committees met with State
Environmental Resources
Department officials last
Friday in Harrisburg to
discuss water allocation and
usage and how it would
affect agriculture and rural
Pennyslvarua
State Grange Master
Charles E. Wismer, Jr., of
Trappe, Montgomery
County, remarked that the
Specialty exports
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While attention has been
focused on expanding export
markets for grain and oil
crops, export levels for fruits
and other specialty crops
have been growing just as
rapidly, Timothy Regan of
the Office of the U S Trade
Representative, said here
last week
Regan, speaking at the
horticultural crops con
ference at the 62nd annual
meeting of the American
Farm Bureau Federation,
said the U S is not exporting
specialty crops to overseas
markets that were thought to
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TRIPLE H FARMS
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O'Conner told the audience
of 30 predominantly younger
dairy farmers.
Research has shown that
approximately 45 to 50
percent of heats go un
detected, O'Conner said.
The goal of a good
reproduction program would
be the detection of 80 percent
of standing heats, the dairy
specialist said.
O'Conner said that
research has shown that the
best times to check for heat
still remain in the early
morning and evening. In
free-stall housing, the
recommended time spent in
Grangers discuss water allocation for farms
topic of discussion was a
growing concern to his 46,000
member organization,
especially “in light of the
recent drought afflicting
eastern Pennsylvania. ”
John McSparren, of DER’s
Bureau of Resource Plan
ning, reported DER was in
the process of drafting
legislation for a “com
prehensive water allocation
law” to cover both the use of
“ground and stream water”
in Pennsylvania.
Of special interest to the
be inaccessible ten years
ago
"In 1970, nearly 60 percent
of all fruit, vegetable and
specialty crops went fr. one
country Canada,” Regan
said, noting that 1980 hor
ticultural exports totaled
$2.7 billion up from $394
million in 1970
Regan cited Eastern
Europe, the Middle East and
dramatic expo \ growth in
Japan and the Far East as
the primary source of new
export growth in Japan and
the Far East as the primary
source of new export trade
He credited aggressive
Michael O’Conner
Grange was water quality
management, water con
servation, allocations to
agriculture, and the plight of
the small community water
companies.
The comimtte members
were very concerned how
future allocations would be
set. Legislative Committee
chairman Vernon Cox, of
Claysville, Washington
County, noted that
“historical use should not be
used.”
If a farm is classed ac
continue
marketing and the
devaluation of the dollar as
principle forces behind the
increases.
Regarding imports to the
United States, Regan
charged that the Trade Act
of 1974 is not adequate to
protect horticultural
producers from injurious
import competition “Un
fortunately,” he said, “the
way the law is written, the
(US) government simply
cannot act quickly enough to
relieve producers of
perishable products from
injury before producer
returns for an entire season
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717-548-2640 or
717-548-2094
detecting heat would be
three tunes a day for about
30-nunute intervals.
While observation remains
the primary method of heat
detection, O'Conner told the
dairymen to consider
various aides that are
available, such as KaMar
patches or the use of a
testosterone-treated cow.
USDA research in heat
detection at Beltsville, Md.
includes the use of
pedometers strapped to the
legs of cows or German
shepherd dogs who sniff out
the mucous.
Cows in heat do a lot more
walking and the pedometer
cording to its use as a gram
farm in past years, for
example, and its present
owner is in the process of
changing it over to a poultry
operation, there would be no
way he would have enough
water,” he noted.
Another concern voiced by
the Grangers dealt with
water quality management.
Some members were con
cerned that heavy game
populations could create
adverse water quality
conditions and that adequate
increase
are affected ”
In another presentation,
Perry Ellsworth, executive
vice president of the
National Council of
Agricultural Employers,
said the period of special
exceptions for agriculture in
labor matters has passed
Vincent Gigho of the
Florida Department of
Agriculture and Consumers
Services also addressed the
conference, commenting on
the importance of special
state registration of minor
use pesticides under Section
24-c of the federal act
Model SR-1000
records this increased ac
tivity.
O’Conner reported that a
probe equipped with an ohm
meter is also being used to
check the electrical
resistance of fluid in the
vagma of cows. A drop in the
electrical resistance in
dicates the cow is in heat.
As a backup to determine
if cows have been suc
cessfully bred and are
pregnant, O'Conner said that
milk progesterone ayalysis
is now available.
Progesterone is a hormone
that is released into the
blood and the milk and is at
its highest levels when a cow
wildlife management
techniques should be im
plemented to correct this
situation.
Two instances of these
conditions were mentioned.
The first involved the in
creasing duck and goose
populations in the southeast
lakes and ponds. The second
dealt with the beaver
defecation that lead to
Bradford water consumers
becoming ill from a virus in
the feces.
Yet another issue
discussed at the meeting was
the plight of the small
community water com
panies.
The Army Corps of
Engineers recently con
demned numerous dams
owned by a number of small
water companies as unsafe.
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is pregnant. Levels drop
when a cow is in heat.
Samples for analysis
should be taken about 21
days after a cow is bred. The
closest location for analysis
is Cornell University.
Results of the sampling
require careful analysis,
O'Conner explained, since
high progesterone levels can
be caused by factors other
than pregnancy.
But the analysis can be
quite helpful in determining
those cows which return to
heat and have not been bred
successfully.
Since these companies serve
so few customers, many are
unable to obtain loans to
repair their facilities.
DER’s McSparren also
noted that many of their
distribution systems were
outdated, as well.
Consideration was given to
the possibility of the for
mation of a National Water
Utilities Bank “with the
capital and expertise to
provide financial services to
water utilities.”
On water conservation, it
was suggested that more
emphasis be placed on storm
water management,
spraying irrigation land with
sewage effluent to assist
groundwater recharge, and
encouraging private citizens
to develop cisterns and other
measures.