A34—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 28,1981
Daubert’s Wind Mill Farm tops in Brown Swiss
BY SHEILA MILLER
PINE GROVE - William R
Daubert, a dairy farmer from R 2
Pine Grove, Schuylkill County, has
come a long way from a farm boy
who at age 13 was still milking his
parents’ solitary grade milk cow to
ne dairyman with the top Brown
owiss herd m the entire state.
Of course, Daubert doesn’t claim
to be the sole catalyst for his 85
milking herd’s successful record of
15,341 M, 3 9%, 605 f. He gives a lot
of credit to his sons and wife Rhoda
(Spitler) who put in long hours
getting the dairy operation where
it is today
Daubert, who was born and
laised on the same 98 acre farm
where his operation is run now,
recalled how he and his folks
started up in the dairying business
in 1950 with five Brown Swiss cows
Then, when he and Rhoda were
married in 1953, they bought
sixteen Brown Swiss cows from his
parents.
Over the years, Daubert and his
family have built the top Brown
Swiss herd in the state, through the
use of superior AI sires and strict
culling
Helping out on the farm are four
sons From oldest to youngest,
Dean, 24, is a recent dairy science
graduate of Virginia Polytechnical
Institute, married with a 2-year
old son, Dennis, 23, Schuylkill
County’s DHIA president, married
two weeks ago, Ronald, 21, works
part-time on the farm; and Allen,
14, a student at Pine Grove Area
School.
What has paved the way for
Daubert’s road to success’ Ac
cording to Daubert, genetic im
provement of his herd over the
years is one of the important
factors
We breed 95 percent of our cows
and heifers artifically,” he said,
using the top ten sires available
And, 75 percent of our cows are
home bred - we keep all our
heifers and raise out about six of
our better bull calves.”
One of the Wind Mill Farm’s
bulls, Marty L Toro, is on lease to
NOVA.
Another factor m the top Brown
Swiss herd’s success story is the
feeding program.
“We feed a hotter ration than
most farmers who don’t believe m
pushing their cows,” commented
Dean. “We don’t feel pushing
shortens up the productive life of a
cow the good ones will last until
they’re 10 or 12 years old even if
they’re pushed as young cows ’ ’
As evidence that feeding a hotter
ration works. Dean pointed out,
four of their 2-year-olds milked
over 20,000 pounds last year. And
20 cows in the herd had records
overjthe 20,000 pound mark.
“Four of our cows tested over
1000 pounds fat,” he added “Two
Wind Mill Joan T has attained national recognition in the
Brown Swiss breed for her 2-year-old production record
She was the class leader in the 305 day fat honor roll, and
was featured on the cover of the December, 1980 Brown
Swiss Bulletin. Joan T is classified VG 89.
of the four were 2-year-olds These
were our first young cows to make
that kind of mark since the farm’s
been in business.”
The complete ration fed to the
Daubert cows is a home-mix
consisting of 15 pounds of alfalfa
haylage, 10 pounds of shelled com,
35 pounds of corn silage, 30 pounds
of wet brewer’s grains, plus 7
pounds of soybean meal, minerals,
and sodium bicarbonate free
choice.
The milking string, which
Daubert pointed out has not been
spht into two groups yet, is fed as a
g'roup in the freestall bam, built in
1974 When the cows come into the
stanchion barn for milking, they’re
fed free choice alfalfa, and ad
ditional grain is given to the high
producers
The original bank barn at Wind
Mill Farm was outfitted with its
first stainless steel pipeline last
July Prior to its installation all
the milking was done with bucket
milkers and a dumping station
‘lt was a lot of milk to handle,”
chuckled Daubert, "but then we
knew we had the right weights ’ ’
Another milestone for the
Daubert operation came with the
erection of their first upright silo
for haylage in 1974
"We doubled our herd size that
year,” Daubert recalled The
boys kept asking ‘Why sell the corn
and turn around and pay more for
ready-made feed’’ if you’re
going to grow the grain, you should
feed it, too ’’
As a result, a second silo was put
up in 1978 to store the farm’s high
moisture corn. And, just last
summer, a third silo went up to
hold the corn silage
"Until last year, we used to put
all our corn silage in a trench,
explained Dean “But we have
dogs running around, and they’d
punch holes in the cover as they’d
race across it. Then we’d get
spoilage
"When you have 20 tons of silage
spoil out of the 50 tons you put in
the trench, that’s just too much
waste,” remarked Daubert.
The Dauberts are firm believers
in the benefits of calf hutches, too.
Smce they began raising their
calves outside a little over two
years ago, Daubert claims he’s cut
the mortality rate of calves by 80
percent
“The hutches definitely helped,”
he said "We used to keep the
calves in a concrete stable until we
had so much trouble with scours
our vei told us to make the switch
to hutches immediately. Now the
calves are out as soon as they're
dry
“We try not to let the calves
nurse their dams it makes
training them to nipple buckets
much easier
The Dauberts start their calves
William and Rhoda look over their new crop calf hutches has made a difference, cul
of calves. Daubert says he feels making the mortality rate by 80 percent,
change to raising his Brown Swiss babies in
jsing wi , their high-producing Brown Joam record as a six-year-old earned her top
Swiss cow in the state. Wind Mill Joann, are billing on the state's DHIR listing. She is the
William and Rhoda Daubert, R 2 Pine Grove dam of the top 2-year-old in the nation for fat
left, and oldest son Dean. Classified VG 86, production.
on whole milk for a week, and then
feed them milk replacer. Daubert
explained any ‘bad’ milk is fed to
the calves it’s never thrown out
Once the heifers are a year old,
they are turned out on pasture and
fed as much hay and grain as
they’ll eat The heifers are bred to
calve at 24 months or less, with 25
percent being bred artificially.
“There’s a great market for
Brown Swiss, especially in the past
five years,” observed Daubert
“We could have sold 50 head in the
past year, but we ]ust didn’t have
that many to sell.”
The colored breed’s popularity,
said Dean, stems from their
docility, high milk production
coupled with high protein and
butterfat content
Next week, the Dauberts are
consigning a 3-year-old, Wind Mill
Del Muff, to a sale in Ohio
Although not their top cow. Muff’s
record has put her on the honor roll
-365 d 1-1119,306 m 3 5+ 671 f. They
also consign at the Pa State Sale
and the Maryland Calf Sale
With a track record like the one
established over the years by Wind
Mill Farm, it’s easy to see why
collegiate dairy judging teams
from Penn State, Delaware Valley
College, and VPI stop over for a
practice run on their way to
Eastern States competiton in the
fall
The farm has the high producing
Brown Swiss cow in the state for
1980, Wind Mill Joann. Her 305 day
iccord bu i UJ I '””!k
t% 4 1, and 982 pounds tat as a b
year old. Her fmald 367 day record
stands at 26,827 pounds milk and
1111 fat.
Joann’s sire, Roselawn Topsy
Topper, is rates 400+. Her dam,
Stan Swiss Bnta (deceased.) had a
lifetime record of 114,079 pounds
milk and 4684 pounds fat, with two
lactations over 23,000 pounds.
Two of Wind Mill’s ladies were
cover girls’ for the December,
1980 Brown Swiss Bulletin one
was Joann’s daughter Wind Mill
Ranking second in the national fat production record is
Wind Mill Elegant Roz, classified VG 85, with a 2-year-old
record: 305 d, 18,930 m 4.7% 898 f.
Joan T. sired by Marty L Toro. She
was the national class leader as a
senior 2-year-old for her 305 day fat
record. She produced 21,412 pounds
milk and 903 pounds fat, a 4.2
percent test. Her 359 day record
boasted 24,148 pounds milk and
1040 fat.
Making Wind Mill Farm the first
Bi own Swiss bi eeder to have both
the first and second placings toi tat
production nationwide was the
record turned in by another senior
(Turn to Page A 35)
;ing