A22—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 5,1981
BY DONNA TOMMELLEO
EAST TROY Guided by a dream
for the past decade, Bill and Gmny
Davis have toiled long hours to
build their registered Red and
White Holstein herd from scratch
Reknown British philosophei
Disraeli once said, ‘ Life 10 too
short to be little.” And with that
thougnt in mind, Bill and Gmny
have their sites set on being the
number one Red and White herd in
the nation and they want to reach
thathonoi with just 50 cows
This yeai, they own the top spot
in the state ioi the Red and Whites
i’heir bb head finished out at 17,101
pounds of milk and faJ9 pounds ot
fat
The couple left their New Jersey
' roots to begin tarming on the 40U
aue Biadfuid County dairy
Matt-Will, named after sons Matt,
10, and William, 14 In the begin
ning, the barn was nothing moie
than a lew old tie stalls and horse
stalls supported by a dirt tlooi
Their first dairy animal was a
Jersey calf purchased tor their
son’s 4-H project Once the calf
grew into production, the Davises
added more calves on her
Eventually, after many tran
sactions the herd grew from one
Jersey to a Black and White herd
And then one day it happened A
Red and White call was bom in the
Davis herd
Bill and Guiny described the
birth as an accident They hadn’t
selected tor the crimson-coated
baby born to a black and white
dam But they opted to stay with
the breed and began gearing their
breeding program accordingly
once they knew the red factor was
in the herd
• We went to red so we could go to
a registered herd And it's
something different,” Bill ex
plained
The orginal Davis Holstein herd
was comprised of some grades, the
offspring of which would be
ineligible tor registration.
However, the Red and White Dairy
Cattle Association renders the
third generation of a registered
sire eligible for registration. The
Davises explamed the grading up
system is known as “intermediate
registration.” All the Davis
Holsteins the Red and Whites
and the Black and Whites are now
registered with both the RWDCA
and the Holstem-Fnesian
Association of America The Black
Bill, 14, left and Matt, 10, flank a set of twins recently born
on the Davis farm. Calvings at Matt-Will are always a double
treat as the family waits first to see the color and next to see
the sex of the calf. However, in this case, the calf on the left is
a red and White bull, the calf on the right, unfortunately, is a
black and white heifer.
Davis family strives for national dairy ranking
and Whites are registered with the
RWDCA, explained BUI, because
they all carry the red factor.
Although she may agree with her
husband’s reasons for breeding the
Red and Whites, Gmny noted that
life on the color conscious tarm
otters her a double delight
Calving time is especially
exiting Not Only do we look for
ward to the sex ot the call but we
look tor the < elor, too,” she said
You can unagine her delight
three years ago when one ot the top
cows delivered a healthy set ot Red
and White heitei twins. Unlike
many calves born Red and White,
which later change to black in a
lew months, this pan, sued b>
Hanovei-Hill Triple Threat, stayed
ted
The Davises are expecting a
promising future from the twins,
Gracie” and ‘ Ginny.” Their
dam, "Joyce” passed away
i ecently but not before she finished
with 19,997 pounds of milk and a 4.3
butterfat test Matt-Will T.T
Gracie-Red Twin is projected at
21,000 pounds of milk “Gracie”
was recently listed in the leading
Cow Indexes tor the Red and White
breed from the July 1981 Cow
index Summary, which
represented the top 8 percent of all
indexes.
While the herd progressed in the
early years, Ginny was the full
tune farm employee. Bill worked
full-time as a machinist until 1978
when he finally came home to stay.
Together the family watched as
their herd began to take shape The
barn was modernized The Davises
added gutter cleaners and a
concrete floor. The old horse stalls
disappeared and in their place,
rows of tie stalls enough to house
the potential nationally ranked
Red and Whites.
In 1979, an around-the-barn
pipeline was added. The Davises
didn’t know it then, but for the next
lb months they would fight to keep
their heads above water and their
alive.
Soon after the pipeline was in
stalled Bill and Ginny experienced
a dramatic increase in mastitis.
Their somatic cell count soared to
one million and production sharply
tell.
"We knew we had a problem, but
we didn’t know what it was,” Bill
said
Their early ettorts to rectity the
situation were trial and error
Jtt >ll T. Grace-Red Twin, one of the hopes to get “Grade" and her . _..jates to
top indexing cows in the Red and White breed, the number one spot in the country. From left
is surrounded by the William Davis family, who the family includes, Bill, Billy, Matt and Ginny.
Enlisting the advice ot
veterinarians and 'extension
specialists, the Davises checked
the water supply.
"We even pulled the pump out ot
the well,” explained Bill. The
water wasn’t the problem so it was
back to the drawing board.
Next, they quarter cultured the
herd to determine the level ot
subcluncal mastitis That wasn't
the problem, either
Filled with frustration and agony
the Davises watched as their
promising herd slowly slid
downhill. Cows, which had been
projected at 18,000 or better were
now making only 10,000. Thfeir
haylage was testing at 22 percent
protein and yet production con
tinued to suffer.
Morning milking was a gloomy
event because the Davises knew
they had to tace a host ot lopsided
udders, mtectected quarters and
kicking, something which the
normally quiet herd had never
done before.
"There was no desire to go the
barn in the morning,” said Bill.
Often tunes, he explained, he
would walk down the rows ot stalls,
armed with a bottle ot antibiotic in
each pocket
Ginny recalls one painful
morning when she had to treat 24
quarters and was milking only 28
cows
Finally in April 1980, the
problem was isolated. The culprit
turned out to be stray voltage an
ever-growing problem tor the
dairy industry as farms continue to
grow and mechanize.
Once the problem was con
trolled, the Davises were left with
picking up the pieces
‘WeTe now in the process ot
trying to figure out what our losses
were We’re just getting to the
point where we’re breaking even,”
noted Bill The family is still
culling as a result ot the
catastrophe
•The only thing that saved us
was the heifers,” explained Bill.
The Davis 1981 herd consisted ot 85
percent first-calf heifers.
During the stray voltage
problem, BUI said, many cows
would dry up at & months.
"The potential was there,” he
added. Once the problem was
corrected, the cows responded
with a herd mcrease ot 8,000
pounds of milk.
In the Davises’ quest for a number one national herd, this
Red-and White baby may very well be part of the high
producing team.
One ot the pieces left to pick up
was the countless bills the Davises
had incurred during the
frustrating lb-month period
“How can you pay your bills on
18,000 pounds ot milk when you’re
feeding tor 20,000,” recalled Bill.
"We lived a nightmare,” Gmny
admitted. But the nightmare which
threatened to destroy their herd,
their dream and at times, their 15-
yeur marriage, was finally over.
Today every sunrise brings
promise to the Davis bam. The
bulk’tank level is gradually on the
rise and morning milking is not the
dreaded event it once was.
Before the sun peeks over the
endless Bradford County moun
tains, Bill and Ginny are busy in
the barn, running eight units on
their herd. Their mastits
prevention program includes teat
dipping and dry cow treatments.
Meanwhile, the feedmg system
(their son Bill) guides a automatic
unloading silage cart down the
alley.
The largest part of the herd’s
diet consists ot alfalfa and timothy
mixed haylage. The Davises keep
abreast of their forage quality and
test the haylage everytime they
change fields.
To determine this, Bill adds a
small gram mixture to each layer
ot forage in the silo When the
Davises begin seeing corn in the
haylage, they know it’s time to
forage test.
The herd receives the haylage
morning and evening. At noon,
corn silage becomes the main
meal. Bill feeds tor more than 60
pounds ot milk daily and top
dresses the rations with a high
moisture shelled corn, soybean
meal and mineral mixture
While three Davises are busy in
the barn, the youngest. Matt, tills
pahs with milk and water and_
tends calves in their new hutches,
added in March. Eventually, Bill
plans to add a tree-stall barn to
house heiters and dry cows, which
are now kept nearby in a leased
barn.
A manure storage system to
replace daily hauling is also a
future consideration at Matt-Will.
One item Gmny would like to see
changed m the future won’t occur
(Turn to Page A 24)