Tl>e
Dairy
* - Business
Ails
Newton Bair
FARMING IS EXPENSIVE
This might be a good tune to
recall some of the familiar cliche’s
like “farming is an expensive
hobby”, "it takes money to make
money”, or “I'd love to farm but I
can’t afford the luxury”. Anyway,
I often wonder just why farmers
are willing to invest several
hundred thousand dollars in a
business that may only return a
very low rate of return on their
investment?
The answer of course is that they
just plain love farming. It’s in the
blood-theres no better way to raise
a family, can't stand city life, or a
long family tradition must be
continued. Dozens of answers can
be found, including the chance of
making money. More likely they
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mean making a living’, and that’s
the real and ultimate reason for
farming.
Farming is expensive
everywhere. In July, we visited a
working dairy farm in
Burgholzhausen, near
Freidrichsdorf, West Germany. It
is a typical family farm, owned
and operated by the father-son
partnership of Friedrich and
Albrecht Wien. They have a small
herd of German Red Fnesians
totaling 2S milking animals and an
equal number of young stock. Most
of their buildings are fairly
modern, and are insured for a total
of $863,000! And that’s only the
beginning of the story.
Albrecht Wien told us that the
land values in that area are greatly
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inflated in the last 20 years. Their
farm land is valued at $22,000 per
hectare if for sale.
The farm consists of 56 hectares,
or 139 acres-{ there are 2.47 acres in
one ha). So that would make the
farmland worth about $9900 per
acre.
Now hold on to your hat! Their
t machinery investment per U.S.
acre is $1123.00! Needless to say,
they have a full line of highly
specialized modem machines. It
includes a self propelled Class
Combine, a special sugar beet
harvester, several tractors, and all
the other equipment needed on a
modem farm. So it begins to sound
a little familiar to us, doesn't if 7
COMPARING NOTES
It is pretty important to compare
notes with farmers in other
Western Countries in order to
understand how we can complete
with them in the world markets for
farm products. We sometimes
think that the United States is the
only country that produces a
surplus of food products. This is
not necessarily so. The free
countries of Western Europe all
have some gram and lots of dairy
products to sell. They face many of
the same problems of over
production and under pricing that
American fanners face. Their
costs of production are high, and
financial survival is only possible
because the Government sub
sidizes agriculture. It's probably a
good thing that it does, or we would
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Just a few more words about that
visit to a German farm. Their herd
of Registered Red Fnesians are
producing about 13,221 pounds of
milk and 580 pounds of fat. They
also lest for protein, and the herd
averages 3.5% protein which
figures out to 462 pounds per cow
Not great by our standards, but on
the other hand we must remember
that the German Reds were
essentially a dual purpose breed
milk and meal.
However, they are breeding the
Red cows to Red Holsteins. using
semen imported from Canada and
the U.S. We recognized some
familiar names like Chief,
Kaseman and Triple Threat. Some
daughters of the Canadian find
U.S. bulls, standing beside their
German bred dams, were 6 to 8
inches taller and much sharper.
Production of milk is also
significantly higher in the cross
bred heifers. They are quite aware
of the value of high fat test as well
as high protein test.
The milk produced by the Wien
herd is sold to a nearby U.S. Army
post, and must meet rigid stan
dards. They get a premium price,
which amounts to about $15.00 per
hundredweight.
UNIVERSITY PARK - Goat
owners and enthusiasts will have
the opportunity to learn more
about managing these efficient
little ruminants at a one day
conference sponsored by Penn
State’s Department of Dairy and
Animal Science in cooperation
with the Pennsylvania Dairy Goat
Association.
The Dairy Goat Management
Conference is scheduled for
Friday, October 28, at the Penn
State Sheraton Inn, State College.
Lecture topics include residue
avoidance in goats, housing and
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ELLIOTTSBURG
CARL BAER
717-582-2648
HAMBURG
SHARTLESVILLE
FARMSERV.
215-488-1025
LANCASTER
LANCASTER SILO
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717-299-3721
Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, October 1,1983-D2l
have to feed them 100, at great cost
to us.
Dairy goat conference
DISTRICT REPRESENTATIVE
JEFF BROWN
717-249-4936
McALISTERVILLE
SANER FARM SYSTEMS
717-463-2606
MOYER FARM SERVICE
215-766-8675
lUARRYVILLE
UNICORN FARM SERVICE
717-786-4158
SPRINGVILLE
JIM'S EQUIPMENT
717-942-6928
TERRE HILL
TERRE HILL SILO CO.
215-445-6736
TOWANDA
LEE & WOLF
717-265-6779
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814-793-3731
Surplus bulls from the Cross
bred Red Holstems are in demand
from their neighbors. They brmg
an average price of 3000 D. Marks,
about >l2OO dollars when sold as
breeders. Even though they ap
pear a bit more beefy than our
bulls, they will go a long way
toward improving the milk
production of German herds
If there is one thing to be learned
from our visit to this German dair>
farm, it is that they face mam of
the same problems as American
farmers, and are struggling with
high production costs, sluggish
markets, and the same vagaries of
weather that we do They respect
and recognize the superior
genetics of American cattle, and
still look to us for leadership in
many aspects of agriculture. But
we should also be aware that they
often surpass us in per acre yields
of gram and other crops. Yields of
100 bushels of wheat are not un
common in Germany, largely
because they are not restricted in
the use of new fungicides, growth
regulators and high Nitrogen
fertilization. Can you imagine
what would happen if you applied
150 pounds of N plus several tons of
fresh manure per acre on your
wheal fields! Flatter than a
pancake, no doubt!
ventilation for dairy goats,
building a market for goat milk,
requirements for selling goat milk,
nutrition, herd management, and
more.
The conference is scheduled to
begin at 9 a.m. and will conclude
by 5 p.m.
Preregistration is requested and
should be made by October 14. A
registration fee of $2O will be
charged. For more information
contact the Dairy Science Ex
tension Office, 8 Borland Lab,
Penn State University, University
Park, Pa 16802, (814) 86S-6491.
133 Cu Ft
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