Dairy mgt. course combines ‘hands-on’ with study
WILLIAMSPORT - The first
class of Dairy Herd Management
at The Williamsport Area Com
munity College is now history and
personnel at the college hope
history will repeat itself becauses
the program has become a success
story, not only for the College but
for its graduating class.
One of the exciting aspects of the
Dairy Herd Management program
when it began a year ago at the
We salute
the dairy farmer
For providing us with delicious, high quality dairy
products all year 10ng... for continuing service and
dedication to the welfare of our community... we say
thanks.
Service is our business, too,
feed needs.
(3 WOLGEMUTH BROS, INC. jgSfo
VTf V MOUNT JOY, PA gig°r7
'fcjir PH: 717-653-1451
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CHARLOTTE HALL, MD.
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Community College was that
students would have the op
portunity to learn hands-on at a
working farm. When the College
accepted the Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture’s offer
to use the state farm facilities two
years ago, several doors were
opened.
Foremost, it provided the first
opening the College had to give its
agribusiness students an op-
81
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portunity to combine practical
application with classroom theory.
The two-year, associate degree
agribusiness students have par
ticipated in farm chores, learned
about operating farm machinery
and viewed first-hand how record
keeping relates to the world of
Agribusiness.
When the College made the
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Danville State
Farm
DON LOHR Northern MD& Southern PA 717-684-8431
HAROLD BRECHT ... North Central PA Rep 717-356-7962
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JAMES H. McKENNY. Southern Maryland 301-257-2572
decision to offer a one-year cer
tificate program in Dairy Herd
Management, the Danville farm
was there for students to utilize
and has proven an excellent
training ground for the first class
of students.
The Danville State Farm
Laboratory houses 110 dairy cows
and 60 head of replacement stock.
The herd produces more than
18,000 pounds of milk with 700
pounds of fat.
The farm provides opportunities
for experience in all phases of
dairy fanning as the entering class
of students soon learned. The 16
students (all full-time but one)
spent at least two days a week,
from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Farm
and participated in all aspects of
the day-to-day farm operation.
Besides learning proper milking
techniques, the dairy students
learned breeding, health care, feed
rationing, and crop raising. Dairy
Herd Management instructor
Robert Patton (himself a farm
owner) prepared the students in
classes at the College’s Earth
Science Center near AUenwood
before busing them to the Farm to
apply theory of practice.
In classroom
In the classroom, Patton em
phasized to students the need to
develop keen decision-making
skills, especially relating to
financing and managing a dairy
business. He accomplished this by
presenting students with the many
problems encountered on a daily
basis on a farm. He posed such
problems as: “When is it best to
repair a piece of farm equipment
and when is it more economical to
replace it?”; “When do you call
the vet, when do you doctor
livestock yourself or when it is best
or Bulk! S
INC.
SALES REPRESENTATIVES
to sell? ”; “How many crops do you
need to plant?’; “What crops do
you need to raise for your type of
farm?”; “What’s your return on
investment and facilities?’’; “Is
your farm showing a profit and
what do you do about it if it’s not?”
Patton then made students solve
the problems and relate it to what
they were learning at the farm.
One example of the way Patton
related classroom work to prac
tical application is the artifical
breeding instruction. After theory
was stressed in the classroom,
students cut apart reproductive
tracts obtained from slaughter
cows at a meat packing plant.
Instructor Patton says, “When
breeding a cow artifically, you can
only feel your way around.
Dissecting reproductive tracts
showed students exactly what they
were feeling.” Students then
practiced artificially breeding the
Danville State Farm cows and
eventually became certified
breeders.
Of the 15 full-time students
'enrolled in the program, 14
graduated on May 12. Most of the
students who had come to the
College from “home” farms
returned to those farms. Of the
others, all have jobs. A number of
graduates, hired as herdsmen, are
reporting starting salaries of
between $12,000 $15,000 a year.
Of the 14 students completing the
program, two were women. For a
new program, these figures in
dicate its strength, especially since
no attrition was experienced. To
date, 11 students have enrolled for
Fall‘o4.
This year, eight microcomputers
have been installed at the Earth
FERTILIZER MATERI
BAG OR BULK
AMMONIUM NITRATE
AMMONIUM SULFATE (G) 21-0-0
NITRO-FORM 38-0-0
BORON 10% (G)
BORON B-12 WATER SOLUBLE
CALCIUM NITRATE 19% C
15>/2%N
DAP (DIAMMONIUM) 18-46-0
IRON 40% (G)
K-MAG (225-18MGO-22Kz 0)
MAP (MONOAMMONIUM) 11-52-0
MICRO-MIX (G)
MG-58 (MGO 96%)
MURIATE OF POTASH
NITRATE OF SODA
NITRATE OF SODA
POTASH
NITROGEN SOLUTION
POTASSIUM NITRATE
ROCK PHOSPHATE
31% Paa 32% CA
SULPHUR COATED UREA 36-0-0
SULPHUR9O%
SUPER PHOSPHATE
SULFATE OF POTASH
TRIPLE PHOSPHATE
UREA (GRANULAR)
UREA (PRILLED)
ZINC 20% (G)
Graduation
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FERTILIZER
IS
0-0-60
15-0-0
15-0-14
30-0-0
13-0-44
0-20-0
0-0-50
0-46-0
46-0-0
46-0-0