A3o—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 14,1984
Students and DHIA benefit in testing program
BY LAURA ENGLAND
OGDENSBURG - Earlier this
year, the Pennsylvania Dairy Herd
Improvement Association (DHIA)
was looking for a way to improve
its association and continually
meet standards set by the National
DHIA Association. At the same
time, three Penn State students
were hoping to get more on-farm
work experience and get a taste of
agriculture, Pennsylvania-style,
during their summer break.
Fortunately for all involved, the
students met up with the DHIA for
what has been, so far, a mutual
and beneficial encounter.
According to Ray Pruss, ad
ministrative assistant for the
DHIA, the association needed to
improve its ability to test each
herd 12 times a year. Problems
were experienced when scheduling
vacations and hiring new per
sonnel - there were no available
milk testers to step in and take
over. The DHIA saw a need to
correct this and “not fall short” of
national standards, Pruss said.
To compensate for the problem,
the DHIA developed a summer
assistant program this year. The
idea, Pruss explained, was to hire
Penn State students who would
substitute for vacationing
supervisors or fill in where needed.
Other benefits were noted, also.
“The program will provide in
teraction with the University,”
Pruss added. “It will' also give
students the opportunity to see
different farms.”
It was this opportunity, to see
agriculture Pennsylvania-style,
that prompted Penn State students
Karen Long, Bill Middleton and
County goes over DHIA record sheets with Diane Spencer,
Roaring Branch.
jng, om their busy schedules as DHIA employees are, from left, summer
assistant Craig Williams, fieldman Jay Wilson and summer assistant Bill Middleton.
Craig Williams to apply for the
summer assistant positions.
Karen, the daughter of Fred
Long, Akron, is a junior majoring
in dairy production. Having grown
up on a 28-acre farmette in Willow
Street, Lancaster County, Karen
said she wanted more farm ex
perience.
“I like to try a little bit of
everything for experience,” she
explained about her past and
present involvement in
agriculture.
As a high school student, Karen
participated in FFA activities and
received a chain dairy calf through
the Penn Manor FFA Chapter.
This helped to boost her interest in
dairying, which eventually led to
her selection in attending Penn
State. There, she has found ad
ditional farm experience through
the Penn State Dairy Science Club
and most recently the DHIA
summer assistant program.
“The job is very interesting, and
you get to see different dairy
operations,” Karen said. “Also,
you fill the supervisors shoes and
learn that each one has his own
way of doing things.”
Learning “something new every
day” is how Bill, a senior dairy
production major, sums up his job
as a summer DHIA assistant. The
son of William and Jenny Mid
dleton, Pleasantville, Bedford
County, Bill worked on various
farms as a youth and found he
liked dairy cattle enough to make
it a career.
“I would like to get a herd
together sometime,” he said,
adding that he currently owns 15
Holsteins.
As Bill realized, though, having
cows is not all there is to dairying -
one needs to learn management
techniques. And each farmer has
his own way of doing just that.
“When I’m testing, I really get to
talk to the farmers and see how
they manage their farms,” he said.
Unlike Karen and Bill, who were
not raised on large commercial
- summer assistant jren Long, Akron, takes a milk sample from a cow on the
Harold and Donald Bollinger farm, Lebanon County.
farms, Craig grew up on a 120-head
Jersey farm in Dauphin County.
The son of Tom and Tiz Williams,
Middletown, Craig wasn’t quite
decided about a future in
agriculture and enrolled in the
marine biology major at South
Hampton College, Long Island,
N. Y. He was there for one year.
“When I talked to people (at
school), I realized what I had in
agriculture,” Craig said about his
decision to transfer to Penn State.
Now a dairy production major,
Craig said he also wanted to ex
perience agriculture and see how
other farmers manage their
operations. Like Karen and Bill, he
found that opportunity through the
DHIA summer assistant program.
“You get to work at another
farm and see how they do things,”
Craig said. “It’s a good ex
perience.”
Before the three Penn Staters
could begin their “experience,”
they were required to take a DHIA
short course at Penn State. During
the course they were taught how to
operate the diffent types of milk
meters, to read, prepare and ship
samples and how to read and
explain the DHIA record sheets.
With the training behind them,
Karen, Bill and Craig were sent to
their county areas and became
full-fledged milk tester assistants.
But, as all three explained, their
training went well beyond the short
course at Penn State.
For Karen, the biggest lesson
has been in dealing with the dif
ferent ways the fulltime milk
testers do their job and how far
mers expect her to follow the same
routine.
“I try to get things into a pat
tern,” she explained. “I know I
on the DHIA record sheet.
have to get a lot of information. ’ ’
Bill has found this to be true in
his case also. “Every tester has his
own way to do things,” he added,
“and we have to learn to adapt.”
Adapting to different techniques
has not been the only lesson.
Reading and understanding the
DHIA record sheets has been the
basis for experience in trial and
error. This has been fairly simple
to correct, Craig explained, with a
quick phone call to the DHIA office
in State College.
Despite the learning lessons, the
three assistants say the overall
experience is worthwhile. Not only
are they learning about fanning
techniques, but by the end of the
summer they will each have put a
fi
Craig Williams, a DHIA summer assistant from Middletown,
Dauphin County, prepares to take a butterfat sample. Craig
was testing on the Charles Groover farm, Tioga County.
will have seen various parts of
Pennsylvania.
To date, Karen has worked in
Chester, Dauphin, Lancaster and
Lebanon counties. Bill has
traveled through Centre and Tioga
counties, and Craig has been
assigned to eastern Pennsylvania,
including Bedford, Centre,
Chester, Dauphin, Perry and Tioga
counties.
Through the DMA summer
assistant program, Karen, Bill and
Craig said they have gained in
valuable experience. On the other
hand, the DHIA has found a way to
meet national standards.
And, not to mention, as an extra
incentive, one of the three students
$5OO scholarship.