A36-Lancastor Fanning, Saturday, November 24,1984
Differences
BY LARRY C. JENKINS
Penn State
Extension Economist
Pennsylvania dairy farms differ
widely in terms of net farm ear
nings and the capacity to support a
farm family. Of the state’s dairy
farms 25 percent are highly
profitable. An additional 53 per
cent earn moderate profits. A third
group, representing about 20
percent of Pennsylvania dairy
farms, are barely paying cash
expenses.
The difference in earnings
among dairy farms is largely
explained by three factors: ef
ficiency in use of feed, size of farm
DHIA meeting
10-15
March
PHOENIX, Az. - The 1985 Dairy
Herd Improvement Association
(DHIA) convention will be held
March 10 to 15 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Convention planners expect a
record attendance and are working
hard to make it a memorable event
for conventioneers from all over
the country.
To help kick off the convention,
the Arizona Holstein Association
has rescheduled its annual Black &
White Weekend show, sale, dinner
and western barbeque. Regularly
held in February, it will begin
Friday, March 8, so interested
DHIA members can arrive a few
days early and take part in that
activity.
The convention itself will start
with an annual board of directors
meeting on Sunday, March 10.
Convention headquarters will be
the Hyatt Regency Hotel, located
in the heart of Phoenix, the
nation’s ninth largest city, and
program sessions will be held
across the street in Hie newly
expanded Phoenix Civic Plaza
complex. The planning committee
has arranged special low rates on
rental cars for visitors who wish to
tour the area on their own. Also,
but tours have been arranged to
various points of interest, in-
Lackawanna
plans
tomato session
NEWTON-An all-day program
on tomato production and
marketing will be held Thursday,
Dec. 6, from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at
Thompson’s Dairy Bar on the
Newton Ransom Boulevard at
Newton in Lackawanna County.
The speakers include Peter
Ferretti, Penn State Extension
vegetable specialist who will
evaluate the tomato varieties
grown in four locations in Penn
sylvania last year. Also on the
program are Kathy Demchak,
research assistant in plant
nutrition at Penn State; Dr. Alan
Mac Nab, Extension plant
pathologist and James Garrahan,
Pesticide Coordinator, Depart
ment of Agriculture.
All commercials growers
producing processing or fresh
market tomatoes are invited to
attend to get the latest results on
research conducted by Ms.
Demchak in Lackawanna County
on the most efficient production
relative to the number of plants
per acre. Dr. Mac Nab will explain
the identification and control of
bacterial diseases on tomatoes.
Reservations for the meeting
and lunch must be made by sen
iding $6.50 with your name and
1 address to the Lackawanna County
Cooperative Extension
Association, 200 Adams Avenue,
.Scranton, Pa. 18503 by Friday,
Nov. 30.
in dairy income due to feed,
debt, and level of milk production
per cow. All these influence cost of
production and net farm income.
The cost of producing milk
varies inversely with net farm
income, that is, farms with low
production costs usually have
higher than average earnings. In
contrast, high cost of production
farms are characterized by low
earnings.
There is a substantial difference
in cost of producing milk on
Pennsylvania dairy farms. That
difference covers a range from a
low of $lO.OO per cwt for a group of
low cost-high earnings farms to a
cluding the Arizona Dairy Com
pany’s production facility and the
headquarters of the nation’s first
reclamation system, the Salt River
Project.
Delaware dairy farmers in
terested in attending the con
vention should contact University
of Delaware extension dairy
specialist Dr. George Haenlein
(302-451-2523).
We Salute These Buyers, Whom You Will Note Include
Businesses and Industries Related and Non-Related to
Agriculture... They Have Generously Given Realistic
Support to America's Outstanding Youth Farm Project...
THE 4-H CLUBS of CHESTER. DAUPHIN and LANCASTER COUNTIES
high of |13.36 per cwt of milk
produced for a group of high cost
low earnings farms.
The cost measure used is cash
expenditures including feed,
veterinary and medicine, supplies,
utilities, and five other cash ex
pense items. Overhead (fixed)
costs such as depreciation and
property taxes are not included in
the cost measure. If these
overhead cost items are included,
they would add $1.75 to $2.50 per
cwt to cost of producing milk,
depending on the type of facilities
and equipment available and how
intensively those facilities are
used.
The cost figures quoted come
from a summary of financial in
formation from 718 Pennsylvania
daip' farms. That summary also
indicated a wide range in net farm
income. One group of low cost-high
return farms averaged net ear
nings of $538 per cow. A second
group of farms that had high cost
and low net returns reported
earnings of only $52 per cow. The
income difference of $486 is largely
explained by differences in ex
penditures for purchased feed, size
of debt, and level of milk
production.
Spending for purchased feed
varied from a low of $409 per cow
Proudly Presents the List of Buyers of the 41st Annual Penna.
Southeast District 4-H Baby Beef Sale Held at the New Holland
Sales Stables, Inc. - Saturday, Nov. 17th, 1984
RAND
VINTAGE SALES STABLES, INC.
PARADISE, PA
Agway F««d Store,
Saiunga, PA
Agway Farm Store,
Lebanon, PA
Virgil Baker Masonry,
Elizabethtown, PA
Baum Meat Packing,
Lansdale, PA
Chapman and Good
Concrete Co..
Elizabethtown, PA
Creek Hill Motors,
Brownstown, PA
Downlngton National
Bank, Downlngton,
PA
Dutch-Way Farm
Market. Inc.,
Christiana, PA
Em Tran, Inc.,
Elizabethtown, PA
Ephrata National Bank.
Ephrata, PA
Farm Credit Service.
New Holland, PA
Farm Credit Service,
Quarryvllle, PA
Farm Credit Service.
Lancaster. PA
Garden Real Estate.
Thorndale, PA
Greider Farms, Inc.,
Mt. Joy. PA
The New Holland Sales Stables Inc.
HAMPI
R.D. Hackman and
Sons, Inc.,
Elizabethtown, PA
Hamilton Bank, Lancaster
James S. Herr,
Nottingham, PA
Kingsway Realty.
Lancaster, PA
B.R. Krelder and Son, Inc.,
Manhelm, PA
W.E. Krelder, Inc.,
Washington Boro, PA
Paul H. Kurtz, Inc.,
Lltltz, PA
Lancaster Livestock
Reporter,
Lancaster, PA
Forney F. Longenecker.
Lltltz, PA
Magic Auto Glass,
Elizabethtown, PA
Martin Limestone. Inc.,
Blue Ball. PA
New Holland Farmers
National Bank.
New Holland, PA
B. Titus Rutt Agency. Inc.,
Mt. Joy. PA
Norman D. Sauder,
Manhelm. PA
Earl Umble, Lancaster. PA
Union National Bank,
Mt. Joy, PA
West Chester Bank.
West Chester, PA
debt, and milk production
on high earnings farms to $528 per
cow on low earnings farms. The
$ll9 difference is apparently
related both to the physical
quantity of feed purchased and
efficiency in use of that feed. The
low earnings farms spent $4.06 per
cwt of mUk produced for pur
chased feed. Since there were only
minor differences in crop yields
and feed crop acres per cow among
the low and high earnings farms,
this difference is apparently not
due to variation infarm feed
production.
Size of debt and interest expense
is a second reason for net income
differences among dairy farms.
High earnings farms are
characterized by relatively small
debt and low interest expense.
Among the farms included in this
study, the high earnings group
averaged debt per cow of $1,379
and annual interest expense of $124
per cow. In contrast, the low
earnings group of farms had a debt
of $2,941 per cow and interest
expense of $2BB per cow.
Differences in milk production
also play an important part in
earnings differences on Penn
sylvania dairy farms. High ear
nings farms averaged milk sales of
14,065 pounds per cow. Milk sales
averaged only 13,031 pounds per
WEAVER W. MARTIN
EAST EARL, PA
cow at the low earnings farms.
difference in milk production
resulted in a difference of $97 per
cow in gross milk sales.
The three factors
outlined-purchased feed, size of
debt, and level of milk produc
tion-account for nearly 80 percent
of the net cash income difference
between high earnings and lo«
earnings dairy farms. The
remaining difference is explained
by several factors including ex
pense for veterinary and drugs,
supplies, utilities, repairs, and
miscellaneous items that reflect
general management efficiency, it
seems that low earnings farms an
not as well managed as the high
earnings farms.
The high earnings farms i,>
eluded in this summary were
composed of 187 units or 26 percent
of the total group of 718. The lon
earnings group included 154 farms
and represents 21 percent of the
total.
A mid-earnings group was
composed of 377 units or 53 percent
of the total farms included in the
summary. This middle earnings
group had net farm income of $295
per cow, cash cost per cwt for
producing milk of $11.43 and milk
production per cow of 13,953
pounds.
HAMPI
4-H SHOW LAMB BUYERS
Champion Lamb
Engla Butinan Equipment
Reserve Champion Lamb
A Friend Of The Wooliet
Creek Hill Motors.
Brownstown, PA
Dr. Werner Fetter.
Elizabethtown, PA
Jack Godeck,
Marlboro, N.J.
Harrisburg Country
Club, Harrisburg, PA
Hamilton Bank,
Lancaster, PA
W.E. Kreider, Inc.,
Washington Boro. PA
Farm Credit Service,
Lancaster, PA
Farmers Ag Credit Corp.
Lititz, PA
Lancaster Livestock
Reporter, Lancaster, PA
Forney F. Longenecker,
Lltltz, PA
New Holland Sales
Stables, Inc.,
New Holland, PA
Relnholds Lumber and
Supply Co.,
Relnholds, PA
Paul Rlsh Assoc., Inc.,
Quarryvllle, PA
Wayne Wetdman,
New Holland, PA
Elvln H. Yeagley,
Elizabethtown, PA