AlB-Lancastor Famine, Saturday, December 29,1984
“The little things” lead to success for Bendy Brook.
BY ROBIN PHILLIPS
Staff Correspondent
OLEY Series County is hone to
many successful dairymen and
their great producing cows.
Featured are many Grand
Champions, Gold Medal dams,
Hall of Fame cows, and many
investor animals.
Pete daughter
Good , sound cow
;ood, sound cows”
in the Mast herd. She is scored VG-85 and produced over
22,000 as a four-year-old. Her current projection at five years
of age is 25,606 lbs. milk and 898 lbs. fat.
But this story is not about them.
This story features a young dairy
couple and their herd of 46
registered Holsteins. In the dairy
business since 1976, Nevin and
Audrey Mast and their Bendy
Brook Holsteins have surpassed all
the herds in Berks County. Their
efforts in climbing to the top of the
Pete daughter
Berks dairy
Bendy Brook Farm is a modest farm in the outskirts of Oley.
Nevin, Audrey, and Kerwin Mast look over their latest DHIA records.
1984 DHIA roll succeeded without a n i
lot of money, illustrious facilities, Ddtt&T rcplttCCUlCntS
or expensive breeding stock.
“It’s a lot of little things,” states
Nevin Mast, Rl, Oley, about the
success of his high producing herd.
Bendy Brook Holsteins completed
1984 with a herd average of 22,120
pounds milk, 818 pounds butterfat,
and 710 pounds protein. With this
average, they topped all herds in
milk and protein production and
came in second place in fat
production.
What are the “little things” that
Mast refers too? He feeds his cows
often-six times a day. Without the
benefit of a TJVIR system, Mast
believes if you keep the feed fresh,
the cows will eat more. He feeds
three of the feedings in his stan
chion bam and the other feedings
at an outside bunk
“We try to get as much haylage
in them as possible,” Mast adds,
“ and we always feed grain with the
haylage.” “Feeding often also gets
you to look at the cows more,” he
admits, because problems are
noticed sooner.
“We try to make the best quality
forage,” Mast continues. “I think
how you put it up makes a lot of
difference.” And Audrey adds, “he
likes to chop it up late at night
when the dew is on so that he can
keep the leaves.”
Because he thinks quality
forages are so important to top
production, Mast only maintains
forage equipment and leaves the
rest of the field work to custom
farmers. He also utilizes a sealed
storage silo, “because I believe in
good haylage.” His 110 acres are
(Turn to Page Al 9)
Top of the DHIA roll
Mast's oldest son, Kerwin, stands with him at the individual
calf housing.
Broad spectrum of protein
Mast likes to feed crimped, roasted soybeans.
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