A36-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 26,1985
Md. offers innovative dairy reproduction workshops
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Despite computerized feed rations
and sophisticated artificial in
semination techniques, one
problem in the nation’s dairy cattle
herds has gotten worse during the
last 15 years.
Dairy experts label the problem
as reproductive inefficiency, and
farmers complain about “poor
breeders” in their herds.
But whatever its name, the
economic input is staggering.
Some $8 million is lost annually in
Maryland alone. This amounts to
$66 per cow, or $5,000 per dairy
farm says Dr. Mark A. Vamer, an
Extension dairy management
specialist and assistant professor
of animal sciences at the
New Oearfield Extension Agent promotes ag, tourism
CLEARFIELD - Clearfield
County has found a unique way to
relieve some of the area’s
unemployment by hiring Penn
sylvania’s first Extension agent
for county agriculture and tourism
development.
“It’s a position created to help
develop jobs and generate en
thusiasm in Clearfield,” says
newly appointed extension agent
Ronald C. Anderson. “(The
position will also help) get people
in the local tourist businesses and
service industries to offer a better
service.”
Anderson will study available
markets and possible farming
projects. Although large business
is being considered, he says his
programs will be aimed at the
small-farm operator.
“My goal is to find ways to
develop income from within the
county,” he says. “There are not
enough ways now.”
Clearfield’s groundbreaking
approach to its unemployment
problem was devised by Clearfield
County Extension Agent Harold R.
Bock and a citizen’s group called
the Agriculture Development
Council. The council realized the
county “needed an individual to
handle agricultural development,”
Bock says.
Funding for the position was the
biggest hurdle. Bock says Penn
State’s Cooperative Extension
Service agreed to put up half the
money for the position and project,
and suggested that the Clearfield
council try the state’s Ben
Franklin Partnership Grant office
Annual Equipment Operators’
workshop scheduled
LEESPORT - The 30th Annual
Equipment Operator’s Workshop
has been scheduled for Tuesday,
February 5, in the auditorium of
the Berks County Agricultural
Center in Bern Township. The
U.S.D.A. Soil Conservation Service
and the Berks County Con
servation District jointly sponsor
this event.
Presenters this year include;
American Telephone and
Telegraph, UGI, Texas Eastern,
Pennsylvania Land Improvement
Contractors (P.L.1.C.A.),
Morrissey Insurance, Penn
sylvania State Police, Penn-
Lanc . Farm & Home tickets available
LANCASTER - Tickets are still
available for the annual dinner
meeting of the Lancaster County
Farm and Home Foundation. The
meeting is scheduled for Thur
sday, Jan. 31 at 6:30 p.m. at the
Farm and Home Center.
In addition to a brief business
meeting, there will be election of
directors for the Foundation.
Entertainment will be provided
University of Maryland in College
Park.
When dairy cows don’t get
pregnant on a regular schedule, a
herd fails to achieve its most
profitable level of milk output.
This inefficiency in production
accounts for two-thirds of the
monetary loss attributed to
reproductive problems, Dr.
Vamer commented. The balance
comes from increased artificial
breeding fees and veterinary
payments.
Reproductive inefficiency has
gotten worse during the last 15
years, he explained, because of the
trend toward larger dairy herds
and more cows per farm worker.
As a result, most cows todav don’t
for the other half.
Bock and the council discovered
that the second half of the funding
could come through the En
trepreneurial Development section
of the Ben Franklin Partnership
Grant program if the money was
used only for agricultural
development. The council agreed
to fund tourism efforts through
other means.
Although Ben Franklin grants
didn’t fund the full amoung
requested, Bock says, $5,160 was
allotted for Clearfield last spring.
“Ben Franklin officials said they
would like to see more funding on
the local level,” Bock says, “and
the county commissioners’ office
has agreed to help.” The effort will
also be supported by donations
from local businesses. ,
After funding was set, Bock and
Anderson mapped out plans for
their objective: more agriculture
jobs and business for Clearfield.
By the end of January, the agents
will have “a package of five or six
major projects we want to
develop,” Anderson says.
“Projects will be created to stir
up interest,” Bock adds. “Our
objective is to put bucks in the
pockets of the people here.”
For example, Bock and An
derson see the possibility of three
small-animal projects for
Clearfield. Since acres of county
land were abused by strip mining,
Anderson sees the possibility of
developing reusable land for sheep
raising. Chickens can be raised on
small private farms for white
skinned meat-a mainstay of fast
sylvania Fish Commission, and
Soil Conservation Service. The
lunch will be sponsored this year
by P.L.I.C.A. and Morrissey In
surance of Ephrata, Pa.
Topics included in the program
will be: safety, computers, in
surance, underground cables,
stream and streambank work,
conservation practice installations
and other timely concerns.
A letter of invitation has been
mailed to all contractors on the
mailing list. Any contractor is
welcome to attend and can make a
reservation by calling the Con
servation District at 372-4655.
by the Greiner family of Berks
County, a widely known group who
present instrumental and vocal
gospel and inspirational music.
Tickets may be purchased for $6
from any director, or by calling
Business Manager Chet Neum,
phone 392-4911. Annual family
memberships may be renewed at
this time for $2.
get as much individual attention as
their dams did.
But hope is around the bend.
New techniques have been
developed for dealing with the
problem. And the federal Food and
Drug Administration recently has
approved some new drugs for use
in lactating cows with reproduc
tive problems.
Information on these new drugs
and techniques will be included in
a series of educational workshops
being conducted across the state,
this winter by the University of
Maryland’s Cooperative Extension
Service.
The workshops will kick off
Phase 111 or the third year of
food chains. Rabbits could be
raised for meat or pelts on smaller
farm properties.
The success of any project
considered, however, depends on
“the potential markets for the
products or service we decide on,”
Anderson says.
When Anderson and Bock settle
on a desirable market, their next
step is to generate program sup
port through the county. Anderson
hopes to light a fire under
agricultural group members,
vocational agriculture teachers
and 4-H representatives.
Tourism is another matter.
Instead of establishing of new
tourist attractions, both extension
agents want to promote what is
already in Clearfield.
“Besides a major fair, we have
an antique car show, flea market
and an assortment of craft shows,”
Anderson says.
No projects have been completed
yet, but Clearfield natives have
backed Bock and Anderson’s ef
forts so far.
“People here have been very
receptive,” Bock says. “They want
to do anything to generate em
ployment.”
HELP REDUCE POLLUTION
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AND
USE GOLDEN RULE -
A MORAL ISSUE
Natural is more profitable anyway (no excuse). You get much free nitrogen from the
air, and plant food nutrients unlock in the soil. You have more and better nutrients in
the crop for the livestock. Much less insecticides needed to pollute soil, hay, water
and purse. Our customers are really proving all these advantages.
at the following meetings. He is a very knowledgeable organic farmer and agronomist.
He’ll amaze you and make you wonder why you didn't go organic sooner, and why you
caused pollution when the natural would be more profitable anyway.
ONE SPECIAL ORCHARD MEETING
Our program with a speical liquid fish spray gives excellent results on trees.
TUESDAY, JAN 29th; 1-4 P.M. Midway Diner, 3 miles east of Bethel on Rt. 78 and 22,
midway between Harrisburg and Allentown.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 30th; 1-4 P M. Leola Family Restaurant Five “miles east of Lan
caster on Rt. 23.
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 30th; 7.30 P.M. (Orchard Meeting) Golden Corral Restaurant
Intersection of Rts 322 and 422, west end of Hershey, Pa. We expect good testi
monials from Adams Co. fruit growers who had healthy peaches with 50% to 80%
reduction of chemical spray
THURSDAY, JAN. 31st, 1-4 PM. Light House Restaurant on Rt 11, three miles north
of Chambersburg, Pa.
There is much to learn Bring your notebooks, your family, friends and neighbors so
that they reduce pollution And our program is producing record yields as a bonus.
Profitable and Efficient
Production (PEP), an ongoing
statewide Extension educational
program for dairy farmers.
Phase I of the program, which
began in 1983, emphasized dairy
cow nutrition. And it introduced
UMDAIR, the University of
Maryland computerized least-cost
ration formulation program.
UMDAIR is estimated to have
saved Maryland dairy farmers $1.2
million in feed costs during fiscal
year 1984, according to Dr. E. Kim
Cassel, Extension dairy nutrition
specialist at the College Park
campus.
Phase II of the Maryland PEP
program got under way last year.
It emphasized milk quality im
provement through reduction of
mastitis infections in dairy herds.
There has not been sufficient time
to measure the economic impact of
this campaign.
But a significant number of
farmers who attended the 1984
winter workshops indicated that
they would make changes in their
milking practices, reports Dr.
Robert R. Peters, Extension
milking management specialist at
the University of Maryland.
Planning for this year’s Phase
111 educational campaign was
begun two years ago by Dr. Varner
and Dr. Joe E. Manspeaker, an
Extension dairy cattle
veterinarian at the College Park
campus. Dr. Manspeaker is an
associate professor in the Virginia-
Maryland Regional College of
Veterinary Medicine.
Their campaign is an improved
version of similar programs of
fered a few years ago by
Cooperative Extension Service
specialists in Pennsylvania and
Indiana. For one thing, it will be a
more in-depth effort than anything
previously offered to farmers
along this line.
But the biggest plus for the
Maryland program will be a first
of-its-kind manual titled Dairy
Integrated Reproductive
Management. Published in
Come Hear PHIL WHEELER from Michigan
ORGANIC CENTER
217 S. Railroad Ave., New Holland, Pa. 17557
717-354-7064
Or call Albert Aucker about the meeting,
Shippensburg, 717-532-7167, or
Howard Weaver, Lebanon 717-273-2480
December 1984, the looseleaf
manual contains a series of 26 fact
sheets authored by dairy science
specialists at land-grant univer
sities throughout the Northeast. It
was edited by Dr. Ellen R. Jordan,
and Extension dairy specialist at
West Virginia University. The fact
sheets are intended for annual
updating.
Already the manual has been
sold in 44 states and seven foreign
countries, Dr. Vamer reported.
Portions are being reprinted as
feature articles in Hoard’s
Dairyman, the nation’s largest and
most well-known dairy periodical.
The manual will be used as a text
for this winter’s PEP educational
workshops in Maryland, and all
participants will receive a copy for
their personal use.
Vamer emphasized that the goal
for this year’s educational
workshops is not how to breed cows
artificially. Rather, it is to help
farmers put together a total
reproductive management
program which integrates herd
health, nutrition and genetics.
Among the new developments to
be introduced at the Maryland
Extension workshops is a
procedure which permits hormone
levels in milk to be measured at
the farm. This enables producers
to determine stage of the estrus
cycle for individual cows. Armed
with such knowledge, farmers can
make more effective use of
prostaglandins and other per
missible drugs.
The enzyme assay process for
measuring hormone levels in milk
has been dubbed with the
acronym, ELISA. Maryland is one
of the states where its practical use
is being pioneered.
During the past two years, the
Maryland Agricultural Ex
periment Station has allocated
$20,000 for developing the process.
Money came from the Avrum
Gudelsky Research Fund which
supports veterinary ' and
agriucltural research at the
University of Maryland.