Four outstanding Holstein herds showcased on farm tour
BY JOYCE BUPP
Staff Correspondent
YORK - Undaunted by the late
season snow last Tuesday, York
County Holstein breeders slipped
northeast to the warmer and
sunnier climate of Lehigh and
Berks counties, for a look at out
standing investor cattle and high
production family herds.
Hosts for the busload of York
dairymen were Rothrock Farms,
Kempton; Junge Farms, New
Tripoli; Reu-Hel Farms, Mohr
sville; and Hidden-View Farms,
Robesonia.
Rothrock Farms
“Designers of golden op
portunities” says the bright, at
tractive farm brochure of
Rothrock, a summation of the
investor herd philosophy.
Established in 1981 by automobile
dealership owner Bruce Rothrock,
the cattle operation’s aim has been
to develop a farm “of the highest
caliber,” and “one of the premier
herds in the country.” Other initial
goals were to develop an out
standing sale and to eventually
expand to larger facilities.
The first goal has been met with
extreme success. The 21 Ex
cellents, 27 Very Goods and 12
Good Plus animals, majority of
them young cows, average a BAA
of 109.6. Production is equally
impressive, although the 1983
average of more than 22,100 milk
and 796 fat has dropped to 19,000,
due to heavy E.T. flushing of these
super-pedigreed individuals.
Among the outstanding foun
dation cows of the herd are the
Holstein breed’s highest
production twins, Millerhurst
Astronaut Dot-Twin (EX-94) and
Millerhurst Astro-Dash-Twin (EX
-92). The pair were the first sisters
to average 2,000 pounds fat.
Another top family is headed by
the $440,000 Balls Pollyboots
Demand (EX-91).
Both herd and housing are im
maculately kept, in the fatality
built from scratch with attention to
unique details designed for cow
comfort and operational ef
ficiency.
An evaporation systeift located
on the end of the bam air
conditions the tie and box stall
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towers over the York County visitors as they assemble for a
look at the Elwood and Ruth Ohlinger herd in Berks County.
bam, with air drawn over a
radiator-like system of piped cold
water. The herd, in turn, is used to
heat the sprawling complex during
cold weather. A “cow power”
system of heat pumps converts
cow body warmth into heat for
adjoining offices and employee
housing, and heat exchangers pull
heat from cooling milk for
maintaining hot water supplies in
the facility.
Feed rations are fine-tuned
monthly, for a steady 20 percent
protein total mixed ration. Fed
four times daily, the blend is of
haylage, wet brewers gram, high
moisture shelled com, cottonseed
and mineral blend. Sixty-pound
and over producers earn a top
dressing mix of distillers grain,
high moisture shelled com, soy
meal, cotton seed and minerals. A
fifth daily feeding goes to cows
milking 130 pounds per day.
An anti-metal detection system
of handling haylage has proved its
worth according to farm manager
Jack Miller. Haylage passes over
two magnetic areas as it exits the
unloader, and is run over an ad
ditional two magnets in the mixer
wagon.
Modified calf-hutch pens provide
housing for baby calves, in a high
ceihnged, side-opened area,
readily visible to employees and
protected between the bam, office
and young stock complex. After
weaning, bulls and heifers are
grouped in larger pens by age and
size.
Sandblasting of the foundation
stone and original hewn beams
have restored the bank barn to
original beauty. Maternity pens fill
the barn’s first floor, with feed
storage overhead.
Rothrock’s recent Golden Op
portunities sale met another initial
farm goal, setting state records.
And work on the third goal, ex
pansion, is in planning. Already
the milking string has tar
outgrown the initial barn, and will
be handled in nearby rented bams.
A 200-head facility is on the
drawing boards, but on hold until
the future of the dairy industry is
more certain.
Junge Farms
Just minutes away from the
pt
Rothrock Farms. “Special touch” features of the Rothrock box and tie stall barn include
10-foot ceilings: summer water-cooled air conditioning; a "cow power" heat pump
system to convert cow body heat to warm offices and houses; crushed stone and drain
fields under box stalls; and a manager’s office overlooking the entire complex.
Junge Farms. Contented cows take a mid-day rest in the picturesque Lehigh County
setting of Junge Farms. Ray and Karen Moyer maintain a herd average of 19,000
pounds milk and 749 pounds fat on an unusual cattle diet incorporating raw soybeans,
and a mere "taste" of hay per day.
Rothrock farm is the rustic red
barn housing the Junge
(pronounced young-ee) registered
Holstein herd. Owned by Robert
Junge, this high production string
has been managed since its in
ception 15 years ago by former
Bucks County DHIA tester Ray
Moyer and his wife, Karen.
A 1981 tie-stall addition doubled
the previous capacity. Seventy
five are now in the milking line-up,
and plans are to fill the barn to a
full 80 head. Herd average is over
19,000 milk with 749 butterfat.
Classification tabulates to a BAA
on the homebreds of 104.2 and sire
selections are made with an eye
toward high PD statistics, while
maintaining butterfat test
Recently, the Moyers added
protein test as still another
determining factor in herd mating
decisions.
Feeding a total mixed ration,
and a maximum of only two books
of hay per day to the milking herd,
has not cut the four percent fat
test. Since last October, the
backbone protein booster has been
an unusual ingredient--raw
soybeans.
“We’ve had no negative effect
using raw beans,” claims Moyer,
who crimps the high-protein
legumes every day to prevent the
oils from turning rancid and un
palatable. Cows get three and a
half pounds of the beaas in the
ration, with a blend of 60 percent
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haylage and 40 percent corn silage,
run through a Rissler mixer.
A supplemental topdressing is
half bean meal and half a mix of
distillers and brewers grains. An
additional two or up to three
pounds of beans go to top
producers at a bonus noontime
feeding.
In the works at Junge is a new
calf-raising facility, with planned
six-by-six pens, and box stalls for
older groups, all designed for quick
skid loader cleanout. Calves are all
raised, including bulls. Better
pedigreed young bulls go to the
breeding market, with the rest are
fed out as steers, and the majority
custom-retailed by the half.
An earthen dam storage holds
manure, which is moved from the
bam via a ram pump. To eliminate
bedding material tangles m the
system, Moyer harvest the 150
acres of straw with a forage
chopper, then stacks the chopped
bedding above the be stalls in the
upper storage floor of the bank
barn. A large, wheeled wire cart"
holds adequate bedding for a few
days’ needs, and can be wheeled
where needed in the tie stalls.
Reu-Hel Farms
A herd dispersal five years ago
drastically thinned the milking
ranks at Reu-Hel Farms, owned
and operated by Elwood, Ruth,
Constance and Cathleen Ohlmger.
When the last retailer had pulled
away, only the girls’ 4-H animals
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and young calves from the herd
remained.
Now the tie-stall bam is again
bulging at the seams, with 80 head
milking, 66 of the individuals
carrying the farm prefix. A herd of
strong, tall, well-uddered cattle,
they’re milking average is
currently at 20,300 milk and 754 fat
Classification is equally im
pressive, with a BAA of 106 5,
including eight head bearing EX
scorings.
“I enjoy looking at good cows,
says OWmger of this string, among
them 14 daughters of Elevation, su
S-W-D Valiants and four Sweet
Haven Traditions
Special favorite is Reu-Hel
Valiant Cristy, a Valiant owned
and successfully exhibited across
the country by daughter Con
stance. Cristy was All-
Pennsylvania junior yearling and
took high honorable mention m
junior All-American runoffs during
1983. She freshened with a heifer
calf for her 4-H owner, and is now
settled to Tradition under contract
to Sire Power.
Both Cristy and a second out
standing young cow, Reu-Hel
Farms Tradition Ann-ET, are on
the prestigious “Elite” list. Ann’s
Valiant son, plus another young
sire from herd bloodlines, are
currently awaiting proof at Car
nation Genetics.
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