E6-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, March 22,1986
Young dairyman captures top
place in Schuylkill County DHIA
BY ROBIN PHILLIPS
Staff Correspondent
ANDREAS - Dedication to
learning from listening and
reading, a gradual start in the
dairy business, and a farm in the
midst of “family”, are the secrets
of success behind Schuylkill
County’s highest producing herd.
Owned by Brian and Brenda Ruch,
with their two year old son, Aaron,
Andreas, their herd of 31
registered and grade Holsteins
pumped out an average of 21,843
pounds of milk, 3.8% fat, and 838
pounds of fat with a 3.2% protein,
to top the county list for 1965.
“It was a long way up,” con
fesses Brian Ruch. The 25 year old
dairymen always had the “in
tention of dairying” and used his
years of working for other
dairymen as his “school” for his
future dairy herd. “Talking to
people costs you next to nothing,”
Ruch continued. He states that he
also reads extensively and looks
for dairy informational articles in
magazines and newspapers.
Bom into a family of crop far
mers, Ruch worked for dairy
farmers whenever he could. He
also adds that he learned a lot
working as a milk tester for two
years. “It was a great ex
perience,” he explains. “You saw
what worked and what didn’t,” he
continued.
“I learned that you had to treat
each cow as an individual, not as a
herd,” Ruch says. It is a concept
that he has tried to carry out in his
own herd.
Cows are fed grain two times a
day, hay is fed three times a day,
and silage goes in the manger
nil r-
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Brenda and Aaron Ruch do the feeding chores at the calf
hutches.
The Ruch farm is a well kept, modest farm along Rt. 895 in Schuylkill County. It is
home to the highest producing herd in Schuylkill County.
three times a day. “1 was sort of
skimpy at first,” he explains about
his initial feeding programs.
“You’ve got to keep a cow full all
the time for her to milk really
good,” he explains.
Ruch begins the day be feeding
his cows a “real good quality
timothy hay.” “Then you can see if
a cow is off,” he adds. According to
the young dairyman, this also
helps keep his butterfat levels up
by putting hay into the cow first.
He follows this feeding with his
grain, silage, and alfalfa hay
feeding throughout the day. The
silage and some of the hay are
grown on his farm. The grain mix
consists of a ground com mix with
a 32% supplement added to it.
“Treating each cow as an in
dividual” is carried through in his
breeding program too. “The way I
do it,” Ruch explains, “I use the
red book.” “I look at what the cow
needs. I start at the top of the TPI
list and I eliminate one at a time,”
he states. “I try to match all the
weaknesses of a cow to the
strengths of a bull.” Ruch breeds
his own cows and stays with the top
bulls of the breed. “It doesn’t pay
to breed to average,” he adds.
The results of Ruch’s ways of
thinking are obvious when con
sidering that his start in the dairy
business began with the random
purchase of grade heifer calves to
raise in his parent’s bam over
seven years ago.
“I raised heifer calves with the
intentions of getting started (in
dairying) someday,” Ruch says.
He mainly purchased calves or
bred heifers because of the “longer
life ahead of them,” and “the
chance of getting a real good one
for market price,” he said.
It was January, 1961, that Ruch
began renting his current farm. He
states that it was by “accident”
that he found this barn that was
going to be empty. Within two
days, Ruch and his ten milking
animals and approximately 15
heifers that he had collected over
the years, moved into their present
facilities.
Since he was on owner-sampler
at his parent’s farm from the start
of each animal’s lactations, Ruch
was able to go on official test at his
new farm. He also began pur
chasing additional milking
animals. His herd average at that
time ranged at 14,862 pounds milk
with a 3.9% fat test. He tried to
purchase registered animals
whenever possible and currently
only several grades remain of that
first herd. Grade heifers are now
raised and sold when fresh.
Ruch purchased this same farm
in 1965 when the estate decided to
sell. “I really didn’t know where
else to go,” he adds, saying that he
liked this location. The farm
consists of 60 tillable acres and
pastures for summer grazing.
This self-described “cow per
son” does not own any machinery
and custom hires whatever he
needs. The stanchion barn houses
the 30 plus milkers and bred
heifers, and calves are raised in
hutches.
Before the purchase of the farm,
ag bags were used for three years
for silage preservation. Pleased
with their performance, but not
appreciative of all the shoveling
involved, Ruch needed a silo on the
farm. Lenders understood the need
for labor efficiency in the one-man
operation and a silo was con
structed after the farm was pur
chased.
Ruch states that his lenders were
unpressed with his management
when they reviewed his renting
years. “They saw what we could
do,” he says. Ruch works closely
with his lenders and closely
manages his debt.
Cows were also culled hard in his
first few years to keep production
efficient, according to Ruch.
Calving intervals are also watched
closely. “That’s something that’s
real important to me - calving
interval,” Ruch states. “1 hate to
see a cow stand open too long,” he
adds.
Ruch starts breeding back at 60
days with an average producer and
at9o days with a high producer. “It
really impresses me to have a cow
i
Brian and Brenda Ruch with their son, Aaron, stand with
Sherry, a favorite producer at Ruch’s farm.
freshen the same time every
year,” he adds.
A favorite cow of Ruch’s is
Village Jetstream Sherry, a VG -
87, seven year old, purchased as a
calf. One of Ruch’s 4-H animals,
Sherry was “shown with not much
success.” “The judges said she
wouldn’t turn out to be much of a
cow,” Ruch relates. Sherry is
currently on her fourth lactation
over 24,000 pounds and now is
projected to 26,2G8M and 849 F at
seven years.
Giving him twins almost every
year, Sherry has produced a well
liked daughter. “Sugar”, a VG
Jemini daughter is Ruch’s 864 fat
at four years and eight months of
age.
Another member of this family is
Sugar’s daughter, Sammy Jo, who
scored 84 as a two year old. A
daughter of Chairman, Sammy Jo
completed 18,151 milk with a 3.5%
test at two years of age. “I’m
proud of her. I think she is going to
do things,” he adds.
A “real milk cow” according to
Ruch, is Marcie, a Trump
daughter. Purchased as a fresh
Four attend potato meet
Several potato growers from Pennsylvania attended the
37th Annual Meeting of the National Potato Council, held
recently in New Orleans. Pictured are Noah Kreider,
Manheim; George Wolf, Stewartstown; Keith Masser,
Sacramento and Robert Harwood, Wattsburg.
Sprayer workshop
NEWARK, DE - A workshop to
help farmers gear up their
sprayers for the conung season
will be held Wednesday, March 26,
at the University of Delaware’s
Research and Education Center
(formerly the substation) on U.S.
Route 9 southwest of Georgetown.
The program, which is being
sponsored by the Delaware
Cooperative Extension Service,
will start at 1 p.m. (rain or shine)
in the meeting room and will end
by 4:30 p.m. Depending on the
weather, part of the workshop will
take place outdoors or in a farm
shed.
Topics to be covered will in
clude: nozzle selection, ground
driven applicator pump main
tenance, drift reduction, safety
equipment and sprayer
modifications. There will be a
heifer, Marcie is fresh again at five
years and three months and has
three tests over 130 pounds to her
credit. She has a completed lac
tation at 4-03 of 29,499 M, 3.6% and
1050 F.
“I’m always trying to breed for
better cows,” Ruch says,
“Especially on the type end of it,"
he concludes. He looks forward to a
better genetic herd in the future.
The factor that has contributed
most to Ruch’s success, according
to this modest dairyman, has been
the support of his family around
him. “I live in a good area,” he
repeats. “Everybody lives in the
neighborhood (his family),’’ he
continues. “It’s important when
you’re by yourself,” he explains.
“Take the other morning.. .the
heifers were out. I made a call and
I had help,” Ruch says. This type
of help is greatly appreciated, the
young dairyman points out.
With this modest start in
dairying and the determination to
“breed better”, Ruch has proven
that there still is room for young
dairymen in today’s dairy in
dustry.
demonstration of different nozzle
setups and the resulting spray
pattern uniformity. Another
demonstration will cover boom
sprayer calibration using both
PTO and ground driven pumps.
Commercial pesticide ap
plicators can earn three credit
hours toward recertification m
category 1-A (agricultural plant)
and category 3 (ornamentals and
turf) by attending this workshop.
Extension agricultural engineer
Tom Williams says the workshop is
designed to show farmers how to
get the most from their pesticides.
He suggests they bring pocket
calculators to use in working
through examples on nozzle
selection and calibration. Pa r '
ticipants will receive extension
publications and nozzle catalogs.