Registered Cows Equal Merchandising Success
BY GINGER SECRIST MYERS
Adams County Correspondent
MERCERSBURG - “If we
didn’t have registered cows, we
wouldn’t be in the business. Having
' registered Holsteins and being
able to merchandise a few of the
good ones has made all the dif
ference to us,” explains Jim
Burdett of Windy-Knoll-View
Farm, Franklin County, when
evaluating his position in today’s
dairy business.
Jim and Nina Burdett and their
sons, Justin, 7, and Kyle, 3, are a
self-made dairy family that has
achieved success in both the bulk
tank and on the tanbark circuit.
Their 64 registered Holsteins are
rolling at 18,500 pounds of milk and
690 pounds of fat, making them one
of tiie highest producing herds in
the county.
This past spring they exhibited
the first-place senior calf, first
place junior yearling, and the first
place junior best three females at
the State Spring Holstein Show.
Transplants from Montgomery
County, Maryland, the Burdetts
moved to their present 140 acre
farm m 1975. Prior to relocating,
they were farming on rented
ground in Maryland, but had the
land on a 60 to 90 day notice.
Wanting to escape the
Washington D.C. sprawl that was
just thirty miles from their farm,
and seeking a more secure
cropland situation, the newly
married Burdette moved their
The Burdette bred and exhibited this winning senior calf at
the 1986 Spring Holstein Show. Half interest in Windy-Knoll-
View Lotsa Quality was recently sold to Lyle-Haven Holsteins,
Vermont.
BY DR. GEORGE
F.W. HAENLEIN
Extension Dairy Specialist
University of Delaware
NEWARK, Del. - Annual
reports of DHIA records are an
opportunity to evaluate progress
on a dairy farm and to identify
some of the underlying reasons for
success. They can also help other
producers see where they can
make changes to improve their
own dairy income. Recent annual
Delaware DHIA meetings featured
such reports, along with the usual
awards for outstanding
achievements.
One thing these records show is
that it pays to keep high-producing
cows longer because it reduces the
high cost of replacements. The
average age in most herds these
days, unfortunately, is less than 5
years. This means at least one-fifth
of your cows must be replaced with
heifers each year.
At our 1986 DHIA annual
meetings, four Delaware herds
were honored fgr lifetime
production of more than 7,000
pounds total nojlkfat in seven or
more lactations, with more than
160,000 pounds of milk from cows
over 9 years of age. Some of the
herd of 17 Ayrshires and five
Holsteins north to Franklin
County.
Nina, who was raised with beef
and horses, really hesitated
moving into a dairy situation.
However, today Nina handles the
milking duties and cares for the
calves daily.
Jim, who is a protege of the
Johnny Morris school of dairy
cattle judging, was a dedicated
farmer from the very start.
They began their farm with
Ayrshires as they had been Jim’s
4-H projects, but they soon became
disenchanted with their cows. In
his herd Burdett had four National
Show Champions, but couldn’t
command a selling price higher
than $2,500 for any of them. By 1978
the Ayrshires were sold and the
Holsteins moved in.
“We didn’t spend a lot for any of
our Holstein. We bought registered
cows for about $6OO to $7OO. One
night I bought three cows that were
due to go to the butcher the next
day. One of those eventually
scored excellent and the other two
both scored very good,” Burdett
remembers.
Since 1980, the Burdetts have
made only an occassional pur
chase of an individual when they
thought the type and numbers
were right for the price.
Their move to registered
Holstems has garnered for them
the recognition of being solid dairy
managers who still breed for ex
NT",*
Indexing How Top Dairymen Do It
high-producing cows in these herds
aren’t even purebred registered
they’re just grade cows.
Other awards went to the
producers in our state with the
highest genetic merit cow indexes,
honoring the combination of
superior sires with genetically
superior dams that produced
genetically above-average cows.
These cows now qualify as mothers
for future A.I. sires a good
potential source of side income to
supplement that from milk on
these farms.
Farm visits and DHIA records
reveal several other charac
teristics of above-average dairy
herds in our region. Herd size
tends to be larger in herds with
higher annual milk and milkfat
production per cow. And fat tests
are one to two points higher,
reflecting better roughage feeding
programs. This is bortie out by
feeding records over the entire
Northeast, which show that high
producing herds in this region
receive significantly more silage
and haylage per cow per year as
well as more concentrates, of
course, Jjecause of their higher
energy needs.
Nevertheless, the higher milkfat
"TT^
Jim and Nina Burdette pose with just a few of the trophies and awards their show
winning Windy-Knoll-View Holsteins have netted for them. They credit showing and the
registered business for keeping them enthused about dairying.
ceptional type. “Everything we do
here has to pay,” Burdett states.
“We milk in a 16-stall tie bam
with eight in-place units. We don’t
have a fancy feeding program, just
high moisture corn and sup
plement fed twice a day, 14
pounds of hay a day per cow, and
haylage and com silage fed four
times a day. We also plan our
matings to maximize profits; and
we keep everything cost effective
here,” he added.
In reflecting on their showring
successes for the past 10 years, the
Burdetts both agree that while
showing is a costly venture, it has
also been profitable. It has served
as the back door into some very
lucrative advertising for both their
show winners and the cow families
they are derived from.
Tlie Windy-Knoll-View prefix
has been carried by nine homebred
excellents, four Holstein Spring
Show winners in the past two
years, as well as various other
state and county show champions.
To breed this type of Holstein,
Jim reveals, “Type is my number
one priority in a mating. I want to
tests in these herds indicate that
higher concentrate feeding is well
balanced with sufficient amounts
of fiber in daily rations. A
minimum of 17 percent crude fiber
in the total daily ration is required
to maintain at least a 3.6 percent
average fat test.
In addition, supplements such as
sodium bicarbonate, magnesium
oxide, bentonite, cement dust, long
fiber haylage and whole cotton
seed are heavily used by above
average herds to balance fiber in
the ration.
DHIA records also show that our
better herds typically tend to have
less days open for all cows, less
cows not bred 100 days after
calving, shorter calving intervals,
younger age of first-calf heifers,
higher average age of cows and
earlier stages of days in lactation.
Records for all 3,936- Holstein
herds registered in the Northeast
confirm the vdliie of .these
reproduction parameters in
identifying above-averagp. herds.
Very significant differences are
also found in the level of proofs for
service sires used in above
average herds here. Cow indexes,
sire proofs, dam indexes and the
indexes for recent and even
improve the cow on type and then
cover my bases on production.”
Bulls that are presently used in
their breeding program include:
Gold, Valiant, Ned Boy, Starbuck,
and Warden. Twenty-five percent
of the herd is bred to young sires
that the Burdetts feel have ex
cellent cow families behind them.
Burdett feels that the registered
breeder is caught in a “Catch 22”
situation when mating cows for
today’s market. While he agrees
that the dairyman should keep the
index numbers in mind, he also
feels that a breeder should
capitalize on matings from the best
type bulls that will produce highly
marketable show-type offspring.
He is quick to acknowledge that
the number system is in place and
should not be discarded; and he
does have strong reservations as to
its apparent lack of consideration
for cow families.
Jim and Nina feel they will never
catch-up on their numbers, but
note the added income from
merchandising show offspring is
an asset to their cash flow.
Another factor he considers in
current unborn calves differ
significantly in favor of the top
herds.
When you consider that each
cow’s performance is 'limited
genetically to a certain ceiling,
which is inherited by her offspring
with a 25 percent predictability, it
should be of high financial interest
to dairy farmers to invest only in
bull semen with above-average
proofs and above-average
reliability for mating, as long as
the price makes economic sense.
Remember profits from good
feeding and management can
come only from cows that
genetically merit such treatment.
The average difference between
the top half of dairy herds in this
mating is the bull’s protein yield.
While their Co-op does not
presently pay for protein, the
Burdetts do feel it is coming in the
future.
Currently they ship their milk
with Maryland-Virgima
Cooperative. In 1981 they were
named the Co-op’s Outstanding
Young Cooperators.
The Burdetts are anxiously
anticipating this show season as
one of their best. Jim reflects that
investor money has probably
blemished showing for the average
breeder, particularly in the larger
,shows.
However, he is optimistic,
stating, “I think that in five years
the Eastern National Show will
come back to the breeders and the
‘funny money people’ will be out of
it. I try to give people a fair deal in
the showring and when I sell them
an animal."
Added Nina, “It just makes you
feel good when your animal does
well at the show or you talk to
someone who is really pleased with
the animal they bought from you.”
area and the bottom half is 3,500
pounds of milk, with an overall
range of 10,000 pounds of milk.
Last year, Delaware’s top herds
averaged 653 pounds of fat in 17,647
pounds of milk compared to the
lower half of our herds, which
averaged only 517 pounds fat in
14,366 pounds milk.
The producers who own these
above-average herds appear to be
making skillful use of genetics,
feeding, reproduction, heifer
raising and cow longevity. They
also keep good daily and monthly
records.
Let’s see more of this kind of
management. We need it to
overcome these hard times on the
dairy farm!