C4-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 14,1986
Trigon Parlor Proves to be a Three-Sided Marvel
BY BARBARA RADER increased milk production by one
Butler County Correspondent t° n •
VOLANT Trigon parlors have The Martin Brothers, Dave and
been described as three-sided Dick, have been milking cows for
marvels. The Martin Brothers, 28 years in a 25 tie-stall barn with a
Lawrence County, can attest to pipeline system. They decided to
this statement even though their renovate following a five year
trigon milking parlor has been decision making process where
operational for only five months. they explored possible parlor
Combining the parlor with a designs and other options,
computerized feeder, also “Milkers’ knees” and saving
operational for only five months, time were the two main reasons for
has saved three tons of feed and the brothers to eventually decide
on the trigon parlor design.
Part of the automation in the Trigon parlor are automatic
take-offs and a clean-in-place system shown here.
Five stalls are used with the computerized feeder in the
125 cow herd.
Blaine, Dave Martin's son, checks on the computer. He
handles the programming and operating of the computer.
Options Seminar To Highlight Penn Ag Grain Meeting
EPHRATA William Barclay,
marketing manager for
agriculture and metals complexes
of the Chicago Board of Trade, will
be the special guest speaker at
Penn Ag Industries’ annual Grain
Meeting to be held on June 30, at 7
p.m. at the Shawnee-Lancaster
Resort Inn, located on Route 222-
North of Lancaster. (Note: the
Shawnee was formerly the
Conestoga-Lancaster Resort Inn.)
Barclay will also be conducting a
seminar on Agriucltural Options
from 3 p.m. - 5 p.m. prior to the
Grain Meeting.
The Options Seminar includes a
reivew of the principles of hedging,
This addition became the focal
point of a five part remodeling
operation. Included in a 28-by-60
pole building are a parlor holding
area, milk house, utility room and
an office.
While the physical expansion
was the most visible change, other
changes have occurred as a direct
effect of the addition.
Most noticeable has been the
2,000 pound increase in the herd
average although the number of
cows has remained the same.
Since its completion in January,
the herd average has reached
17,500 pounds of milk and 650
pounds of fat on 125 head. This
average is up considerably from
its previous level of 15,500 pounds
of milk and 575 pounds of fat in
December.
“We were told we would have a
great increase, but we didn’t really
think that it would go up a ton!”
Dave stated. The herd has been
running a 3.9 percent test most of
the time and milk is picked up
every day from their 1,000 gallon
tank, he added.
Milking time has also been
reduced by an hour with the 16-
stall Tngon parlor. Now, only IV2
hours are required to milk the herd
of registered Holsteins and Brown
Swiss.
One of the time-saving features
of the parlor is automatic take-off.
With this feature, only two people
are required in the parlor at
milking time. Under optimum
conditions, up to 100 cows per hour
can be milked with this system.
Six stalls are located on two
sides, with four stalls on the third
side. This parlor was bought by the
Martin brothers from a farm in
Ohio were 18 stalls were used. Two
stalls were removed from the third
side of parlor in order to fit it into
building. Also on the third side, the
back wall, a 36 inch ventilation fan
was installed.
In use in the parlor is a 60-40
alternating pulsation; a three
inch, stainless steel, milk lowhne;
a 10 horsepower vacuum pump;
and a four-inch PVC vacuum line.
Adding to the time saving
characteristic of the parlor is a
clean-m-place system.
No feeding is done in the parlor
as the cows receive all a complete
ration in the 76-by-122, 105-stall,
freestall bam in use on the farm.
The cows are fed haylage and com
silage topdressed with minerals at
a 90 foot feeder that runs through
the middle of the bam.
Protein is fed with a recently
added computerized feeder.
Five stations, or feeders, are
used to feed high moisture com
and soybean meal. The com is
stored in poly bin and the soybean
meal is stored in a homemade
wooden bin. Feed is moved from
the bins to the stations by an auger
system.
Blaine, David’s son, records all
needed information from the latest
DHIA sheets. Also used with the
computer is a simplified keyboard
and printer.
Breeding information and
feeding records, also recorded in
the computer, can be read
anytime. Feeding records change
approximately every 12 hours as
consumption data on each cow is
received. A cow not eating can
easily be spotted as her number
and the amount of feed she has
consumed during the day is always
right before them.
Presently, with the com-
minimum price contracts, and
concepts and applications in
volving options on agricultural
futures. The latter half of the
session will discuss applications of
trading strategies for today’s
markets.
For more information contact
Amy Jo Newell, 717-733-2238.
putenzed feeding system targeting production continues to climb,
the individual cow’s nutritional With production continuing ti
needs, they have reduced the rise, and the computerized feedei
amount of soybean meal fed by saving money for the brothers, th<
over three tons per month. In spite five year decision making perioc
of this reduction in feed, the milk appears to be time wisely spent.
The Martins grow all of the feed used on the farm. They
farm a total of 1,100 acres of which 400 is used to grow corn
and 250 acres is used to raise hay. Dave Martin is busy filling
silo here.
Butler County Correspondent
Barbara Rader
Barbara Rader has
served as the Lancaster
Farming Correspondent in
Lawrence, Butler, Beaver
and Mercer counties for
over two years.
Coverage of dairy,
livestock and home
features, as well as a
variety of meetings, sales
and fairs has provided her
with some “memorable
experiences.”
She is a 1969 graduate of
Conneaut High School and
married her husband,
Harold Rader, in the fall of
the same year. They joined
his parents in a partnership
on the elder Raders’ dairy
farm. Presently Harold
and Barbara own a herd of
60 cows, registered
Holsteins and registered
Ayrshires, near Con
noquenessing. They own
about 180 acres and farm
an additional 200 acres that
lies within a three mile
radius of the home farm.
Barbara is the mother of
four children, Lena, 15,
Harold Jr., 14, Sharon, 8,
and John, 4. Another “farm
product” is due in October,
She has been active in 4-
H since age seven and is
currently a nine-year
leader of the Butler
County-Wide 4-H Dairy
Club. She has sen ed on the
Northwest 4-H District
Dairy Committee and was
the District Show Chair
man on the l‘-H5 show.
Barbara has also been the
district representative for
the Pennsylvania Junior
Dairy Show
She was one of the
original committee
members, and chaired the
first annual Northwest
District Two Day Dairy
•*r*
Barbara Rader
Workshop.
For five years she had
held the position of Penn
sylvania Ayrshire Youth
Coordinator. Prior to this,
she served several years on
the state’s youth com
mittee. ‘Many activities
and programs, have been
focused on the state’s youth
since my leadership has
begun,” Barbara notes.
In addition to this, she'
was the Pennsylvania
Youth Committee Chair
man for the successful 1986
National Ayrshire Con
vention and Sale. In this
role, she organized ac
tivities and programs for
the youth at the Con
vention.
She is a member of the
Penn-Agn Women as well
as several other farm
organizations.
“I enjoy photography,
activities with our
children, crafts, sewing,
and the family’s hobby
vacation of showing
Ayrshires and Holstems,”
she said.