Recognizing A Situation’s Potential Keys Woods’ Success
BY BARBARA MILLER
Lycoming Co. Correspondent
MANSFIELD - The best
registered Holstein herd in Penn
sylvania can be a topic for intense
discussion. Tioga County’s can
didate for the title lies near
Mansfield and is owned by Gordon
and Dorothy Wood.
A point in favor of the Gor-Wood-
D Acres is the composition of the
149 cow herd: 40 Excellents, 85
Very Goods and 24 Good Pluses.
Statistics on the home herd are a
BAA of 108.8 with a rolling herd
average of 20,300 pounds of milk
and 675 pounds of fat. A second
herd housed at their Tioga farm
maintains a BAA of 104.6 with a
rolling herd average of 17,683
pounds of milk and 605 pounds of
fat. The majority of their herd is
homebred.
This year at the Pennsylvania
Holstein Show Gordon Wood won
the coveted premier breeder
banner for the second time, placed
first in the dam and daughter
class, and placed third or better in
five other classes.
The Woods with help from their
son Ron farm 2,500 acres using
atypical methods. Additionally,
the Woods find time to run an
auctioneering business. But it
hasn’t always been this way.
ir
Recognizing the potential in a
situation and bringing it to fruition
be it a rundown farm or a three
teated cow, is an attribute of the
Wood family that has paid off.
Four prior owners had bought
their 200-acre hilltop farm and let
it go back before the Woods pur
chased it in 1947.
“It wasn’t much,” Ron Wood
says, adding that the land was so
rundown that most of the hay from
the entire farm fit into one mow.
The barn was badly in need of
repair and in the winter, Dorothy
recalls, snow flew through the
cracks in the walls of the house.
“Gordon, though, liked the barn
and I liked the house,” Dorothy
says, and they bought the farm.
From their hilltop home the Woods
enjoy a picturesque view of the
countryside for miles around.
Starting with a herd of ap
proximately 40 grade cows,
Gordon worked full time in a
nearby factory to make ends meet
while Dorothy took up the slack at
home. In addition to the rundown
buildings there were other ob
stacles. Their scant water supply
diminished in dry weather, forcing
them to haul water for livestock in
the dry season. The soil was clay,
and in some places just two inches
deep.
But perservering, the Woods
progressed, gradually adding one
nearby farm after another to their
original acreage and increasing
Since the Woods pasture their cattle much of the time, most of their house is
surrounded by cows. The pasture encompasses the house on three sides with the road
completing the square. The barn stands across the road from the house.
the number of cattle. At one point,
after a bam fire, they made the
decision to sell all grade cows and
keep only registered animals.
Their decision paid off eventually,
but at the time it proved costly.
According to Ron, they said 12
grade cows that were giving over
1,000 fat at the time and their herd
average dropped from 18,600 milk,
750 fat to 16,000 milk and 600 fat.
Eventually they purchased the
original Kinnan Farm and later
two other farms at Tioga, about a
half-hour drive from the home
farm. At the 1,300 acre Tioga farm
comprised mainly of river bottom
they house 70 milk cows, keep a
bam for dry cows and have a
heifer barn which holds 120 head of
calves and yearlings. In 1980 they
built an addition on the home farm
bam, installed a manure pit, and
changed the milk pipeline from IV2
to 2 inches..
Organization, Gordon feels,
accounts for much of the success of
their present day operation.
“Overall on everything I do all the
planning,” he says, adding that
everyone has certain respon
sbilities. Dorothy, he reports,
answers the constantly ringing
phone to take and relay messages,
Ron takes care of registering all
the cattle and is herdsman for the
home herd, Michael Wood is
herdsman for the Tioga farm,
William Baily takes care of the
heifer barn and John Cooper helps
with show cattle and with sales.
Success comes from setting
goals, according to Ron. “The
thing is to set goals standards
that are reachable, and then move
them up.”
One of Ron’s long term goals was
to have a herd average of over
20,000 pounds; they achieved this
goal within the past year. Another
goal was to raise their BAA
average; he terms their present
BAA of 108.8 as phenomenal.
“When you go over 108 with a
homebred herd... it’s hard to top.”
How have the Woods gone about
achieving such a top herd? Aside
from hard work and preser
verance, several factors are ap
parent. The Woods started with
good stock. Although Gordon
began with grade cows, many were
of the Rag Apple bloodline pur
chased at a sale in Malone, N. Y.
Additionally, the Woods pur
chase carefully chosen top grade
animals to complement their herd.
Faye, 2E-91, by Lassie Leader,
according to Ron, was one of the
Woods’ all time top cows and also
the most expensive bovines
they’ve purchased.
One day in 1970, Dorothy says,
Gordon invited her for a ride in the
Amish country, whereupon they
finished up at a cattle auction
Ron, left, Dorothy and Gordon Wood stand with their award winning cows in the
background.
paying $B,OOO for Faye to con
signor, Charlie Myers.
“I almost divorced
Dorothy recalls, laughing.
Faye, Hon says, was the highest
lifetime cow they ever had. She
had a very prolific heifer family,
he adds, and 24 to 25 cows in their
milking string are her descen
dants.
A prime factor in making their
herd what it is today, Ron ob
serves, has been getting out and
actually seeing other farms
noting how they do things and
looking at good cattle. The Woods
accomplish this in two ways. With
their sale business they see a lot of
cattle and farms and also when
they show cows. They have been
involved with the show ring for 16
years.
“The sale business forces us to
get out to see other herds,” Ron
says. He adds he’s surprised how
many dairymen never go
anywhere to see how other farmers
do things. Ron reports whenever
he takes a vacation he always
makes it a point to visit farms in
the vicinity. He has visited farms
at various states in the continental
U.S. and Hawaii and claims he has
gathered much useful information
in this way.
Breeding is another crucial
component of a good herd. “To a
young fellow, I’d say don’t hesitate
to buy a three-teater if she has the
breeding behind her,” Gordon
advises.
“But we have bought cows for
their looks,” Ron adds.
i:i ri
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him,”
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**•
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Gor Wood D Creek Harriet is one of the foundation cows at
the Woods' farm. Classified EX-92, she has won All-
Pennsylvania honors as a 4 year old and as a 5 year old. Her
top production record is close to 28,000 pounds of milk.
The Woods agree they try to Another factor contributing to
breed a balanced cow. “We breed the Wood’s prosperity is their
for a cow that has a pleasing type knack for sifting through various
with longevity and that is func- farming practices to find what
tional,” says Ron in summation. works for them. They employ
The Rag Apple bloodline is the several divergent dairy and far
foundation of their herd, Ron ming practices.
explains. Then in sequence, they
used the sires Elevation, Arlinda
Chief sons, and now use Valiant.
Ron attributes the major success
of their herd to Roberta, 3E-94, by
Rockman. “She showed, she
produced and reproduced a true
brood cow,” he claimed.
She won grand champion several
times, state dam and daughter
twice, state produce of dam once,
and two of her offspring went All-
American Ron reports. Although
she’s been dead seven years, four
of her offspring were on the cover
of Holstein World in October.
Out of Roberta’s 13 offspring, 12
were daughters. Five of her
descendants classified Excellent
and eight classified Very Good.
There are 30 of her descendants in
the Woods’ milking herd through
sons and daughters and not
counting the heifers, Ron says.
Currently, their fat level isn’t as
high as they’d like it to be, Ron
admits. He observes that for two or
three generations they used low
test bulls and, “We got caught.”
But Ron says he would much
prefer to have type and production
and select for test since test is
more genetically inherited.
When they cull, according to
Ron, they cull for type more than
for production. “Persistance of
milk is one thing we like,” he adds.
Any cow below 80 points is
automatically subject to culling,
Ron says. Depending upon how
they scored, he adds, they arp
given a second chance.
The Woods believe in pasturing
their cattle and Gordon says it
pays. “We have better herd health
plus better breeding with
pasturing,” he states.
Ron feels pasturing the herd
costs a lot less than just straight
feeding in the barn due to labor
costs. The herd is put out around 9
to 10 a.m. and return to the barn
around 2 p.m. and then turned out
to pasture all night. Ron adds they
try to pasture them near the house
so the cows don’t have a long walk
back to the barn.
Concerning calving and the
raising of calves, Ron says, they
like their cows to freshen in the
pasture if at all possible. Then the
calves are taken to a box stall that
is clean. He gives the calves
colostrum and lets the calves nurse
from a bottle for the first week
instead of a bucket to insure a
smooth consumption of the milk.
After that he puts them on a
bucket. They are given a whole
milk diet with a scour additive. He
has little time for milk replacers.
“I think farmers who use milk
replacer ought to be hung up,” he
states emphatically.
He is a firm believer in hutches
noting that hutch calves are much
more aggresive than others raised
together. At four to five months the
calves are put in tie stalls. The
advantage of this is that they get
accustomed to getting up and down
in a stall which prevents injuries
later.
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