BY MARY MAXWELL
Centre County Correspondent
BELLEFONTE Ron Houtz
wants a bigger milk check and he
wants it consistently.
The Centre County dairyman
claims that only component pric
ing of his Jersey milk with its high
solids of protein and butterfat will
allow his herd to reach its potential
earnings in the marketplace. In a
component pricing program, far
mers earn premiums for improved
quality and protein level.
Houtz, like most color-breed
dairymen, is outnumbered by
Holstein farmers who make up
90% of Pennsylvania’s milk pro
ducers. But many Holstein produc
ers who have high-protein produc
ing herds, also feel that component
pricing is an advantage. However,
advocates of this policy have not
been able to influence their co-ops
and marketing organizations.
“Organizing is the answer,”
says David Kitt, Field Service
Manager of United Dairy
Cooperative Services in Syracuse.
He cites the example of four small
co-ops near the Pennsylvania-New
York border who, along with the
MAXkSL
Nutritional Value
Purina MAXI-SIL™ is a pre-
Bnnd
servative that retains and
protects the nutritional content
and value of your silage longer.
Spoilage and
Waste Reduction
Purina MAXI-SILTM mini-
Bnnd
mizes spoilage and waste in
silage stored in upright,
trench, pit or bag silos. Palat
ability is retained longer in
trench silo, silage facings and
in feed bunks.
Contact Your Farm Consultant For More Information
6 S. Vintage Rd.
Paradise, PA 17562
(717)442-4183
(717)768-3301
Registered trademark of Ralston Purina Company
Is Component Pricing For You?
Jersey CatUe Club, drew up a
marketing contract with Detrich’s
processing plant based on compo
nent pricing. This means that milk
which goes to the southern New
York plant is tested for the level of
milk solids and premiums are paid
accordingly. The Delrich plant
uses the milk to manufacture the
powdered, whole milk needed by
the M and M Mars and Hershey
companies to make milk choco
late. These dairymen organized
and got a favorable marketing
plan, even though Detrich’s also
buy other farmer’s milk under the
usual marketing plan.
Farmers who consistently sell
their milk to cheese plants often
have the component price option
since cheese yield is directly
related to the protein level in the
milk used. But it is dairymen like
Ron Houtz, an Eastern producer,
who do not consistently find their
milk being sold to component
pricing outlets. A great deal of the
time, Houtz’s milk goes to a large
bottling plant in New Jersey which
is not interested in paying a pre
mium for high protein levels. It is
SILAGE ADDITIVE
kssMus
S 3.
[ PURINA CHOWS 1
only when his milk goes to the
Leprino-run cheese plant in Wav
erly, N.Y., that Ron Houtz’s check
contains the 10 cents/cwt. upfront
plus improved quality and protein
premiums.
Blair Smith, Extension Ag Eco
nomist at Penn State, says that the
location of the milk producer may
affect his options. In Houtz’s case,
his Jersey herd is relatively iso
lated in Centre County so that he
has less opportunity to combine his
high protein and butterfat milk
with other similar producers to sell
at an improved price. If the Houtz
farm were in Ohio, western Pen
nsylvania or western New York,
component-pricing oudets would
be nearer. Unfortunately for
Houtz, he is located on the western
edge of the fluid milk market.
Smith and Houtz both see an
improvement in marketing options
ahead, however. With the trend
toward increased consumption of
milk products, both men feel that
component pricing based on pro
tein level will become more com
mon in the near future.
Palatability
Purina MAXI-SIL™ contains
Brand
enzymes that aid in the rapid
production of natural lactic
acid producing organisms and
result in a sweeter smelling
and tastier silage.
Treatment
Purina MAXI-SIL™ is avail-
able in SO lb. bags, enough to
treat 50 tons of silage. Note:
Follow application recommen
dations.
Rt. 82
Unionville, PA 18375
(215)347-2377
Brand
Lancaster ftfmrhfl. SaliiMay, Ai/tfuSt h, t987-Al!>' ‘
Centre County dairyman Ron Houtz (right) and his
son Ed discuss their DHIA records while looking over
their Jersey herd. Houtz Is an advocate of component
milk prices.
30 YEARS AGO
- Total drought damage this
year is estimated at $12,050,331
by County Agent Max M. Smith in
a special report released Monday.
This would be a loss of about 32
percent from the bumper crop of
1956 and 40 percent of the value of
the 1955 crop.
Spiith based his figures on an
average of the 1955-56 crops,
which would make the overall loss
about 35 percent of normal.
Hardest hit, according to Smith,
is the silage crop which is cut 50
percent. At a 40 percent loss are
com, hay, pasture and potatoes; 30 1
percent of the value of the tobacco
crop is lost; a third of the vegetable
crop, a quarter of the oat crop; a
tenth of the fruit crop.
- Now Is The Time... To Deter
THIS WEEK
mine Forage Needs... To Prepare
For Winter Oats... To Beware Of
"Silo Filler” Disease.
- Governor George M. Leader
said this week that although formal
requests from Bucks, Montgom
ery, Berks and Chester Counties
for federal drought aid have not
reached his desk, that he can “in
good conscience recommend Fed
eral disaster aid.”
“As a man who has spent most
of his life on a farm, I think I know
a little about what farmers believe.
The farmers we talked with on this
trip are typical of fanners through
out the State. They make a habit of
standing on their own two feet,
with reliance in themselves, and
they don’t ask for any kind of help
unless they really need it,” the
Governor added.