A3B-Lancasier Fanning, Saturday, September 19, 1987
GINGER SECRIST MYERS
Adams County Correspondent
LITTLESTOWN If imita
tion is the most sincere form of
flattery, then having one of your
children chose to follow in your
career footsteps must be extra
complimentary to a parent. At
Penn Gate Holstein Farm, just
such a transition is taking place.
Bob Gitt has, in the past year,
passed the management reigns of
his herd over to his daughtei Chris
sy and son-in-law Steve Wood.
Steve and Chrissy are the fifth gen
eration of the family to farm the
red-clay soil of the homestead
located just north of the Mason-
Dixon line.
Bob relates that the name Penn
Gate was derived from the farm’s
location. It is just minutes into
Pennsylvania from Maryland,
hence it is at the gateway into the
Keystone State. But the name Penn
Gate, which strikes a chord of rec
ognition with Holstein breeders
across the country, almost faded
from the registry records in 1973.
That was the year of the Allen
Dairy Dispersal. Bob put a picture
of his Penn Gate Duchess Abbey
cow in the catalog, offering her for
sale at private treaty. After the dis
persal sale was over, representa
tives of London Dairy in Michigan
came to Penn State to see that cow.
They purchased Abbey that day
and with her, 110 head from the
rest of the herd.
What remained of the Penn Gate
herd were 45 head that included
blemished cows, late breeders,
stale cows, and a few heifers. Still,
they all earned the Dunloggin, Rag
Apple, and Ivanhoe blood that Bob
had crossed so successfully in the
Abbey, Alice, and Betty families
in this herd. These rejected cattle
served as the genetic foundation
for the 70 head of milking cows
housed in their tie-stall bam today.
Chrissy added, “Except for the
cows that Steve brought with him,
everything here is homebred
today. We bought two real good
cows from Harold Crider’s sale
several years ago, but I can count
‘on two hands all the cows we’ve
bought since 1974.”
In 1986 Chrissy’s husband
Steve Wood joined the partnership
and both Bob and Chrissy credit
him with the herd’s improvements
in production and calving interval.
Their rolling herd average is cur
rently at 19,000 pounds of milk
and 695 pounds of butterfat. The
number of cows producing 1000
pound butterfat records in the past
year has almost doubled.
His feeding program includes
25-30 pounds of com silage per
cow per day, an 18% flaked feed
Penn Gate Farm sets along Route 97 Just north of Littlestown. The irm,
which is Just minutes Into the Keystone State from Maryland, houses one of
the state’s best known Holstein herds.
Penn Gate
fed three times a day at a ratio of
2:1, and all the good alfalfa-grass
mixed hay the cows will clean up.
Steve and Chrissy met at a cow
show in Virginia. An accom
plished dairyman in his own right,
Steve was co-manager at Bayville
Farm at that Ume and also cam
paigned several of his own cattle as
well. Hailing from a dairy family
with a commercial set-up, Steve
describes himself as a tie stall,
registered cow man who is mis
placed when milking cows in a
parlor.
He brought several of his own
cattle to the Penn Gate operation
including a VG 87 point Glendell
daughter with 30,000 pounds of
milk out in her last lactation. She is
currently springing to a service by
Starbuck.
While managing the dairy and
caring for their new son Clayton
keeps them busy, Steve and Chris
sy still make time for the tanbark
circuit. Recently they swept the
classes at the South Central PA
Championship Show. They cap
tured both the Premier Breeder and
Premier Exhibitor banners.
Looking over their show win
ners, the string included some
young Valiants and Enhanser
daughters, but the bulk of the
breeding is Elevation, Astronaut,
and Chief.
Lamented Bob, “There are no
bloodlines in our breeding today.
There’s no more Dunloggin or Rag
Apple. It’s whatever makes a
quick buck. We still breed tor
strength and longevity here.”
There are sixteen cows in the herd
with over 100,000 pounds of life
time milk production.
Steve explained their breeding
philosophy further, “We don’t
have many index cows here. We
realize there is a place for indexes.
We try to breed to correct a cow’s
faults. I won’t intentionally try to
lower a cow’s index, but I won’t
mate her to what I think is the
wrong bull just to raise her index.
We’ve started using more Cana
dian bulls here to help keep the
strength in our cattle. We try to use
index bulls in the right places.”
Chrissy added, “The best tools
Steve and I have'are our eyes. We
get out to shows and visit farms
and look at the daughters of the
bulls. Two years ago we saw some
Enhanser daughters and really
liked their dairy character. We
started using him right away and
now some of our best young cows
are by that bull.”
One such young cow is Penn
Gate Enhanser Fashion. Although
she started out her lactation with a
D.A., she is predicted to make
17,763 pounds of milk and 664
f i
Owners Hit Bull’s E
I
4*l
*
mm *rn
A herd favorite at Penn Gate Farm is Penn Gate Elevation Flashie (2E-91).
Her best record was made at 7-1 365 D 32,412 4.3% 1382 pounds of butterfat.
Flashie has four consecutive records over 1000 pounds of butterfat and aver
ages a 4.0% protein test.
grounded nners, trophies and remembrances of past achieve
ments, three generations of Penn Gate breeders pause for a photo in the
farm’s office (L to R), Steve and Chrissy Wood, their two-month-old son Clay
ton and Bob Gitt.
pounds of butterfat. Her dam is a
herd favorite that is currendy
attracting export interest. She is
Penn Gate Elevation Flashie
(2E-91) by Elevation with her best
effort at 7-1 in 365 days of 32,412
pounds of milk 4.3% and 1382
pounds of butterfat.
Steve and Chrissy both see
showing as an intregal part of their
merchandising program. With
help from Bob, who now does
most of the farming, Robin
Thompson as their relief milker,
and Richard “Pepper” Lehman as
their help at shows, the Woods
take out a string that sets the stan
dard for the rest of the competition.
Steve notes that if you aren’t mer
chandising your cattle to supple
ment your milkcheck, then why
maintain your registration papers?
Chrissy summarized, “It’s much
easier these days to sell them to
make money, than it is to buy
expensive cows to make you
money.”
Pennsylvania
Director’s Conference
The Pennsylvania Dairy Herd
Improvement Association’s
Annual Statewide Directors’ Con
ference was held at the Sheraton
Penn State on September 2 & 3.
The conference is conducted to
give directors from local (county)
boards an opportunity to visit with
state DHIA staff members, and to
leant more about the activities of
state DHIA as well as direction for
the future.
Over one-hundred local direc
tors from around the state attended
the conference and discussed
issues such as National DHIA
4a
With their reputation for quality
cattle, their merchandising prog
ram on schedule, their contact)
with the export market opening up,
and a real enthusiasm for then
occupation, this young couplt
seems to have drawn the bead ot
the bull’s-eye for their success
DHIA Holds
rules and changes in due process
study reports from the reorganiza
tion task force, information fron
the National DHIA ‘new genera
tion’ committee and new servici
options and programs which an
becoming available through Pen
nsylvania DHIA. Dr. Willian
Heald gave a report on the start
Cooperative Extension Servici
and Dr. Joseph Hlubick discusser
the progress made on the ne'
nutrition system being develop*
for DHIA. District directors’ me*
ings and discussion periods wfl
also a part of the 2 day-conferend