just don’t
let anything detour you,
January Dairy Digest
winter.
THE VALUE OF DHI RECORDS!
While DHIA members appreciate the val
ue of production and management records,
some information is more beneficial than
others. In a recent survey, Wisconsin
cooperators ranked the various record sys
tems on the basis of usefulness of the infor
mation in management of the dairy. The
results of the survey are shown in Table 1.
Tabla 1
Management
Information
Reproduction
Improve production
Feeding
Culling
Health
Identification
Sales
The greatest value of the reproductive
information is that it identifies potential
problems such as, cows and heifers not yet
bred and animals to pregnancy check. Fai
lure to breed back on time doesn’t result in
sick cows or low production it simply
reduces net income. The area of “improve
production” is vividly demonstrated by
comparing DHI cows with non-tesled
cows. In the U.S., this difference is about
5,000 lb. of milk per cow per year.
MOST PENNSYLVANIA
ICE CREAM IS TOPS
Prices of one-half gallon vanilla ice
cream samples purchased from Pennsylva
nia stores varied from $1.69 to almost
$4.00. These prices reflected the composi
tion of milkfat and total solids and quality
of vanilla flavor. There is a price, flavor
and body to satisfy everyone. Generally
the higher priced products were the highest
in milkfat and total solids and only pure
vanilla was used for flavoring.
Results of testing and evaluation on 221
samples were sent to manufacturers. Net
weights averaged about 2.40 pounds per
half gallon and 85% of the samples were
above 2.25 pounds. Milkfat content varied
from about 10% to as high as 16% with an
J aSTvi
j \*y* jcy v
(Continued from Page A 24)
average of about 11.0%. Total solids con
tent ranged from about 36% to more than
42%, but averaged about 39%. Flavor,
body and texture evaluations were made.
Trained dairy product judges rated 82%
of the flavors in the acceptable to excellent
range while 88% of the body and texture
comments were acceptable to excellent.
Generally, you get what you pay for, the
higher the price, the better the flavor, body
and texture.
PENNSYLVANIA MILK
BEST IN NORTHEAST
Rtaponaa-Yas
91 6
91 8
891
81 5
76 9
69 7
52 2
During 1987, 2,343 samples of milk
were purchased from 602 stores in Pen
nsylvania. When compared to 455 samples
from other northeastern states, Pennsylva
nia milk was the best. This was true even
though many of the PA processing plants
are small and the data includes samples
from about 70 farm jugging operations. All
samples were kept refrigerated and tested
within 48 hours of purchase.
Only 13% of the PA stores had milk in
the dairy case at a temperature above 45
degrees, the regulatory maximum. Forty
seven percent of the stores had milk at 40
degrees or below. Pennsylvania had a five
percent advantage for temperatures of 40
degrees or less and had four percent fewer
stores in the 45 degrees and above
category.
There were five percent fewer objec
tionable flavor samples in the PA milk.
Strong rancid flavor accounted for about
half of the samples rated poor for taste for
both in and out-of-state samples. There
were five percent fewer objectionable fla
vor samples in 1987 compared to 1986.
Bacterial quality was similar for PA and
Northeastern samples. Ninety percent of
them met the state regulatory maximums.
Total solids values were lower in the other
northeastern states but PA had six percent
of the samples below the minimum of
11.5% compared to 3 percent for the other
states.
Penn State Offers
Agricultural Information
Owners of home computers with mod
ems can now electronically get current
information for use right on the farm from
the Extension Service. PENpages, a
computer-based library that the public can
access free of charge provides up-to-date
information on a variety of agricultural
subjects. PENpages includes daily, weekly
and monthly reports on dairy, livestock,
water quality, horticulture and pesticides
from Extension specialists in the College
of Agriculture. Other contributors to the
system include the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) and the Pennsylvania
Department of Agriculture (PDA).
“It’s a whole world of information right
at your fingertips,” said Greene County
resident Kelly Cratty. Cratty logs onto
PENpages from his home computer to
access horticulture information.
Harold Schantz of Schantz Orchards in
Lehigh County uses PENpages for updates
on pest information and spraying sche
dules. “I find it a necessity during the
growing season,” Schantz said.
Dan Griffith, Indiana County dairy far
mer and PENpages user, said he accesses
the system several times a week, especially
for the daily news summary and Ag A.M.
provided by the USDA. Ag A.M. is a sum
mary of agricultural news as renorted in
fom saving
6% at Pioneer Days.
At Pioneer, we’re going out of our way to make this year’s
Pioneer Days the best ever.
For starters, you can save 6°/o on Pioneer®brand products
just by paying for your order during Pioneer Days.
In addition, you could also qualify for a free gift.
Plus there are additional programs that can save you even
more on Pioneer products. And we’ll even have free coffee
and donuts.
So whatever it takes, make sure you make it to Pioneer Days
And don’t let anything come between you and substan
tial savings.
Roneer Days, February 22-27
PIONLI R Hi BRIDINTLRNAIIONAI INC
PIONI PR* brand produrtsaa sold subject to the termsand conditions of salt which are part of the lahtlingandsalt documents
Pioneer is a brand nanu numbers identify products “Registered trademark of Pioneer Hi Bred International Inc
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 13, 1988-A25
PIONEER.
BRAND- PRODUCTS
Dls Moints lowa USA ‘C’IOS?
the major media and trade publications. "1
couldn’t get that information somewhere
else,” Griffith said. “Our paper just doesn’t
carry that kind of stuff.”
Griffith also used the reference section
of PENpages. In addition to news items
and alerts, PENpages contains over 2,500
reference documents dealing with agricul
ture topics like dairy farming and livestock
production.
PENpages is available 24 hours a day, 7
days a week. Anyone with access to a com
puter, modem and appropriate software
can log on to the system. A telephone num
ber in each county means that Pennsylva
nia residents can access PENpages with no
phone charges, unless it is a long distance
call to their county extension office. PEN
pages can be accessed using most home
computers. Pennsylvania residents can get
a free PENpages User Guide, Version 3.0
from the Penn State Cooperative Exten
sion or by calling 757-9657. The User
Guide gives software and hardware speci
fication as well as step-by-step instruction
for logging onto PENpages, PENpages
was designed for easy use. Schantz noted
that he had no problem logging on from his
home computer. “I’m not a real computer
buff,” he admitted, “but it’s simple to use,
and it keeps getting easier.”
GIGANTIC
SELECTION
IN
Lancaster
Farming's
CLASSIFIEDS