Good Type Puts Big Dollars In This Dairymen’s Pocket
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
When the 26th Pennsylvania
All-American Dairy Show opens
September 25 for a five-day run at
Farm Show Complex, one of its
most unabashed boosters will be
its president, Obie Snider.
“Breeders are showing the typy
kind of cows that will produce
heavy year after year,” this Bed
ford County breeder and Master
Farmer remarks.
Snider noted in the September
issue of Pennsylvania Farmer that
he has been studying pedigrees 38
years to produce durable, long
producing Holsteins. Breeding for
type gives you that, he indicates.
Obie Snider started farming on
his own in 1951 with seven Hols
teins. Today, over half the 180
registered cows at Singing Brook
Farm are classified Excellent or
Very Good and have a current
DHIR herd average of 21,228
pounds milk, 773 fat and 658 pro
tein. Or 50% more than the stale
average.
“Supreme Champion at the
1988 PA All-American shows
how type, longevity and produc
tion mesh,” Snider insists. He says
the 10-year-old “Della” from
Lylehaven Farm, Vermont, classi
fies a lofty Excellent 97 and is
completing a 30,000 pound
record.
“We expect her back at the All-
American this month,” Snider
notes.
Matriarch of the Snider herd is
the 15/4 -year-old. Excellent 91
Singing Brook ML Prissetta who
just finished a 20,000 pound
record.
“Her daughter is no slouch
either,” he adds. “An Excellent 90,
she has a 147,000 pound lifetime
record as an eight-year-old.”
Eight is about average for the
high classified cows at Singing
Brook Farm.
"A lot of cows produce well for
a year or two,” Snider explains in
the current Pennsylvania Farmer.
“Then teats get injured. They have
calving problems. Don’t breed
back. Go lame. Breeding for good
type helps prevent such
problems.”
It does at Singing Brook Farm.
“We don’t doctor more than
one or two cows a month,” he
says.
Another plus of typy, durable
cows are surplus heifers. By keep
ing cows in the milk string longer,
the Sniders are able to sell 20% of
the heifer crop each year.
One of the Snider three-year
olds sold at the 1988 Pennsylvania
All-American Dairy Show for
$12,100.
Jackbuilt Chairman Mandy in
the Singing Brook herd hasn’t
changed Snider’s mind about
good type and strong pedigrees.
An Excellent 92 with such famous
sires as Bootmaker, Ivanhoe and
Elevation in her pedigree, she
averaged 24,710 pounds milk for
three 365-day records, then took
time off to produce 60 Embryo
Transplant calves. Her sons have
been sold to major studs world
wide. Most daughters have been
held back for the Singing Brook
herd. One sells at the All-
American this year.
Snider is partners with his son
Perry Dairy Promotion Committee
And 4-H Create Giant Sundae
NEWPORT (Perry Co.)
How much ice cream and choco
late sauce does it take to make a
75-foot-long iee cream sundae?
Members of the Perry County 4-H
program found out on Friday
evening of fair week as they
assisted the Perry County Dairy
Promotion Committee construct
the colossal sundae. The sundae,
made in celebration of Coopera
tive Extension’s 75th anniversary,
took about 20 minutes to prepare
with over a dozen people scooping
ice cream, others distributing the
peanuts, whipped cream and cho
colate sauce, while still dozens
more stood by with raised spoons
Bruce, and the milk check still
pays most of the bills. “And we
don’t baby the cows,” he emphas
izes. Herdsman Jim Carman puts
60 cows an hour through a 14-stall
carousel. In the seven minute
cycle on the carousel, a Singing
Brook cow is washed, propped,
stripped, milked and teat dipped.
“Hard milkers and problem
cows self destruct in our system,”
according to Snider. “We cull
them,”
Disposition and ease of milking
ready to dig into the delicious
dairy treat.
Becky Kaucher, Perry County
4-H Coordinator, commented that
the construction of the sundae and
the resulting feast allowed county
FFA and 4-H members a chance to
relax and enjoy themselves during
a busy week of competition in the
showring.
While parents and fair visitors
watched from the sidelines, 4-H
and FFA members prepared the
sundae, each foot containing a
slightly different mix of ingre
dients, obviously determined by
the preference of the 4-H member
or FFA member standing close by.
Dave Swartz, County Agricul
tural Agent, remarked that the
sundae construction was a unique
way to remind the county’s resi-
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get high priority.
“It’s one of the first questions I
get from bull studs,” he says.
“Dairymen just don’t have the
time or manpower to fuss with
cows. Cows have to adapt,” he
says.
Snider points out that disposi
tion and easy milking are highly
transmittable... by the bull as well
as the cow.
Are high scoring, durable cows
more fun to work with?
“They sure make the trip to the
bam a lot shorter,” he grins.
’ dents of the 75th anniversary of
Cooperative Extension. He went
on to thank the Perry County
Dairy Promotion Committee for
providing the ingredients for the
event, and extended thanks to
Dairy Promotion Committee
members Beth Rice, Blain and
Patty McLaughlin, Elliotsburg for
their assistance during’ die event
By the way, how much ice cream
does it take to make a 75-foot sun
dae? Rice and McLaughlin pro
vided the following recipe:
10 gallons ice cream
1 gallon chocolate sauce
1 gallon crushed strawberries
2 lbs crushed peanuts
1 gallon crushed pineapple
6 cans Real® dairy whipped
cream
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STORAGE BIN
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WTCNT No: 4,137 AM
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