D2S-UmcaiUr Fanning Saturday, April 7,1990
VERNON ACHENBACH, JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
CHAMBERSBURG (Franklin
Co.) A group of Lancaster
County dairymen loaded up on a
bus last week and spent a day here
seeing how some of their peers do
business in another part of the
state.
Roger Mills, chairman of the
tour committee for the Lancaster
Holstein Association, said he orig
inally farmed the lower Franklin
County area, but sold that place
more than 20 years ago and moved
to the Lancaster area. He said the
trip was like going home again.
The group visited four Holstein
operations ranging in size from a
multi-building freestall parlor
operation with a herd of more than
200 and plans to double that, to an
older-style heavy-beamed tie-stall
bam operation that had just started
to use a permanent pipeline
system.
The lower Chambersburg area is
characterized by rolling hills dot
ted with numerous limestone out
croppings and just the start of the
suburbanization that has hit hard in
central, south central and south
eastern parts of the state.
In this area of the limestone
crescent that arcs from Maryland
south of Franklin County, up
through the Cumberland Valley,
Lebanon Valley, and down
through the Lehigh Valley, farm
Touring farmers check out the milking parlor at the Rice
operation.
land is still the most dominant part
of the landscape and Holsteins are
the most dominant part of that.
The first operation visited is
owned by Clifford Hawbaker,
called Hamilton Heights. It is a
sixth-generation 234-acre “Cen
tury Farm,” and the operation also
includes 57 additional acres own
ed, and 190 acres rented.
His 210 milking cows have a
cumulative average of 17,939
pounds milk, 635 butterfat. Of
those cows, 42 are registered and
132 arc young stock
He said he manages by objec
tives. tries to make the best use of
resources and strives for excel
lence. His tools for managing
include using DHIA, the Franklin
County Crop Management Asso
ciation, a private tax consultant,
ABC Linear-mate, and an IBM XT
computer, with Dairy TRAKPIus,
AGRIFAX accounting, Agn-plan
ration balance, LOTUS 123 and
Display Write programming.
He also uses the cooperative
extension services, U.S. Depart
ment of Agriculture’s Soil Conser
vation Service (SCS) and Agricul
tural Stabilization and Conserva
tion Service, the Holstein
Association and Farm Credit.
Hawbaker employees six peo
ple: a field and feed man for 13
years, a fulltime milker for seven
years, a parttime milk and field
Lancaster Dairymen Tour Franklin County Farms
hand for eight years, and three
part-time workers.
Crops include 210 acres of com,
180 acres of mixed hay, 50 acres of
alfalfa, and 10 acres of small
grains.
He said his herd objectives are
to breed for a functional-type cow,
a dairy cow with the ability to
improve the offspring and for
longevity. He said he wants first
lactating heifers to produce an
average 17,000 pounds of milk and
then go on to a second lactation of
more than 20,000 pounds.
The layout of the dairy opera
tion includes three large freestall
buildings set parallel and stag
gered to each other, and separated
by exercise lots.
A large main dairy building is
parallel to the freestalls and is
located at one end of the row. In the
future, he said he plans to add a
row of parallel freestall buildings
and exercise lots on the other side
of ihc milking building and build
the herd to more than 400 head.
A little farther south is Rice
Crest Farms run by Fred and Dale
Rice. The operation also has 210
dairy cows, but the two have no
plans to add more.
Two specific methods of operat
ing at the Rice farm drew interest
from the touring dairymen; the
manure system and the bedding
system in the lower of two freestall
buildings.
The manure system consists of
an alley scraper and a gravity fed
system to a storage lagoon.
According to Fred, the cows
don’t mind the slowly moving
scraper blades and the cabling.
The bedding system of interest
was a sloped bed with about 8
inches of clay. On top of the clay,
Fred said a couple of inches of
sawdust are lain. On top of that, a
heavy duty, canvas duck-like
material is set, tacked at the top
and draped down over the end.
Still yet, about twice a week, the
pair place additional sawdust on
top of the canvas.
Fred said he’s found that “cows
want something soft.”
Talk between the dairymen
about dirt and sand as bedding led
to the conclusion that those mater
ials are too much work, even
though apparently enjoyed by
cows. The canvas, clay and saw
dust combination seems to offer
the best solution to cow comfort
and maintenance, according to
Fred.
He said that Mason Dixon
Farms experimented with the bed
ding style and that, while “they do
get dirtier,” the cows prefer it. He
said one cow in particular would
not use cement or wood but reacted
well to the softer offering.
The alley scraper was installed
after Fred read about the system in
a farming magazine, he said. The
cost for their entire manure system
came to only $15,000. A big differ
ence from the cost of other systems
recommended at the time, Fred
said.
The next farm visited was Gay
mere located nearby. It is a
registered Holstein operation since
1960 and in three-way partnership
between father Harold Gayman
and sons Mark and Grant since
1978.
Working on about 800 acres of
land, 400 of which are used for
cash cropping, the family opera
tion milks 180 cows (on test) in
two different groups, according to
Grant.
“We have a low group and a not
so-low group,” he said of his milk
ing herd.
The Caymans have been no
tilling alfalfa for about 7-8 years
and no-dll all their com. Grant
pointed to the field and showed
that they plant a rye crop in the fall
for a cover crop for erosion
control.
He said last year their biggest
problem with milk production,
similar to many reports across the
state, was forage.
Their herd is all registered and
“homebred.” He said his father has
maintained a closed herd since
about 1966.
The outfit milks with a double
four herringbone parlor and also
have a freestall alley scraper. He
said they also made the alley scrap
er system for the Rice brothers.
A difference in the manure sys
tem, however, is that the Caymans
(Turn to Pag* D 29)
The open roof structure at the Rice farm shows some of the newer ventilation being
promoted for better herd health.
Fred Rice shows other touring dairymen the fabric covering
used to create a softer bedding area for his herd.