A26-Lancaater Firming, Saturday, April 21,1990 / FOCUS f"' 1 / Ptnnsslwnii / - Djirv Mini ‘ . . . , \ Call I 800 DHITFST for service or information Impiourmnl Association \ DHIA Names Manager Of Special Services Geoffrey Barr Manager of Special Services Geoffrey Barr has joined the staff of PA DHIA as manager of special services. The board of directors of PA DHIA recognizes the increasing demand for specialized records and services to meet the manage ment needs of dairymen members. Geofs primary responsibilities include providing both on-site and off-site support for the ARIS program. He will be developing and field testing new computerized record keeping programs and providing the necessary field,level input. Also included is the preliminary work with electronic cow identifi cation systems and hand-held, on farm data entry. Geof comes to us from British Columbia, Canada, where he was the general manager of British Columbia Dairy Herd Improve ment Services. A graduate of the University of British Columbia, he has held pos itions in extension organizations, agricultural credit, and DHIA. He has recently served as a co chairman of the joint Canada/ United States Unified Data Task Average Farm Feed Costs For Handy Reference To help farmers across the state to have handy reference of commodity input costs in their feeding operations for DHIA record sheets or to develop livestock feed cost data, here’s this week’s average costs of various ingredients as compiled from regional reports across the state of Pennsylvania. Remember these are averages so you will need to adjust your figures up or down according to your location and the quality of your crop. Com, No. 2y - 2.850 Wheat, No. 2 - 3.732 Barley, No. 3 - 2.134 Oats, No. 2 - 1.6870 Soybeans, No. 1 - 5.659 New Ear Com, - 76.6927 Alfalfa Hay - 1340.00 Mixed Hay - 107.75 Timothy Hay - 103.50 Force sponsored in part by National DHIA. This group is seeking to find common ground for on-farm/mainframe computer communications. Mr. Barr is presently located in the southeast section of the state and services developed will be made available statewide as resources allow. More informa tion concerning his project will be released in the near future. Gary Sheppard Westmoreland Co. Dairy Agent Pastures mean profits for many Pennsylvania farms. How many times have you wished for a feed ingredient that could maintain high milk produc tion and keep cows healthy? I sup pose the search for the great dairy cattle elixir will continue for time eternal. In the mean time, perhaps we should re-examine the basics of cattle nutrition and see what can be done while waiting for this great discovery. As basic as the concept is, there is no substitute for high quality forage in a milk cow’s ration. High quality does not necessari ly mean high protein but it certain ly means high energy. Not only will high energy forages produce milk, increases in forage intake levels as a percent of body weight will also occur. High forage rations are cheaper to feed and healthy for the cow. Clearly, the major function of your feed crop program should be to produce an excellent forage. Getting forages harvested on time is the biggest barrier to over come in the quality game. How often have you been confronted with the need to finish com plant ing at the same time the first cut ting of alfalfa is ready? How often does the weather leave you in a situation where you DHIA Graduates Announced Graduates of the Pa. DHIA Field Service Training Seminar held recently at State Col lege pause briefly from their studies. Seated, from left, are Ross Bokfosser, Cumber land County, Mary Ellen Armstrong, from Crawford County, Robin Starceski, Warren County, and Don Feaser Jr., Cumberland County. Standing, from left, are Darren Little, Centre county, Dave Mitchell, Susquehuanna Co., John Mummau, Franklin County, and Earl Bonnie Jr., from Snyder County. Pastures Mean Profits must harvest 100 acres of hay in 2 or 3 days? Time always seems to be in short supply, especially ‘for the average Pennsylvania farm with mostly family labor and limited capital. These farms tend to have around 50 milking cows, limited silo space and some marginal ground. The challenge to these farms is to find a forage system that requires less time. The solu tion in many instances is simple, GET MORE HELP! Cows are capable of feeding themselves. Somewhere in this era of space-aged technology we for got that cows were built to graze. Properly designed and managed controlled grazing systems can help pastures produce at least 3.S tons of hay equivalent per year. This equals the Pennsylvania average alfalfa hay yield of 3.2 tons/acre. The major differences with controlled pastures versus average hay fields are that cows do all the harvesting and quality is often higher. The easiest controlled grazing system to properly manage is the intensive grazing system. The bas ic principle is a daily rotation of animals through pasture lots sized for complete grazing. Once grazed, the paddock will be rested until the crop grows back. For a native forage like a mix of Kentucky Bluegrass and White Clover, the cows would graze a paddock when the grass was 8 inches tall and not return to that paddock until the grass had regrown to 8 inches. The rest per- How Does Your Herd Compare? STATE COLLEGE (Centre Co.) —This data is pulled from Pennsylvania DHIA’s mainframe computer each week. It is a one-week summary representing approximately one-fourth of the herds on test, as they are tested monthly. These data are valuable from a business man agement standpoint and can be used for compar ing your operations to the averages from almost 1,400 herds across the state. DHIA Averages for all herds processed between 4/02/90 and 4/09/90 Average Days in Milk Per Cow 315 ♦Value for CWT Milk(s) 14.09 ♦Value for CWT Grain(s) 8.11 ♦Value for CWT Hay(s) 4.31 Number of Herds Processed 1,399 Number of Cows Processed 80,413 Number of Cows Per Herd 57.4 Milk Per Cow (Lbs) 16,782 %-Fat 3.70 Fat Per Cow (Lbs) 622 %-Protein 3.20 Protein Per Cow (Lbs) 537 iod insures the health of the in its fastest growing stage and pasture. maximizes quality. Cow perfor- The short height keeps the plant (Turn lo Pagc A 46) ■ On The Did PA DHIA Probably the most disliked aspect of DHIA is the Official rules. Contrary to popular belief, however, the official rules arc not primarily intended to provide a way to punish DHIA members, although that is sometimes the result of them. They are designed to provide a uniform standard for the collection, processing and use of DHIA record information across the United States. And in that regard, they are absolutely essential to the record keeping business. Also contrary to what some may think, management and staff do not make the rules, nor does USDA. They are made by dairy men, leaders, producers just hire you, who take their responsibility seriously and are dedicated to pro tecting your economic investment in DHIA records services. Many readers will be aware that Pennsylvania DHIA has taken a •Value for CWT Silage(s) •Value for Pasture Per Day(s) •Value for Milk Per Cow Per Year(s) •Feed Consumed Per Cow Per Year(Lbs) A: Grain B: Hay C: Silage D; Day Pasture •Feed Cost Per Cow Per Year(s) A: Grain B: Hay C: Silage D: Pasture •Total Feed Cost Per Cow Per Year(s) •Income Over Feed Costs Per Year(s) •Grain to Milk Ratio •Feed Cost Per CWT Milk(s) Avg Level For 836 SCC Herds •Member (oriented fignm tough stand on this issue over the past four to five years and has been successful in ridding the association of significant fraudu lent activity by members. It’s been neither easy, nor cheap. Literally hundreds of thousands of dollars have been spent in staff time, legal fees and board expenses to assure that members’ records can be trusted. The bad news is the cost of doing it, but the good news is that we haven’t lost a single battle so far. It is essential work that must be on-going to be effective and affordable. Although we have made prog ress, we can and need to do better in this area. There are still prob lems with proper cow identifica tion, refusals to test, lack of coop eration by some members to pro vide needed information, and maybe even some fraud that has not yet been found. These prob lems continue because we cannot enforce the rules uniformly across Pennsylvania. 1.51 .31 2,366 6,707 2,773 14,279 68 544 119 215 21 901 1,465 1:2.5 5.37 324.165
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