Hoover Farms Is A Well-Managed Lebanon County Dairy Farm This family farm was purchased in 1963 by Abram Hoover and has continued since then through a series of family part nerships. Dale joined his father in a partnership in 1977 and then in 1984 Dean and Reid took Dad’s place in the partner ship. In 1987 Dale started a dairy farm of his own not far from the home farm and Dean and Reid continued to manage this 250 acre dairy and beef operation known as Hoover Farms. Hoover Farms is truly a family operation Dean and his wife Mary Ann have one daughter, Maria age 5 and a son Tyl er 4 months. Reed and his wife Diane have three sons Bradley 6, Aaron 4, and Brenden 1. Milking is done at 5 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily. Reid and Dean do most of the milking with help from the wives 2-3 days each week. A nephew Wendell Hoover helps after school along with a part-time worker. Tim Elliott. PHIA YR. Cows Aver 1989 101.2 21,770 3.7 806 3.1 1988 97.2 21,237 3.6 765 3.1 Left to right: Reid, Diane, Mary Ann, Dean lloover Raid Hoovar feeds 2 lbs. •of good hay each day to all milking cows. Cows over 70 lbs. of milk receive a Pannfiald 20% Top Drass custom formulated Maximum Density PFR. A 70 lb. producer gets 3 lbs. of Top Dress and feeding is done based on production and cow weight with a 100 lb. producer receiving 12-15 lbs. of Top Dress. FROM PA 1-800-732-0467 FROM MD, DE &NJ 1-800-233-0202 pennfield feeds Quality Service —Value Two Families . . . Working Together % Fat Ibi. Fat % Proto!n Lbs. Protein Cell Count Dean Hoover feeds a TMR to all milk cows. The TMR is balanced for 70 lb. of milk and contains haylage, corn silage, HMSC, and Pennfield #50132 Oairyf Plus 32% Concentrate. A good aggressive cow management program gets results. For instance in the Spring of 1989 Reid and Dean started pre dipping their milk cows. This required some management changes, but the results were positive their herd somatic cell count has stayed under 250,000 and the cows udder health has improved. Another management program that has had good results is their dry cow program. The dry cows are separated from the milking herd and are fed grass hay and corn silage. All cows are dry treated and problem cows are cultured. The cornerstone of a good management program is breeding. During the past 5-10 years the milking herd has been bred using the better bulls, and the heifers are mostly AI sired. Dean and Reid like to pay attention to details, and are always looking for ways to do things better. 685 667 131,000 Mk w V A*--"'
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