A24-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 12,1990
Brown Cow Lays Golden Eggs
(Continued from Png* A 1)
his cows’ milk component
production.
Not only does Mase have Leena,
a 3E, twice- 30,000 pound milk
producing registered Brown Swiss
that is still able to produce eggs for
embryonic transfer, but when she
was peaking her production of
milk recently, the protein compo
nent was higher than her butterfat.
Leena has had several flushings
during the last couple of years, but
she has remained a consistently
quick in breeding back, Mase said.
At 7 years, 2 months, she posted
a 365-day 31,098 milk, 1,134 but
terfat and 1,183 protein. Her 8-11
record as of December 1989, was
31,311 milk, 1,105 butterfat and
1,157 protein.
Her lifetime to date, with eight
lactations, is 167,431 milk, 6,452
butterfat, and 5,888 protein.
She is right near the top for milk
production and has outproduced
other breeds in this county, includ
Some people are looking at cross-breeding
Holsteins and Brown Swiss to achieve an
even better dairy animal.
ing Holsteins, for protein; this is in
a county that led the state overall in
rolling herd average for 1989.
The production of protein is one
key in the value of Mase’s animals.
Production Is Key
It is largely anticipated that the
federal pricing system will switch
from placing importance on butter
fat production, which Brown
Swiss and other colored breeds are
known for, and put more emphasis
on protein production.
TTie reasoning is that the public
demand for dairy products is away
from butterfat and toward cheeses
and other products that rely on
other milk components.
The strength of the belief held
by dairymen that protein will be
more important has been shown in
the recent purchase of one of
Mase’s calves from Leena. A two
month-old calf sold for more than
$4,000 during a Brown Swiss
Association Mid-Atlantic calf
sale. It was the fourth year in six
years selling there that one of his
calves topped the sales.
“Calves have always sold well
for us down there,” Mase ,said.
“We’ve showed down at Timo
nium and with the sale in Mary
land, it helps with the advertising
to show there,” he said.
Another indication of the trend
toward finding cows already pro
ducing higher amount of protein
and total solids, Mase was recently
contacted by a Mid Western dairy
man who wanted to buy all the
embryos from Leena so that he
could use them to conduct his own
herd improvement experiments
with breeding.
Some people are looking at
cross-breeding Holsteins and
Brown Swiss to achieve an even
better dairy animal.
So far, according to Mase, the
first generation cross-bred cow is a
good animal which displays an
apparent hybrid vigor, but succes
sive breedings to cross-bred cows
results in uncertain quality calves.
He said some breeders are work
ing on developing a consistent
cross-bred strain that would com
bine the high quality legs and feet,
the high component production,
the gentleness of Brown Swiss
along with all the best aspects of
Holsteins.
Mase mentioned possibly get
ting involved in such an experi
mental breeding program, but it is
still just in the consideration phase.
He has a consistent buyer for
every cross-bred bull calf he gets
and said they appear to express the
same hybrid vigor with faster
weight gains and larger sizes. He
said he wasn’t sure about the type
of meat quality resulting from the
cross.
Along with the breeding prog
ram, the real money backbone of
his operation is the same as for
everyone else - selling milk.
Mase is a contract-producer for
Wengert’s Dairy in Lebanon and
he is making ends meet. Right
now, with about 35 Brown Swiss
milking cows and another smaller
herd of mixed breed, including
some Hosltein cows, he said he is
averaging about 70 pounds milk a
day, per cow, in the tank.
His mixed herd, which includes
15 Holsteins and about six cross
breeds, was rated third in the state,
and his Swiss herd was rated top in
the state for milk and protein and
second in fat production.
Beauty Is A Beast
In Production
Overall, Leena’s maternal half
sister Beauty, now ending her 10th
lactation, leads the county in life
time production for 1989 certifi
cates. Her lifetime production
record was 238,386 milk, 9,056
butterfat and 4,830 protein.
Last year, the county recorded
lifetime records for six other 10th
lactation cows, all Holsteins. The
closest production among them
showed 229,254 milk, 8,904 but
terfat and 4,746 protein.
None of the other Holsteins with
10 lactations broke the 200,000
pound mark.
Mase said he doesn’t dislike
Holsteins, he just likes Brown
Swiss more. He started with two
calves 20 years ago as his 4-H pro
ject They were gifts from his older
sister, from a dam she had pur
chased for less than $ 100, as a calf.
Brown is Beautiful
The calf that sold for more than
$4,000 was the great
granddaughter of his 4-H project
calf that can be traced to a herd
owned by William Daubert, of
Pine Grove.
‘The cows are all fed the same.
There’s no color difference as far
as when it comes to feeding them,”
Mase said. “I feed according to
milk production,” he said.
“I feed a total TMR and then
top-dress strictly on production. I
don’t see color when I go down the
bam feeding cows. I look at milk
weight
“And with my Swiss, I don’t
stress test like some of the guys
do. That’d be the only reason that
some guys might feed differently.
“It does take different amounts
of feed for butterfat but I’m not
too worried about butterfat I’m
worried about pounds of milk. I
have as many Holsteins testing 4.5
(percent butterfat) as I do Swiss,”
he said.
As far as government and indus
try support stressing protein pro
duction, Mase said, “I just hope it
comes my way, that’s all. That’s
the only difference. I don’t think I
have to make any changes. I just
hope that the market is going to
change for me.”
The production from his cows is
not magic formula. Mase said
genetics, luck and care combine to
produce high-production animals.
Sire selection is varied as to
source, he said. “With Brown
Swiss it’s a wide open ball field,”
he said. “There’s really no set stud
there. So, I have to go with selec
tion with the Swiss. We even get
some (semen) privately from some
other breeders.”
He does his own choosing,
selecting first for milk production
and udders.
“That narrows it down in a hurry
as to what bulls I want to use. Once
I have it down to bulls of that calib
er, then we more or less fine tune it
to what that cow might otherwise
need to be improved.
“For instance, this calf we just
sold, (the dam) is just an averaged
sized cow with a real good udder,
so we bred her to a decent bull that
should improve stature,” he said.
The Holsteins on his farm are all
grade animals used as recipients
for embryonic transfer and serve
him well in that capacity, in addi
tion to helping his mixed-breed
herd average a little more than
20,000 pounds milk.
“I’d like to actually go all Swiss,
but I’m in no real hurry. I guess I
could sell the Holsteins. Right now
we ought to cut back because we
are running the tank over, but it’s
too hard to part with some of those
good cows,” he said. “And it never
seems to be the right time to sell
them, either when they’re carrying
embryos or we’re getting ready to
flush in about two weeks, so ... ”
But the young dairyman does
have some different ways of doing
things.
Nighttime Is The Right Time
A softball enthusiast who plays
in four different softball leagues
and on some teams sponsored by
agricultural businesses, Mase
doesn’t follow tradition when it
comes to milking hours.
He milks twice a day; at noon
and midnight
He said that, in addition to
allowing him the time to play soft
ball and to attend activities with his
wife and three children, it has other
advantages.
“It’s not as cold during the wint
er,” he said. “Midnight isn’t as
cold as S a.m. and noon isn’t as
cold either.”
Also, researchers have sug
gested that peak times for observ
ing heats are late in the night.
‘I don’t see color when I go down the barn
feeding cows.’
around midnight or later. He said
the noon and midnight milkings
also are “calmer.”
Apparently human activity
seems to slow down around noon
and is certainly quieter at
midnight
Human activity is strong near
the Mase operation. His father,
Clarence Mase, owns the 70-acre
spread and rents an additional 40
acres. The father and son collab
erate in a 50-50 deal; Gary runs the
dairy end and helps with some hay
making, Clarence crop farms. The
two split the milk check.
The Mases raise most of their
own forage, but have to buy hay.
They also have to buy some high
moisture com in late summer.
Gary doesn’t use newspaper bed
ding, but has a steady supply of
sawdust
Calf Survival
In addition to milk money, Gary
depends heavily on income from
selling calves, especially with the
recent purchase pice.
Just out of pure economics, he
Gary Mase with his son Anthony and the great dam of the
Brown Swiss clan in Lebanon County, Leena, a 3E producer
of 30,000-plus pounds milk. Her eggs, used for embryonic
transfer, seem to have been touched by Midas.
said he couldn’t sell a calf for less
than $l,OOO. With such an empha
sis on calf-selling, calf survivabili
ty becomes an even bigger issue
than for most dairymen concerned
with raising replacement stock.
Mase said he stresses calving in
a clean environment. He’s lost one
calf during the last three years.
He keeps an eye on the new
born calf to make sure it starts
feeding within the first four hours,
which, he said they all seem to do.
He also allows the calves to stay
with their dams for some time. He
said the importance of getting the
antibodies from colostrum into a
calf can’t be stressed enough. And
as far as getting plenty of colo
strum and follow-up milk to the
calf, the feed-as-you-please man
ner in which a calf feeds on its dam
* Midnight isn’t as cold as 5 a.m. and noon
isn’t as cold either.’
seems to also work better for
Mase.
Gary Mase Family
Overall, the Gary Mase family,
wife Patty, eldest son Garrett,
daughter Lisa, 6, and 3-year-old
son Anthony, are all involved with
Brown Swiss.
In his first year showing at the
1990 state Farm Show, Garrett
took home a Junior champion title
earned by his two year-old Mea
dow Hill Jade April.
Lisa hand-picked her own calf.
Meadow Hill Titan Agatha, which
happened to give Mase his best
two-year-old record last year with
a 2 year, 3 month record on 320
days of 17,518 milk, 700 butterfat
and 608 protein.
Son Anthony, 3-year-old, got
his first calf in October. Gary said
it will be Anthony’s 4-H project
That calf’s dam seems to promise
special things. She was purchased
as a two-year-old, and is named
Quiet Valley Jim Dandy. She has
been rated an Excellent and was
second high in the state for ’B9 for
protein and butterfat on a 5 year, 3
month, 305 days lactat” n record
0f25,820 milk, 1012 butterfat and
954 protein.
But all of this happy family
involvement with the Brown Swiss
is threatened by some things, appa
rently out of their control.
How long Mase remains in
Lebanon is unknown.
The farm is now within walking
distance of Lebanon City. The
developments and houses are visi
ble from the bam windows. It
seems that urbanization is swal-
lowing the farm like some huge
amoeba devouring a particle of
food.
Another problem exists with the
farm. Located along Route 241
about two miles south of Route 72,
the highway splits the house from
the bam and pasture.
According to the Mases, when
Gary’s paternal grandfather owned
the place, officials were in the pro
cess of improving Route 241,
which obviously originated as a
farm road.
The elderly Mase has requested
that officials not split his farm in
two, but rather he was willing to
donate a portion of his property so
that a straight road could be built
and his farm could be kept intact
The Mases said that officials,
already having designed a bridge
for the Snitz Creek, balked and
forewent the common sense and
practical solution offered by the
elderly Mase.
Now, one of the most common
sites of automobile accidents in the
county is the Mase farm; A severe
“S” curve splits the home from the
bam. The result has been that fenc
ing and a smaller roadside bam
have been struck numerpus times,
and lives have been and remain
threatened.
This would seem enough to
make many people sell the proper
ty and move the herd. But Gary
said he isn’t sure what his father
intends to do with the farm.
Gary said he knows that land
prices are far too high for him to
buy the farm from his father and
pay it off by running a dairy
operation.
Lebanon County officials have
not taken any steps toward any
type of farmland preservation.
And like many other high quality
parcels of farmland in Lebanon
County, Mase said it could very
well become a housing
development.
“If he (Mase’s father) gets his
farm sold for a good price, more
power to him. You can’t afford to
farm a farm around here for what
you’re getting for the price of land.
“Wc really don’t plan to be here
for that long. We’re not expanding,
we’re aren’t remodeling, we aren’t
doing any kind of improvements.
It’s just a year to year proposition,”
he said.
“I’d love to sec pop sell his farm
for big money and set me up some
where else,” he said, laughing,
then getting serious, “I don’t see
much future here. It’s too close to
town and the land’s getting too sal
ty. So I don’t see how I could
afford to buy.