VERNON ACHENBACH, JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
WINTERSVILLE (Berks Co.)
Berks County dairyman Ray
Bicksler is almost as likely to hit
the lottery than have a cow give
birth to five live heifer calves in
less than two years.
The odds of hitting seven num
bers in the Pennsylvania Super 7
lottery are one in 9.6 million —the
odds of Bicksler having a cow give
birth to twins, and then triplets are
one in S million.
But not only does Bick-ler have
five living heifer calves bom to
him in 370 days from one cow, he
has a healthy herd of registered
Holsteins in which to add these
new ones.
The calves and triplets are more
of a freak of nature than something
worthy of scientific research,
according to a Penn State
professor.
He also said that some dairymen
might be upset with the result
because of the stress that having
twins and triplets can put on a cow.
Often reduced milk production can
occur because of a lack of needed
body fat and tissue. There’s also an
increased risk to the cow. during
and after delivery. Infection is
more likely.
However, Bicksler said he is
happy with the twist of nature.
On July 30, before Bicksler left
his farm for a day of helping to
show Holsteins at the Lebanon
Area Fair, one of his cows, 9-year
old Russelldale Ford Glitter, gave
birth to triplets—all heifer calves.
All three were on their feet and
drinking colostrum within the
hour.
At a week old, the triplets were
small, but Bicksler, renouned for
his line of registered Holsteins, is
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Bicksler Farm: One In 5 Million
going to keep them for his milking
herd, which averages near 60
cows.
“I want to keep them together to
see how they do under the same
environmental conditions,” he
said.
Bicksler said the triplets should
give him some indication of what
effect the genetic selection of the
sire has on triplets.
The triplet calves are not identi
cal, but fraternal. Two are very
close in conformation and mark-
ings. One has distinctly different
markings and is slightly larger and
more active that the others.
The twins are also fraternal and
should be getting ready to join the
milking herd in another year or so.
He said they are probably not
going to be bred until 18 months.
“I’ve heard of twins,” said Larry
Specht, professor of dairy science
at Penn State.
“I only know of one set of iden
tical triplets. Fraternal triplets are a
little more common. I think this is
the third set of triplets this year
(nationwide),” Specht said.
Fertility drugs can induce twins
or triplets, but such is not the case
with the Bicksler cow offspring—
they were natural.
“Many fanners don’t look at
triplets as a blessing,” Specht said.
“It can cause severe strain on the
mother. They can arrive early and
many times the placenta is
retained, can cause health
problems.”
However, Glitter is faring well,
and her offspring-are apparently
equally healthy. She is eligible for
her third E rating soon.
The sires of the twins and trip
lets are different. Huberview Bell
Promise sired the twins. Apple
Notch Jack Daniels is the sire of
the triplets.
For the last 10 years, all of
Bicksler’s breeding has been done
by a neighbor, Randy Moyer.
Bicksler’s good luck and for
tune extends beyond having a cow
that produces heifer calves prolifi
cally. His dairy operation is recog
nized for the high-indexing quality
of its cows and heifers and also for
the quality of the bulls he produces
and sells to artificial insemination
cooperatives.
His farm, Russelldale. is located
along the western edge of Berks
County, just north of the limestone
belt. His father, for whom the farm
is named, never saw Ray’s
100-acre spread. While growing
up, Ray’s father had a farm in
northern Lebanon County and then
another near Russelldale, but clos
er to the thick topsoil and limes
tone belt that run through the Leba
non Valley.
“We used to get on dad about
buying the second place, but he
made more money in four years
there than he did in the 10 years he
spent on the first farm,” Bicksler
said.
When Bicksler started fanning
on his own, it was part time. He
worked full time fora manufactur
ing firm in Cleona and started with
a high producing grade cow. Later,
he bought all registered animals.
When his original cow died, he
was left with an all registered herd.
He started milking in 1968 and
had a little more than five cows
when he first went on test. Though
the milk production was small, he
sold it in small quantities to Her
shey Foods, which used to have a
small collection point in
Myers town.
He and his wife lived on the
farm of Oberholtz Church and in
addition to his sexton duties and
fulltime job, his herd had grown to
20 milking cows. In 1974, he had
to make a choice to either go full
time milking or fulltime working
in industry.
He said sometimes he thinks he
made a mistake. But for most of
the time he said he is very happy he
decided to go into milk production
and breeding.
“With farming, you might not
have money in your pocket, but
you hope that you have something
when you decide to call it quits,”
he said.
The Bickslcr herd contains
seven homegrown Excellent cows
and has been closed for the last 10
years.
“If you breed your own, I feel
you accomplished something,” he
said.
The evidence that he is correct,
at least for himself, is the fact that
his best bull produced yet has
become fairy popular with Atlantic
Breeders Cooperative. That bull is
Russelldale Promise.
Bicksler recommends that those
starting off in dairy business
Fred Staley, left, and Jim Vellcoff attend the show both to
learn and to work. They are power equipment distributors
for Canns Bllco of Albums. Staley remarked, “The food
should be spread out among the equipment exhibitions,
then we wouldn’t need to walk so far to get it.”
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Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, August 18,1990-Al9
purchase “One. A good one out
of a good cow family and buy a
good commercial herd and work
off that.”
He also said the new farmer
should go on test immediately and
buy only animals that are on test
In his own case, all the animals he
bought were registered, but not on
test He said he basically had to
start from scratch to add produc
tion information to the pedigree.
It has paid off with a large num
ber of sales of embryos and bulls,
in addition to milk.
But most of all, Bicksler said he
is lucky to be in farming. And if the
odds keep going his way—such as
triplets—he expects to be fanning
for some time.
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