A3O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 16, 1991
C
Steve Hershey follows a breeding chart kept in the barn.
He also maintains lactation production curves on each cow,
and rankings of other production factors on each cow so
-that he knows exactly how each is performing. Recently he
culled a cow.that had been near the bottom of several
charts. Without the information, he may have kept her on,
draining the overall efficiency of the herd
(Continued from Page A2l)
if there is anything of a silver
lining to the pressure put on the
Hersheys by the lower milk price it
is that they are forced to scrutinize
then- practices.
“It forces you to look closely at
some pre-conceived notions,”
Steve said.
“As much as I would like to say
to the industry that staying 50 cows
would be enough, going to 60 and
keeping costs where they are may
be the only way,” he said.
“It may take buying cows to fill
out the herd, and if it means break
ing some pre-conceived notions
about having a 100 percent home
bred herd, so be it”
Steve said the pressure also has
caused him to rethink his breeding
program slightly.
“Milk makes money. In the past
several years I’ve used a formula of
using evenly balanced bulls. I may
change that to go with higher
production.”
There are some other avenues,
also. The current herd rolling aver
age is 22,300 pounds of milk, 796
pounds butterfat and 693 pounds of
protein. It was higher, up to 24,500.
“We’re on our way back up. We
had a feed problem,” that Steve
said is corrected.
One aspect of managing the herd
is health management Steve said
he has "lost very few cows over tlje
years. We’ve lost one cow due to
being down during the past three to
four years. Even while they’re
down, we milk them and feed
them,” he said.
Steve said such care while a cow
is feeling bad helps them to recover
and gain their place back in the
herd. He said sometime they’ve
had a cow down for days before it
would come around. He said that
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others should probably pamper ill
cows a little more.
“There’s an industry wide ten
dency to forget they (sick animals)
exist,” he said. “They need extra
care when they’re down.”
With a masters degree in agri
cultural economics and rural
sociology with a minor in anthro
pology, Dale started out in partner
ship with his father, went back to
school to complete his degree,
worked in extension in Clarion
County for awhile, then returned to
the farm to go into partnership with
Steve.
Both well-educated in farming,
they have specialized. “We try to
run the farm as a business.”
With the low milk prices howev
er, it would seem that Dale could
leave the farm, or if* it became
financially dangerous 1 to keep it,
for the brothers to sell the farm.
However, those aren’t really
options, according to the brothers.
“If it were a run-down farm that
we bought, tried to make work for
five years and couldn’t make it go,
then no one would complain if we
sold it But it’s been in the family
for four generations. We will try
everything we can to keep it”
Steve said.
Dale said he also intends to con
tinue with farming because of his
nature.
“I discovered that while I like
this, working in the office, I need
hands-on. I can’t be in an office all
day,”
The use of a computer, monthly
expense reports compared to pro
jected budget allowances, micro
and macro management just may
allow the two to continue in dairy
ing, despite flucuating milk prices.
“We have to be flexible,” Dale
said.
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