Landhope Farms
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taglandin for those which didn’t
display heat.
Prostaglandin shortens the
21-day cycle down to about 14. He
give two tries at a cow. “Every cow
that hasn’t been bred the first time,
is bred the second time,” he said.
But not all of those become
pregnant
The breeding program is espe
cially important
Sam keys in on days to first ser
vice, and calving interval.
Heat detection rate determines
culling for reproduction.
‘Too many get culled involun
tarily. There are too many high
producing cows being lost”
So he’s been using the prosta
glandin regime for about eight
weeks. “The data is preliminary,
but it is at 3S percent. That was
promising,” he said.
“With 400 cows, if you look at
the probability, it will work. With
the smaller had, the variation is
greater,” Sam said.
The operation ships 22,000
pounds of milk a day, averaging 62
pounds per cow. “We’d like to do
better and will do better,” he said.
“Last month we had two cows
produce over 140 pounds per day.
There were six cows which pro
duced more than 120 pounds a day
and 23 cows produced more than
100 pounds a day.”
Some of the other things Sam
has been working on has been to
reduce feed costs which he has
done significantly, he said,
through coopeartive buying with
another large area dairy.
He also has a goal to increase
average peak production a little
more than 10 pounds.
As far reducing feed costs, with
the help of researchers at New Bol
ton Center, they’ve been able to
knock down the cost of minerals
per cow from 21 cents to about 10
cents per day. “We bid out, pay a
little more attention.”
Sam said the 11 cent savings is
important, especially at Landhope.
“A 1 cent-per-day-per-cow sav
ings on this farm is $1,500 per
year.”
Most every freestall operation
has something of a problem with
the cattles feet becoming infected
or sore.
Most of that has also been elimi
nated at Landhope through the
strict application of a copper sul
fate foot bath a couple of times a
week, along with using a hoof
trimmer regularly.
Other projects include installing
a cooling system for the cattle.
With the record heat of late May
and early June, Shotzberger had
installed a sprinkler system that he
called, “an interim solution.” It
was a water hose with pinholes
extended along the underside of
the feedbunk roof.
The plan is to install a system of
high powered fans and a sprinkler
system so that the cows will get
thoroughly wet. The fans promote
evaporation, which draws heat
from the animal.
For cow comfort, three of the
four freestall facilities have
cement beds, which are bedded up
once a week. “We rake the stalls
every time we chase the cows off
for milking. It makes a difference.”
Landhope also employs nine
fulltime workers.
There arc Jackie Hicks and Jane
Melvin. Juan Ocamp helps with
getting cows’ heat check at 12:30
a.m., and then starts the milking
shift at 1 a.m.
Ralph Roop does afternoon
milking and afternoon feeding and
anything else.
Brian Hanop, milks weekends
and is general handyman and
maintenance.
Dave Anderson has been hired
for third-shift, three-times a day
man.
Robert Roop is the fieldman. He
takes care of the crops, and advises
Sam on needs and conditions.
Pattie Yamall, has the primary
responsibility of taking care of
calves.
The calves are kept up to two
months in individual hutches and
another two more months in super
hutches with a couple other calves.
She also keeps records on all the
calves, when they need moved,
takes care.
In addition to other responsibili
ties, she helps with field work.
The milking is done by two
men. One man in the parlor, one
man readies cattles, and chases
them up to be ready.
Landhope has a two-stage fenc
ing system so that the first group is
hustled into an area next to the par
lor and a hinged gate closes them
in. Meanwhile a second group is
brought up to the gate and they are
also gated in.
As the last of the first group
leaves the parlor, they are guided
back to their area and the second
group’s front gate is opened to give
them access to the parlor. Once
they are in place, and the first
group back in their area, the third
group is brought into the second
holding area.
Also on the edge of farming
changes, the place already uses the
manure for almost all of its nitro
gen needs.
le open walled free stall facility at Landhope Farms provides cow comfort along
with efficiency.
Sam’s been involved with dairy
ing for a long time. He grew up on
and around dairy farms. His uncle
George had a dairy farm and his
father, William Shotzberger,
worked for the DuPont Estate.
DuPont had a strong interest in
dairy cattle and produced the fam
ous Ivanhoe bull. His rolling herd
average was in the 17,000 back in
the 19605.
The DuPont herd had been dis
persed by the time Sam was old
enough to work. He went to Uni
versity of Delaware and got an
undergraduate degree in dairy
science.
For a while he tried a partner
ship dairy with his brother, but that
didn’t work out.
Later, Sam worked for another
large Chester County dairy, the
Moore Farms. Even today the con
tacts made there continue. In fact,
Landhope Farms and the Moore
farms have started combining
purchase order for feed and other
materials in order to take advan
tage of bulk discounts. Sam knows
Walter Moore, a Penn State grad,
and the two get along well.
Sam also has an indepth famil
iarity with nearby New Bolton
Center. He worked with nutrition,
protein degradability and its
impact on milk production.
While at New Bolton, Sam
decided he needed to advance.
“I was all set to go to vet school,
but I decided on business school,”
he said.
He said the advice to do so came
from his mentors at New Bolton.
He said the reason they advised
him to go into business is because
more work needs to be done on the
financial practicality of some of
the technology being provided.
“It’s not a question of can you
do it, it’s a question of ‘Does it
pay?”’ Sam said.
A large manure storage lagoon stores the waste from the 400 milking cows and pro
vides almost all the nitrogen needs for the 600 acres of croos.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 22, 1991-A35
A copper sulfate foot bath helps keep foot infections to a
minimum at Landhope Farms.
He got a masters degree in busi
ness and spent a couple of years
working as a product manager in
the marketing division for Ameri
can Cyanamid at company head
quarters in Princeton, New Jersey.
American Cyanamid is one of
several companies with abilities to
commercially produce Bovine
Somatotropin (BST).
As a product manager, Sam said
BST “is the safetest thing I’ve
seen.
“It’s very safe, and works well.
It would increase production as
much as going to 3 times a day.”
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