■
Farm Calendar
(Condnuod from Pago A 10)
SillllldiH. OctolHT 12
Vili(in:il 4-11 \Wk
Eastern Pa. 4-H Beef Lamb Sale,
Allentown Fairgrounds, 10
a.m.
Franklin Co. Roundup, Greencas
tlc Livestock Market
Pa. Holstein Association Junior
Executive Committee meeting.
Pa. Holstein office. State Col
lege, 10:30 a.m.
Sire Power Open House. Freder
ick. Md.
Washington Co. Sheep and Wool
Growers banquet. Washington
Seminar, Kreider’s Restaurant,
Manheim. noon.
CHAMPION
SEASON!
NCSA CHAMPIONS
HYTEST SEEDS has announced its
1990 winners in the National Corn
Growers Association Yield Contest.
James C Justice, Beckley,
WV was named National
Champion, Class A, non
irrigated div. with a yield of
228.6753 bushels per acre
using HYTEST HT6B6. , 0 \ f
Joe Hasbrouck Jr., King- \
ston, NY was named New %\
York State Champion, Class A, :
non-irrigated div., with a yield |
of 202.7297 bushels per acre ; |
using HYTtST HT6SOA.
PROVEN PERFORMANCE
HYTEST with 9 state winners
in 1990, has placed in the
top four nationally for 4
years. It’s a record of per
formance that many large
seed companies envy.
RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT
A regional farm seed com
pany, established in 1912,
HYTEST employs the same i
careful breeding, testing |
and selection process that
went into producing these
champion hybrids, into all
of its varieties. And they’re
all potential champions!
For high performance
Hybrid Com, Alfalfas,
Soybeans and Forage Seed
contact your local HYTEST
dealer or contact...
* v W< i<-‘
» ♦* * > * , * <
HYTEST
HYTEST SEEDS, INC. Our Reputation I$ Growing In Your Fields. I FAX
560 Fulton Street
PO Box 366
NY 14240
SOO-759-SEED
Copyright 199) HytMt Seeds Inc
HYTEST SEED PRODUCTS CORN ALFALFA PRISM CLOVERS SOYBEANS
I nesting. Ociohti 15
NU-(llli‘sd;i>. Oclolht U)
Basic Arboriculture, Fairmount
Park, Phila., Oct. 16-18 and
Oct. 21-25.
Dillsburg Community Fair, Dills
burgjhn^ctjg^^^^
Lancaster Co. 4-H Swine Club
annual banquet, Bird-In-Hand
Family Restaurant, Bird-In-
Hand, 6:30 p.m.
National Meeting on Poultry
Health and Condemnations,
Sheraton Ocean City. Ocean
City, Md., thru Oct. 18.
York Co. Holstein Banquet, Win
terstown Fire Hall, 7 p.m.
Lehigh Valley Beekeepers Associ
ation annual meeting, Lehigh
Valley Area Vo-Tech School,
Schnecksville, 6:30 p.m.
, V
Jk V.
Cow Comfort And A.I.
GEORGE F. W. HAENLEIN
Extension Dairy Specialist
University of Delaware
NEWARK, Del.— No one
would argue that in our region this
year temperatures became hotter
sooner and to a higher degree than
in previous years.
This situation immediately sug
gests possible trouble in getting
our dairy cows bred, which is a
source of continual concern for the
dairy farmer.
As soon as temperatures go
above 80 degrees Fahrenheit, our
cows, especially Holsteins, are out
of their physiological comfort
zone. To counteract this, cows try
to adjust metabolically, usually by
Ag Issues Forum, Willow Valley
Resort and Conference Center,
Lancaster, 7:30 a.m.-9 a.m.
SEND TO:
I HYTEST SEEDS. INC
PO Box 366
| Buffalo NY 14240
. FAX 716-825-0453
I YES, send info checked;
I □ HAVE HYTEST REP CONTACT ME
1 □ SEND INFO ON BIOTAL
I PHONE
reducing the activities of estrus,
eating and milk production.
One result is that conception
rate is lower than it should be.
Studies in Florida as well as here
in Delaware have shown that
directly hosing down cows' bodies
with water and then blowing air
generated by fans over their backs
to evaporate the water is an effec
tive way to cool them down.
Under these conditions, normal
conception rates, body tempera
tures, eating and milk production
are soon restored to normal.
Automatic sprinkler systems,
the kind usually used on lawns and
fields, turned upside down and
fastened to the rafters of the cow
bam keep cows wet and cool. This
innovation works very well.
Casualties in Delmarva broiler
houses are not uncommon on very
hot days, but dairy cow managers
seem to know how to control the
overheating problem for their
animals.
HYBRID SELECTION
HYTEST Territory Managers
and Regional Agronomists
are trained to select the
best variety for your par
ticular growing conditions.
They follow up with tech
nical assistance right
through harvest time
PRESIDENTS CHOICE
Each season HYTEST
President, Joe Butwin
selects a list of favorite
varieties after reviewing test
plots, demonstration plots
and numerous growers’
fields. Both old standbys
and choice experimentais
are often included.
THE 1991 CHOICES ARE;
North
HTX7224-SX-90 Day
HT3IB-SX-100 Day
HT474-SX-105 Day
South
HTSI2-SX-108 Day
HTX772B-SX-116 Day
HT744-SX-118 Day
YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON
Winning championships is great,
but more important for you is
producing the highest grain and
forage yield in the most cost
efficient manner. HYTEST hybrid
corn seed allows you to do
just thatl It's been proven
season-after-season!
, c m
*
4
At harvest time be sure
to use BIOTAL Silage
Inoeulant for silage or
810-STORE for grain to
reduce spoilage and
nutrient loss
lAME
COMPANY
ADDRESS
CITY
STATE ZIP
O &
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 28, 1991-Al9
Get Results
Member
National
Corn Growers
Association
0
A
Another approach to better con
ception rates has been to bring in a
natural service bull as a supple
ment to or substitute for A.I.
The thinking on this is that a bull
is a much better spotter of estrus in
cows than even the best and most
conscientious herdsperson.
This practice is not uncommon
in the South, where temperatures
are often much higher than they are
here.
What then arc the results?
Research work in Georgia reve
als some interesting data. Two
groups of dairy herds from the
Georgia DHLA were compared.
The first group bred 90 percent or
more of their cows to a natural ser
vice bull.
The second group used A.I. on
90 percent or more of their cows.
If the assumption is correct that
bulls are better settlers of cows
than A.I. because they are better
estrus spotters, then one would
expect superior reproductive data
in herds using natural service
bulls.
The 62 Georgia DHIA herds
using mostly bulls averaged 154
"days open," 70 "days dry" and
14.3 "months calving interval."
In comparison, the 122 Georgia
DHIA herds using mostly A.I.
averaged 146 "days open,” 70
"days dry" and 14.0 "months calv
ing interval."
Few differences were in evi
dence, but if any differences did
exist, they favored A.I.
The real differences in this study
surfaced in milk production.
The herds on which A.I. was
predominantly used averaged
16,832 pounds milk and 587
pounds fat versus 14,139 pounds
milk and 501 pounds fat for the
natural service herds.
At $l2 per hundredweight of
milk, this 2,693 pounds milk
advantage translates into a plus of
$323.16 per cow per year for the
A.I. herds.
Many factors may be at work
here.
To explain more fully these var
iations, however, the bottom line is
that dairy farmers who used bulls
instead of A.I. to breed their cows
did not achieve better reproductive
performance in their herds to jus
tify this seemingly physiological
advantage for the price of a genetic
disadvantage.
They may even have had an
inferior reproductive performance,
not to mention the headache of
keeping a bull around. And they
certainly had inferior herd milk
production at a money differential
that could even have paid for some
very expensive A.I. semen.
This brings us back to the
strategy of keeping our cows
watered down and fan cooled to
lower body temperature, which
ensures their eating well and pro
ducing milk better.
In the end, it is a question of how
we manage the energy metabolism
of our cows.
If cows need energy to keep
themselves cool, then they will
breed and produce less.
Following this same line of
thinking, we are beginning to feed
our cows better during the first part
of the lactation, a period dairy
managers used to take for granted
that a cow would be in negative
energy balance. With today's
high-producing cows, we cannot
afford to let them be m negative
energy balance.
Using what we know and put
ting these new ideas into action can
make our dairy operations signific
antly more profitable, even with
out going back to using bulls.