At Blessed Acres Little Things Are Important
GAIL E. STROCK
Mifflin Co. Correspondent
BELLEVILLE (Mifflin Co.)
“I don’t think we do anything spe
cial,” offers this dairy fanner.
Sometimes sticking to the basics
reaps a better gain than special
gimmicks. And a look beneath this
farmers’ modesty shows a solid,
basic herd management philoso
phy one that has earned G.
Sheldon and Barbara Peachey of
Belleville a second place award in
the PaDHIA Herd Management
Awards for production improve
ment The Peachey’s earned this
award when, in one year, their
herd average increased 3,226
pounds for milk, 120 pounds for
.fat and 111 pounds for protein.
Their 22,379 ppund herd average
is well above the state average of
18,181. The management of their
65-cow herd centers on nutrition.
“I feed a Total Mixed Ration
(TMR) for 70 pounds and then,
anything above 70. I give them
high mositure shelled com and
concentrates (protein and miner
als) in the barn,” Sheldon
explains.
Peachey’s farm set-up enables
Sheldon to give his cows even
access to the haylage (35 pounds)
/high mositure com (20 pounds)
/corn silage (20 pounds)
/minerals mixture all day long in
the freestall bunk. This mixture
also includes 6 pounds of soybean
meal, com distillers, and roasted
beans per cow. Then, when milk
ing in the stanchion bam, each
cow over 70 pounds earns an extra
portion of shelled corn and
concentrates.
But it didn’t used to be that
By studying Individual cow statistics from DHIA, Shel
don Peachey makes sure each cow is earning to tts fullest
potential. By watching their father, Marcus (left) and Maria
(right) are bound to pick up these good management
techniques.
Laura and Marcus learn responsibilities on the term much
the way their parents did - by helping feed the calves and
other livestock.
way. “Five years ago, we put up
the one Harvestore for shelled
com. The other one is for haylage.
I wanted to get towards a TMR but
I didn’t want to get into more
money then. And it seems the
mixer is what it took to make all
these things work”. Because of his
Farm Master tumbler mixer, Shel
don’s herd feeds on the TMR
whenever they choose. Before, he
wasn’t able to feed shelled com or
concentrates with the forage,
causing a limited intake of grain.
The mixer took care of these
limitations.
But, just as important, Sheldon
emphasizes high quality forage.
By planting quality forages and by
harvesting at the right time, Shel
don has attained an average of
20% protein, sometimes testing as
high as 22%.
“I think there are a lot of ways
to improve (milk production)
without spending a lot of money.
I'm not a guy to feed a lot of feed
additives like fat. I’d rather get
good forages in them. We try to
get our haylage top grade,” he
explains.
Sheldon takes his forage philo
sophy one step further saving
feed costs. “I feed them to make
milk. Forage is the cheapest way
to make milk. It’s a lot healthier
for the cow, too.”
Sheldon attributes this year’s
dramatic increase in milk, fat, and
protein to good forage. “We had
real good haylage last year. Feed
prices were low and milk prices
were good most of the year, so I
fed them pretty good. The cows
are peaking higher, the two-year
olds are doing a lot better”.
Sheldon and Barbara Peachey of Belleville, along with their children (l-r) Christine,
Maria, Laura, and Marcus, have proven that hard work pays off. Sheldon imple
mented a good forage and nutrition program which Increased his herd average by
3,226 pounds, earning him second In the state for production Improvement.
In the stanchion barn, Sheldon top dresses shelled corn and concentrates to cows
over 70 lbs.
When not concentrating on
nutrition, Sheldon and Barbara
pay attention to other details that
are important. “I take care of the
little things. I don’t watch the herd
average. I make sure each cow is
making me money.”
Those other “little things”
include monthly herd health
checks, being there when the cows
calve, and getting them bred back.
He also feels using top bulls is
important. “We haven’t lost a
heifer calf in 4'A years," he states.
And he only buys a cow if he sees
potential for improvement. By
milking cows with high Somatic
Cell Count last, Peachey’s have
been doing a good job keeping
mastitis down and keeping their
SCC under 100.000.
But there are other “little
things’* that are important to Shel
don and Barbara their.children.
Laura, 10, Marcus, 6, Maria, 5,
and Christine, 2, take their share
of responsibilities on the farm and
at home just as Sheldon and Bar
bara were taught from their
parents.
“The basics are still the same—
hard woik. You have to do things
when you don’t feel like it. Dad
gave us a lot of responsibility and
that helped when we went out on
our own,” Sheldon said.
For these reasons, the Peach
ey’s want to keep their operation
family-sized. In spite of having a
fulltime hired man, Sheldon feels
more comfortable doing the work
rather than managing a lot of
employees.
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But Sheldon’s modesty should
not overshadow his proven ability
to manage their two farms, total
ing 140 acres. The Peachey’s take
nothing for granted and realize
they have a lot to be thankful for.
Maybe that’s why they named
their farm “Blessed Acres”.