A2O-Lsncaster Fanning, Saturday, April 11, 1992 Large, Profitable Dairies Rely On Array ANDY ANDREWS Lancaster Fanning Staff CARLISLE (Cumberland Co.) For dairy farms that plan to expand, the foundation to success lies in providing the greatest num ber of replacement heifers. “Farm businesses that are real ly, really highly successful—boy, can they do a job at raising heif ers,” said Gary Snider, farm busi ness consultant Snider spoke at the Large Dairy Herd Management Seminar here Wednesday. The two-day seminar, spon sored by the Farm Credit Associa tions of Pennsylvania, drew about 200 dairy farmers and agribusiness representatives from around the state. On the first day of the seminar, Snider outlined the results of infor mation on the most productive large-scale dairy farms in Pennsyl vania. The results of the survey were distributed as ‘‘key evalua tion factors” at the seminar. Looked at top percent The factors looked at the top 25 percent of the Pennsylvania large scale (more than 100-cow) dairy operations. According to Snider, family size farms in the 60-1 SO cow range need to look at the future, a future which will involve a lot more quick, sharp fluctuations in the dairy price. “The dairy industry is going to start riding a roller coaster similar to the other commodities,’’ said Snider. “And that has to change our management style. We’ve got to start managing businesses and WOOD ROOF TRUSSES 701 E. Unden St., RICHLAND, PA 17087 70’x160’ Universal Arch Riding Arena - Culpepper, VA After 33 years in the Lebanon Valley area, the Rigidply Rafters name continues as a testament to the superior work produced by this contracting business. Rigidply currently employs over 75 people and operates a 100,000 square feet manufacturing plant in Richland, PA. Along with being a wood laminator and a wood truss manufacturer, we carry a wide vari ety of building materials, from foundation treated lumber to various roofing items. Every one at Rigidply Rafters is fully committed to serving our customers and providing them with the finest products available. You deserve the best. Knowing at what part of the up or down cycles to expand or cut back is of vital Impor tance, according to Don Rogers, vice president, Farm Credit Banks of Springfield, Mass, at the seminar. differently.” Snider said businesses “in the middle” those who are larger than the family-size, 30-60 cow herds and those who are not quite large-scale are the ones “that we’re really kind of concerned about” Because of the ups and downs in the milk price and the changing demands of the industry, farmers must rethink and reshape their management practices. Snider outlined several key management factors that are com mon among all the successful large-scale dairies. /fi\ /□ Q\ JsqSj^ Reshape practices MLMBE.R ffnii os ° “Farm businesses that are really, really highly success ful—boy, can they do a Job at raising heifers," said Gary Snider, farm business con sultant. Snider spoke at the Large Dairy Herd Manage ment Seminar in Carlisle Wednesday. “One of the things that we’ve seen in these large dairy businesses is that the manager ... has become very good at delegating,” he said. According to the consultant, managers: • Don’t get bogged down in the daily tasks. “They don’t worry about getting to a meeting because they haven’t got the bam cleaned, because someone else has got the bam cleaned,” he said. • Are very careful with invest- MEMBER f|j o jd TRUSS PLATE INSTITUTE Of Management Techniques ments.' “They choose the three things they need versus the one they want,” he said. They are able to budget correctly. • Make use of monitoring tech niques. Snider said that, on one successful farm in western New York, a chart examining the milk ing capability of each cow over two years is posted. Every day, the herdsmen review the chart, which includes milk production per day per cow. Also, a chart is available to monitor dry matter intake. Since the advent of TMR, the whole industry has changed and the farms with the more cows also have the higher producing cows in the top-25 survey. • Compare actual cash-flow to budgetary cash flow. “They have their pulse on the business,” he said. One farm uses a 3 X 5 card system —managers and herdsmen list “to do” activities and the information is shared. • Are highly organized. “Spring doesn’t catch them by surprise,” said Snider. "I have a farm business that’s milking 1,300 cows, and last year they had all their first crop hay in nine days,” he said. • Insist that employees or mana gers are also organized. A manage ment team meets for 10-15 minutes every day. An advisory team is in place veterinarians, nutritionists, loan officers, accoun tants, etc. “The highly successful dairy farm businesses use those advisors and they use them all the time, and I think they get an awful lot out of them people,” said Snider. • Have charisma. “They are the 80’x200’ Clear Span Truss Riding Arena - Lehighton, PA 86’x180’ Gothic Arch Riding Arena - Elmira, NY - plu Raftersjnc. PRODUCTS WE MANUFACTURE type of leaders that people want to work for,” he said. • Work with a cropland base that is high yielding, weather resistant with fast harvesting type of land. Also, an environmental buffer zone is in place. One of the largest and most successful of businesses Snider works with is a 1,350-cow operation (which plans to expand to 1,600 by fall) that moved off the home farm because “it wasn’t a good farm,” said Snider. Also, a source of “really good water in a farm business is going to become important,” he said. Environmental issues are also paramount, and. each farm opera tion should begin to think in terms of 1.5 acres of land per cow. “The environmental issues are sneaking up on us and they’re going to bite us pretty soon,” said Snider. Whatever the business manage ment techniques, heifer manage ment will continue to be “our ace in the hole when we start looking at efficiences in our business,” said Snider. Industry cycles Dairies would do well to know and understand there will be cycles in the industry. And knowing at what part of the up or down cycles to expand or cut back is of vital importance, according to Don Rogers, vice president. Farm Cre dit Banks of Springfield, Mass, at the seminar. “Farming the Dairy Cycles” examined why there will be more and more of the up and down years in the dairy business and what (Turn to Pago A2l)
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