A3B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 3 1993
The world famous Walkup Valiant Lou Ella (EX92, GMD
DOM) Is the dam of Leadsman and has many descendants
in the Rothrock Golden Holstein herd.
Lancaster Holstein Tour
(Continued from Page A 25)
you into manicured lawns and his
toric farm buildings. Inside the
barn, the beautiful well
conditioned cows told you this
herd is well managed.
“It’s a small family operation,”
Zimmerman said. “But we try to
keep a few good cows around.”
These few good cows, 43 in
number, just happen to include 14
excellents, 25 very goods and 4
good plus babies in roomy tie
stalls. The BAA is 110 for type and
the rolling herd average for milk is
19539 m 791 f 645 p.
Two Excellent 94 cows take
your eye. A homebred 15 year-old
is SE and still looks excellent after
10 lacations up to 20,125 m 5.1%
102 If. The other Excellent is a
young cow with 4y 23,873 m 4.0%
929 f. She looked like the perfect
type cow.
KEYSTONE FARM
The well-known Keystone Farm
of the Donald Seipt family at Eas
ton was the second stop. Longevity
is the trade-mark of the Keystone
herd. Last year three cows in the
herd went over 300,000 lbs. life
time and at least 12 other cows in
the herd are over 200,000 lbs.
Over the years Keystone has
developed 80 excellent cows. At
present out of 90 Registered Hols
teins in the herd, 21 are excellent
The BAA is 108.6 and the rolling
herd average is over 26,000 lbs.
with many individual records over
35,0001b5. __
For example, Cola
(EX) has 4y 37.423 m
3.7% 1373 f 3.2%
1205 p. An old cow.
whose name we missed
in our notes, has lOy
39,789 3.6% 1429 f.
Shannon (2E) has 5y
35,570 m 3.5% 1258 f
3.4% 1206 p.
The Seipt family has
a three-way partemship
with two sons Don Jr.,
and Doug included in
the operation. “We have
always felt that getting
production is not nearly
as hard as breeding good
type individuals,” Seipt
said. “So, we have been
cautious about the type
of bulls we use.
At Keystone, the
calves are raised in a
special “motel” that is
open in front but well
protected with an over
hang roof. The farm
office is filled with tro
phies, ribbons and
photos that tell of the
herd’s top show and
production
ROTHROCK FARMS
Then the two buses went to
Rothrock Farms at Kempton,
where many of the top genetics in
the Holstein breed have been pur
chased to assemble high indexes as
the foundation to sell high priced
offspring. The part of the herd that
is merchandised nationally and
internationally is housed in a ultra
modern dairy bam with 40 tie
stalls and 12 box stalls that line the
outer wall. One of the other four
has milking facilities as well.
In the first box stall of the show
bam is the famous Walkup Valiant
Lou Ella (EX 92 GMD-DOM) with
3y 33,480 m 4.6% 1547 f 3.4%
1139p.and index numbers that
reach the sky. Lou Ella is the dam
of Leadsman and has a full sister
and many daughters, grand daught
ers, and embryos in the herd.
The top 10 percent of the herd is
flushed, and these embryos are
implanted in the bottom 80 percent
of the herd. Embryos are some
times even planted in Excellent
cows, if the resulting offspring will
be worth more than a natural bom
calf. A few cow families are propa
gated that include eight or nine
generations of Excellent dams.
Rockroth Golden Holsteins are
world-renowned for famous cattle.
The bam features an office, two
apartments and a water-cooled
ventilation system for the comfort
of the cows. An open calf-raising
facility is also part of the setup.
Bruce Rothrock, a successful
leof the stops on the Lancaster County Holstein Tour was Keystone Farm at Eas
ton. In the photo, part of the Seipt family, Donald, Timothy, Doug, and Gerry visit with
members of the tour committee, Steve Hershey and Dave Kulp, and Glenn Shirk, Lan
caster County agent.
autiful udders in the Paul Zimmerman family herd, from left, Paula, 2E94, 4y
23,873 m 4.0% 929 f; Maria EX9O,3y 22,444 m 3.3% 742 f; and Marlene, E92,6y 19,490 m
3.4% 808 f.
businessman from Allentown, set
started the herd in the early 1980’s.
Jack Miller joined the operation
soon thereafter and as manager
plays a major role in the herd’s
success.
KISSLING FARM
At the last stop of the day, the
Lancaster tour visited the Hidden
View Farm of Tim and Teresa Kis
sling. Here the rows of beautiful
udders and cows with capacity and
dairy type provided a fitting climax
to a day of looking at beautiful
cows.
Teresa is the herdsperson and
the herd’s success has given Hid
den View world-wide contracts for
bulls and embryos. The Marcy
family is outstanding. Production
and type go hand in hand. For
example, the Excellent Clover cow
has 4y 40,438 m 3.3% 1322 f 2.9%
1169 p. The rolling herd average is
25,199 m 904 f 812 p.
Tim also has a consulting busi
ness for nutrition and helps 300
other dairy farmers from Kansas to
New York and Pennsylvania with
feeding programs.
“You can feed cows all haylage
or all com silage or any combina
tion in between,” Tim said. “It
makes no difference what forage
set-up you have as long as you
balance the ration to go with it.
“We have no secrets, nothing
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b f .-E
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• HFT (Tractor Hyd) $2O4 80
(Prices Good Thru 4/17/93)
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1775 W. Main St.
Ephrala, PA
717-733-2880 80> E M .,„ St.
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special. We just try to get a
balanced diet using what feeds are
available on the farm.”
Groups of Lancaster farmers
spent quite some time gathered
around Tim asking questions about
their own feeding programs. But
time ran out. It was getting dark
and time to head home.
When the buses arrived back at
the Farm and Home Center, it was
too late for the participants to be of
much help at home for the evening
milking. But the experience was
quite valuable. One dairyman in
summarizing his experience was
heard to say, “If the dairy farmers
we visited can do it (get top pro
duction and type from their cows),
why can’t I?”
HEAD
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350 Bridge St. 342 Main St.
Phoenixville, PA Collagavllle, PA
215-935-1521 215-489-0980
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Spring City, PA
215-948-8200