A3O-Uncnttr Finning, Saturday, Auguat 14.1993
Consultant Tells Holstein Club: Study Market, Set Goals
BONNIE BRECHBILL
Franklin Co. Correspondent
GREENCASTLE (Franklin
Co.) Ron Buffington of Rose
buff Holstein Consulting address
ed about 3SO people at Tidy-
Brook Farm on August 3.
Tidy-Brook was the site of the
Franklin County Holstein Club’s
annual Field Day. Farmed in part
nership by Alan Meyers and his
father. Mark, Tidy-Brook is home
to the Sally family of Holsteins.
Tidy-Brook has bred five of the
top 20 Holsteins for CTPI all
are from the Sally family. Tidy-
Brook Elton Sonja-ET, a daughter
of Tidy-Brook Sally Ned Boy, is
the top Holstein for protein and
milk in the U.S. Her index for
milk is 3,700 pounds.
The herd includes one Excellent
cow and 16 Very Goods. The
BAA is 104.1, and RHA is 19,700
with 725 pounds of fat and 625
pounds of protein.
Buffington, of Dublin, Ohio,
complimented the Meyers family
“for doing a lot of things right, for
putting a lot of pieces together.”
His topic was merchandising re
gistered Holsteins in the ’9os.
“This is the exciting part of re
gistered Holsteins,” he said. “You
can develop a second income from
your cows.”
Buffington made seven points:
1. Study what the market needs.
“The market is going to protein.
They want high protein-testing
cows.”
2. Every farm should join a
buying cooperative. “Buy cheaper
Dr. Ron Kllng explains the ultrasound tt jue
the crowd watches the image produced on the screen.
Five Japanese students visiting area dairy farms receiv
ed Pennsylvania Holstein Association shirts.
and smarter, at 10 to 30 percent
off retail,” he said. “Put the money
you save into buying embryos
from a good cow family that’s on
its way up,”
3. Breed for type and feed for
milk.
4. Organize workshops every
90 days so people know what’s
going on. “There’s so much infor
mation available finance, gen
etics, embryo marketing...,” he
said.
5. Advertise, and do it under
contract because that saves 10-15
percent of the cost “When you
have to write an ad six times a
year, you make that commitment,
and you’ll be organized with your
information, pedigrees and pic
tures. If you want people to come,
you have to tell people you have
something to sell.”
6. Increase your retail sales. “In
the financial world, there are two
terms retail and wholesale,” he
said. “You can’t buy retail and sell
wholesale. Too much of American
agriculture is that way.”
7. Set goals. Decide what you
want to do. There is a lot of oppor
tunity. Some farmers have cattle
sales that are 50 percent of the
milk check.
Buffington recommends in
cluding the phrase. “After the sale,
support.” in advertising, a tech
nique he learned from the Ostrich
breeders. “It would knock the
socks off the buyer if we did this
for Holsteins.” he said. Support
after the sale includes assisting the
purchaser with management and
sending prospective buyers to his
farm.
In the morning portion of Field
Day activities, Dr. Larry Kennel
of Cornerstone Genetics flushed
Tidy-Brook B-Star Suzy-ET and
explained the procedure to the
group. Suzy produced IS eggs, 14
of which were fertilized. Kennel
transferred five and froze the rest.
Dr. Ron Kling of New Vision
Transplants, Accident, Md. de
monstrated a new use for ultra
sound. Using a probe that glides
over the uterus, he can detect
pregnancy in a cow or heifer at
22-25 days, and can determine the
sex of the embryo at 55-75 days.
Kling said that in his practice he
uses ultrasound mostly for sex de
termination. “It can help you in
managing contracts,” he said. He
has been using ultrasound since
last November, and we’ve been
100 percent correct so far.” The
[Kobe, which is attached to a ma
chine with a small screen, emits
sound waves which bounce off tis
sue in the animal’s uterus, forming
a picture on the screen.
Winners in the cattle judging
portion of the field day were:
Adult*:
1. Brad Beidel (147 points)
2. Donald Harwood
3. (tie) Robert Schaffer. Dennis Sol
lenberger
4. (tie) Randy Christman, Darren
Watts
Youth: '
1. Jonathan Sollonberger (147
points)
2. Ty Christman
3. Justin Burdette
4. Tia Crider
5. James Smoker
The Meyers family gave away
an embryo out of a Blackstar, who
is consigned to the Eastern Na
tional Sale. The sire is Choice of
Mark Adam. Nancy Toms was the
winner.
Attending the event were sever
al students from Japan, who are
staying with area farm families,
including Alan and his wife, Ken
dra. The students are from Japan
ese dairy farms and are visiting
Globe Run
LINDA WILLIAMS
Bedford Co. Correspondent
MARTINSBURG (Blair Co.)
It was an emotional moment as
Judge Oren Bender narrowly
chose the Globe Run 3-year-old
Holstein as the supreme champion
in the final show of the 1993 Mor
rison Cove Dairy Show. Globe
Run was named premier breeder
and supreme champion.
“I like all cows, if they are good
cows, and we have six good ones
here,” said Bender. “But, since I
have to narrow it down, my top
three are the Guernsey, Jersey, and
The John Foster and Scott Fisher families accept the supreme and reserve supreme
champion awards from the Ida Moore famlly-ln memory of the late John Fisher.
Or. Larry Kennel explains the flushing procedure,
can be flushed every 45*60 days.
Ron Buffington, left, was the featured speaker at we
Field Day held at Tidy-Brook, home of Kendra and Alan
Meyers, right.
under a program of the Pennsylva
nia Holstein Association. Also
hosting the students were James
Farms Receive Fisher Award
Holstein.
“However, the Holstein has a
slight edge.”
The reserve champion was the
Jersey owned by Scott Fisher, son
of the late John Fisher.
The Fisher Award was pre
sented by the Ida Moore Family
and included a SlOO check, a ban
ner, and a rotating plaque for the
champion and a $5O check and a
banner to the reserve champion.
John Foster of Globerun and
Fisher had tears in their eyes as
they congratulated each other.
The winning cow was owned by
and Nina Burdette of Mercersburg
and Donna and Clement Halde
man of Greencastle.
Lory Baker, who keeps her ani
mals at the Globe Run Farm.
Matt Black won the reserve
grand champion in the Holstein
division with an aged cow.
The junior champ was owned by
Erin Shaw and reserve junior by
John Foster HI.
Other Holstein awards were as
follows:
Junior Colvoo; Angola Fredrick, Rachel
Fox.
Intermediate Calvee: Charann Footer,
Jothua Smith, and Ashley Black.
(Turn to Pag* A3l)
lows