A2B-UncaMr Fanning, Saturday. Novambtr 13.1993
The Second
(CondniMd from Pag* A 22)
pay for an expansion of their frces
tall facility, and because they have
added first lactation heifers.
Those first lactation heifers
make up 40 percent of the current,
84-cow milking herd.
This August and September, in
an attempt to raise the average,
they tried going back to three
dmes-per day milking, but decided
that die extra work wasn’t worth
the increase in milk production.
But they appear to have good
reason for being optimistic about
the herd’s chances for getting back
to the top.
They have a couple of good cow
lines to follow up two of the
top 101993 Pa.DHIA-tested Hols
teins are from the Snyders’ herd.
At third place statewide is Pep
per, a 6-year-old which recorded a
305-day, 1993 lactation of 40,502
pounds of milk, 3.1 percent, or
1,236 pounds of fat, and 3.2 per
cent. or 1,278 pounds of protein.
Pepper is a homebred cow
whose dam had made a top produc
tion 0f32,000 pounds of milk, with
1,000 pounds of fat and 900
pounds of protein.
Steve said that Pepper’s sire is
Macabob Cane Dutchman Cinna
mon, no longer in the lineup of a
Midwestern artificial insemination
company, and which was used for
cleanup work, because Pepper
wouldn’t settle with the higher
priced semen.
Despite her production record,
Steve and Tracy said they aren’t
looking use Pepper as the founda
tion of the herd, but they aren’t
about tp count out her benefit to the
operation.
She’s freshened four times and
has had four bull calves, all of
which were sold for beef.
Pepper is a well-sutured, strong
milking cow that has held up well,
Steve said. She classified 84
points. Good Plus, and, while bull
studs aren’t interested in her pedi
gree, there has been some interest
in her sons from local dairymen
who use natural insemination
market. Especially with her pro
duction record. <
- The cow to which the brothers
are looking to build up the herd is
dead. Her name was Poppy.
Sieve said that Poppy, ranked
10th in the state in production,
unfortunately died shortly after
calving stillborn twins. Her earlier
offspring hold lots of promise,
Steve said.
Before she died, she bore three
heifers, two from average bulls
apparently are headed on the same
production direction as Poppy. Her
first calf made 32,000 pounds of
milk as a 3-year-old: the other
posted a production record of
23,000 pounds on a first lactation.
Her last heifer is a Rocky
daughter and Steve said there is
some interest.
But there is a twist to following
the pedigree. Poppy is also a
homegrown cow, the daughter of a
homegrown bull which was pur
chased by Oakenbound Farms in
Richland (listed under Berks
County by the Pennsylvania
Dairymen’s Association, but the
owners, Richard and Nelson
Troutman, are members of the
Lebanon Holstein Club.)
According to Steve. Poppy’s
sire is Carl A. Oakenbound Fred.
The bull came from a good cow at
Caii A. Farm and was sold to the
Troutmans and later the bull got a
good proof through an AI opera
tion and was used as a sire by the
Snyders.
‘That’s a pretty strong family,”
Generation
Steve said, “end the Poppy cow
had some index. Thai’s why we
hope this Rocky heifer does good
for us, because there was some
interest in the Poppy family.”
The couple hundred acre farm
has an interesting, if not unortha
dox, history upon which Steve and
Tracy are building.
The history of the farm goes
back to the Snyder’s maternal
grandfather, Frank Kehlcr, from
whom Carl and Alice (Kehler)
Snyder bought the farm in 1960.
Kehler had started the farm with
chickens, pigs and a few dairy
cattle.
The dairy cattle had mainly
come through unintentional
purchases Art Morgan, a local
cattle hauler who would pick up
culls and take them to auction,
used to stop by the Kehler farm and
show him cattle that Morgan
thought were too good to go to
slaughter.
According to the Snyders, the
cattle would have a case of masti
tis, or a stepped on teat, or some
problem that Kehler would be able
to fix. He would decide if the reha
bilitative effort would be worth the
price, albeit much reduced from
the cost of a sound cow.
And many of those salvaged
bossies ended up milking well,
even if a quarter shy on the udder.
When Carl and Alice took over
from her father, they changed the
operation to an aU dairy Gum,
except for some horses, and
farmed for 30 years before their
sons took over.
Cat! still directs and does most
of the fieldwork and Alice likes to
cut hay; insists on it, according to
her sons.
"She likes the self-propelled
haybine,” Steve said. “She’s mow
ed hay since 19605. She’s probably
mowed 90 percent of the hay
raised on the farm and she’ll con
tinue to do it until she can’t,” he
said. “She’s given up milking
though.”
The transition to Steve and Tra
cy taking over the farm wasn’t
immediate.
At first, all four of Snyder’s sons
worked together. Steve graduated
from Cornell University in 198 S
and, after working for Pennfield
Feeds, came back to the farm in
1988. That was an impetus for the
sons to take over.
Mark, 27, is now an accountant,
and Donald. 31, sells feed. But
when it became apparent that the
farm was not really big enough to
support all four and families, and
because of interests other than full
time dairying, Steve and Tracy
formed a partnership.
Penn-Jersey Products Inc. gave
a July tour of Pennsylvania farms
to Canadian farmers and the Carl
A. Farm was one of the stops.
It’s no accident that Steve and
Tracy’s operation was chosen.
They are continuing the family
tradition of seeking to build and
maintain a sensible, safe, and pro
fitable farming operation.
In addition to leading county
average production from late last
year into this spring, the farm’s
herd been at or near the top of the
county list several times: in 1969 it
was top; second in 1972 and 1979;
and fourth in 1991.
But the brothers said they didn’t
expect the distinction Of leading
the county to last, because, though
dairy farming may sometimes
seem routine and monotonous,
things really do change.
Farms have been, especially
within the past 30 years, one of the
most ever-changing, dynamic
businesses to be operating.
The average milk production of the Holstein herd at Carl A. Farm in Schuylkill Coun
ty Jumped to the top of the county because of changes in milking, feeding and nutri
tion implefnented by Steve and Tracy Snyder, brothers in partnership. At first a single
family farm, It was expanded last year in order to support the families of the brothers’
families. The Thoroughbred horses in the foreground belong to the farm, but ard not a
major business concern.
Steve Snyder waters calves, hopefuls for the future herd.
Not only is there increased com
petition in milk production as other
farms up-size their herds and mod
ernize in an attempt to give the
next generation a shot at staying in
dairying, but real estate specula
tors and increasing societal costs
effectively pressure all farmers to
seek means of increasing cash
flow.
Over the yean, the goal of the
Car A. Farm has been to achieve a
smoothly running, and family
oriented operation.
In the transfer between genera
tions, while that goal has not
changed, the methods of achieving
it have.
Steven and Tracy added a TMR
mixer, use a nutritionist, expanded
the bam, and have conducted other
experiments based on research to
see what works for them and what
doesn’t
Some of the "experiments,”
such as 3X milking, have been
pretty well put on the back, back
burner.
The two were maintaining a 6
a.m., 2 p.m. and 10 p.m. milking
schedule.
“I was getting as much sleep,”
Steve said, “but we couldn’t leave
the farm.”
Even before that, there was
change at the farm. In 1991, a cou
sin was getting married and no one
wanted to stay at the farm. In order
to allow everyone to enjoy the
family occassion, the sons
switched to a noon and midnight
milking schedule.
Now, after selling cattle and try-
(Turn to Pago AM)
Atop one of four silos on their farm, Steve Snyder watch
es to make sure haylage is being blown into the silo
correctly.