82-Uncaster Farming, Saturday, October 15, 1994
Milk To Pay The Bills, Embryos To Make The Money
GAY BROWNLEE
Somerset Co. Correspondent
BROTHERTON ( Somerset
Co.) Last January Joyce
Ringler bought her dad’s 44
Holstein cows and went into the
dairy, business for herself. But
persuading Jim Ringler that his
eldest offspring was the best
buyer for the herd was chal
lenge enough for Joyce. They
debated the issue about a year.
Joyce was in charge of milk
ing the cows anyway because
her dad much preferred crop
farming to being with the cows.
He markets barley, oats, hay
and 110 acres of potatoes that
later become potato chips.
An earlier bout with a seri
ous illness had contributed to
his lack of interest in the cows,
Joyce said. That’s why he and
Bonnie, Joyce’s mother, want
ed to sell the cows.
Not only did Joyce, a licensed
animal health technician with an
associate’s degree, need a home
for her own few registered cows,
she also dreamed of building an
embryo transfer business in
addition to selling milk. The idea
had sprung from her experiences
as a cow breeder and a seller of
semen which she had done for
seven years, between college
days and returning to milk cows
for her dad.
When she couldn’t talk her
parents out of selling, Joyce
decided she’d have to buy the
cows herself if she didn’t want
to sacrifice the small start in
embryos that she had already
achieved.
Jim and Bonnie didn’t want
her to venture into it, but even
tually, whether they felt co
erced by Joyce or just plain
tired of debating, they decided
to let her buy the cows. And
then they migrated to sunny
Florida for a long vacation.
The proverbial roof caved in
for Joyce. The cows got acido
sis. She says they got sore feet
and were very sick. The cause
was mold. It had formed in the
com silage and haylage stored
in the big silos.
“Moldy feed isn’t good for a
cow,” she stated, “but you
don’t rely a hundred percent on
com silage, you dilute it with
other kinds of feed.
««i°^.?.5 fl,e L #tand l!r ,th Sab,e > a 3-year-old cow from a good cow family and with
franiiw pupijS^ 9 Ringler said aha already has embryos out of Sable for embryo
“I think the cows were bor
derline stress for a long time,”
she said. “They were milking
their hearts out.”
“The cows were milking 70
pounds per cow per day in
December and they’ve never
dropped below 64 pounds
through this ordeal,” Joyce said,
adding that too much acid in the
rumin had caused them to have
ulcers.
Two cows died, she said.
Another had to be gotten rid of.
“Since I started, ” say Joyce,
with an air of resigned accep
tance, “I’ve lost seven, but one
wasn’t mold related.”
At the time,. Somerset
County was feeling the full
force of an old-time winter and
Joyce, who has an apartment in
a nearby town, stayed at the
bicentennial homeplace where
she represents the ninth genera
tion of Ringler descendants.
Her mom says Joyce had an
advantage by staying there.
But the experience of losing
cows after just buying them had
the progressive dairy woman
seriously considering other op
tions. “I had three opportunities
to sell the cows and the third
time, I gave it serious thought,”
she admits.
Now, she says there’s no
more debate. She has hired a
new nutritionist and complete
ly changed the cows’ feeding
program, and bouglit another
calf at the county sale. Her
cows are coming back and
Joyce expects better days.
She now says, “I’m getting
in deeper and deeper and deep
er,” alluding to frozen embryos
flushed out of a cow last sum
mer when she was in heat.
“I have a lot of promising
young stock I’m working on
for merchandising purposes,”
said Joyce.
“To Dad, merchandising is a
waste of time, but I’m going to
prove to him that it isn’t,” she
added, doggedly.
“I’m out to prove to dad that
milking money will pay the
bills, but the good money will
come from embiyos.”
She sites an example. “I sold
one at a sale that brought $6lOO
last year.”'She says another
young heifer that brought
Standing by a rarely seen Bicentennial Farm sign Is Joyce Ringler, who’s the ninth
Ringler generation on the land. Joyce brought her dad’s 44 cows last January and
plans to build a reputation In the embryo business.
Jfomestead
$3600 went to Illinois,
Joyce says a good cow can
be started at three years old
such as- her -own “Sable,” a
three year old with an excellent
pedigree, from a good cow
family. Three of Sable’s broth
ers are in stud service, accord
ing to Joyce, who already has
embryos from the female.
“I’ve always had an interest
in registered cows,” Joyce said,
“but my interest really grew
when I was breeding cows.”
Those were the days when
she was constantly covering
miles in Somerset, Westmore
land, and Fayette counties. “I
gave up the breeding of cows
Jlotcs
because it was to much,” she
said. “I was up at five a.m. and
often not in bed until (the next)
midnight.”
Two years have since passed
and though she’s still a late
nighter, Joyce says she feels
better now.
One of her registered cows
is Ridge N-Valley Bell Nina,
ten years. Her record reads
4-03, 365,31,751 m, 1,119 f and
998 p; and 32,668m,
1,173 f and 989 p.
The rolling herd average is
22,108 milk, 812 f or 3.7 per
cent of fat, protein 3.3 percent
or 725 p, according to Joyce’s
official reports.
Joyce says right now she’s
building records with her best
animals. It’s crucial to having
her name recognized in the
business. That’s why, when the
young heifer went to Illinois,
she had reason to be elated.
With her qualifications, Joyce
says it’s the next best thing to
being a veterinarian. She says
it’s like being a vet’s nurse.
“There are cows out there
(the bam) that are my buddies,”
Joyce says, grinning. “They’re
not stupid. They act stupid, but
they aren’t stupid. They’re my
kids,’ she laughed and proceed
ed to reveal some of the luxury
fare she occasionally shares
with them. Things like dough
nuts or banana cake —whatever
is available.
“They’re spoiled,” was her
unabashed confession.
Joyce, a member of the
Somerset County Holstein
Club, helps to organize the
annual Black and white Show.
Her dad is a handy consultant,
she says, the kind who doesn’t
volunteer an answer before the
question has been asked.
Joyce has two brothers and
one sister.