A36-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 10, 1994
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Fanning Staff
FOMBELL (Lawrence
Co.) Tim Sturgeon is the head
of a dairy farm family in Fombell
that depends entirely on selling
milk and Holstein cattle.
The farm from which the family
makes its living has been in their
family since about 1870. It is
located about 50 miles from Pitts
burgh and occupies about 180
acresof hilly, clay-type soil. About
150 additional acres are rented.
The family members are Tim
and his wife Kathy, and their three
sons Blane, 12, Wade, 18, and
Thad, 21, a senior at Penn State
University, and also a 1994 nation
al Holstein Association distin
guished junior member.
The Sturgeons milk about 60
Holsteins, mostly registered, with
some grade recipient cows used
because they do a lot of embryo
work.
When Tim was a student at
Elwood City High School 30 years
ago, there were 20 or so farm fami
lies whose children attended
school, he said.
Today, the graduating classes
have enlarged to more than 200,
but at present there are only two
full-time farm families with child
ren in the school district. And the
other farm family is a neighbor to
the Sturgeons.
The situation is similar in many
areas.
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Whereas the amount of milk
needed to be sold in order to sup
port a family has increased dramat
ically over time, and with the num
ber of mega-dairies competing
with smaller farms, the stability of
family dairy farms has decreased
and many of those farms have
disappeared.
The pressure of survival has
been increasing on the family farm
operation, and is expected to
remain.
For these reasons, an education
al outreach program was created
within the state to help dairy farm
families and managers of larger
dairy operations.
It is called the Dairy MAP (man
agement and profitability) prog
ram, and it is in its third year of
being offered through a colabora
tive effort between the Penn State
University Cooperative Extension
Service and the Pennsylvania dairy
industry.
Earlier this year, Tim Sturgeon
attended a Dairy MAP workshop
series in his area.
Designed as a two-day work
shop, the Dairy MAP program cost
$lOO per farm which entitles two
people to attend. Tim went alone.
“If I had to it to do again, I would
have had my wife go along too. I
shouldn’t just say wife, we have
(sons)... it is just as beneficial for
them, if not more beneficial than
for my wife an I,” Tim said.
So, with ever-tightening cash
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flows, it may not seem like the best
time to divert part of the milk
check to pay for a seminar on how
to stay in business.
But Sturgeon said attending the
workshop may have been the one
thing he did recently that will give
him a better chance at staying a
full-time dairyman.
“I guess the person who thinks
he’s doing everything right, ought
to stay home. (If that person does
attend) he’s going to find out he’s
not doing everything right,” Tim
said.
While a $lOO fee may seem
steep. Sturgeon said that for him it
was definitely money well spent.
“The cost is irrelevant, from
what we got out of it,” he said. “I
do a better job. I do a lot better job
of record keeping.”
Sturgeon was doing pretty well
farming before attending the work
shop. He has had his cattle on test
for at least 30 years. He raises his
own com, hay, some soybeans,
(quit raising small grains), and
beds his cattle with wood shav
ings, locally available and
inexpensive.
“We’re going to expand, and I
wanted to learn about anything that
has to do with expansion that we
can learn. (Expanding a dairy
operation) is a long-range planning
process, not something you do
right away.
“The thing is, we all (the Stur
geon family) get along really well,
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but I wanted to get along better.”
According to Sturgeon, the
workshops he attended were held
in the style of an open meeting,
“And we did a lot of talking among
ourselves and it gave us a good
idea of how others were doing, and
everybody seemed really open
with each other, and that was
nice,” he said.
But Tim said he got more than
good conversation from the
workshops.
The Sturgeons now have a mis
sion statement for their farm.
There is a week between meet
ings in the two-day workshop
series. During that time, particip
ants are given homework to do.
Part of the homework for Tim
Sturgeon was to develop a farm
mission statement.
“Our mission is to produce a
quality dairy product and to mer
chandise a tojp genetic animal, with
an emphasis on honesty and
respect, not only to others, but by
others; to distinguish family val
ues, work in harmony, and be
accepted as a businessman, while
portraying a Christian image and
creating a standard accepted by the
consumer.
“We as a family wrote that,”
Sturgeon said, explaining how
they sat down and considered it, all
of them, and worked it out. And
that they keep it.
Also, the family is closer and
communicating better through
weekly family meetings, which
Sturgeon said started as a result of
his attending Dairy MAP.
There are many other changes
that came about.
As an example, Sturgeon said he
keeps a notebook with him and he
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writes down how much milk is
shipped, what the milk price is,
somatic cell count and milk
component production, and other
information he needs. He said hav
ing ready access to this informa
tion when making decisions
around the farm allow him to make
better-based decisions.
He said by keeping track of the
daily milk weight slips, he can
keep track of how much he is ship
ping, especially during times of
feed changes.
Information from his notes is
recorded on the home computer,
although he doesn’t use the com
puter often himself, except for
searching for bulls. But his wife
and sons can use the computer
well.
Tim said months after attending
the workshop, he realized that he
took home more information than
he thought, including a better atti
tude about how to get things done.
“I guess I would have to say, (I
learned) management techniques,
and, more than anything, how to
work with your help.
“I’ve always tried to teach the
help to have responsibility, even if
it’s one little thing.
“Our youngest boy, he takes
care of (calves). That’s his job. But
I think that’s one thing we talked
about at the session even
though I’m the elder person here,
instead of being boss and saying,
‘You do that and this,’ give
responsibilities, and make sure
that if you are not around, someone
can do it.
“Wade, our middle boy... is bas
ically in charge of (maintaining the
quality of the total mixed ration),”
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