A26-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 17, 1994
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
EMLENTON (Clarion
Co.) Attendants to the 1993
and 1994 Pa. Holstein Association
fall championship shows held in
Harrisburg should remember see
ing Mike and Cindy Weimer at the
halter of their 6-year-old, Excel
lent 94-point, Solid Gold Rotate
Easter cow.
The cow was named the total
performance winner two years
running and the Weimcrs had their
family picture taken with the cow.
In the Large Arena of the state
Farm Show Complex in Harris
burg, the Weimer family stood
together, smiling broadly, with
their cow in front of the All-
American banner, with photogra
phers’ cameras klicking and
flashes popping lights.
Easter may have a chance of
winning the award three times if
she calves well when due in May,
and stays healthy and produces
well, according to Mike. The total
performance award recognizes
both dairy production and animal
configurations.
The Weimers farm about 2SO
acres of rolling hills near Emlenton
in the western tip of Clarion Coun
ty, near busy 180, the interstate
highway that cuts an east-to-west
slash across the middle of the
county. The farm name is Solid
Gold.
The farm’s herd consists of
about 76 milking cows and the
most recent rolling herd average
showed average 305-day produc
tion of 25,911 pounds of milk, 943
pounds fat, and 826 pounds of
protein.
The Solid Gold herd is treated
like many other top-producing
herds die cows are fed a totally
mixed, balanced ration, the milk
ing herd is kept in a frce-stall setup
with clay-based stall beds topped
with wood shavings.
Calves are kept separate, heifers
are grouped, dry cows have their
own program, consultants are
used, and concern for the breeding
program is given high priority.
But they, like many others with
family farms, are not stricdy “full
time” farmers.
Cindy works as a communica
tions specialist for Mid East
United Dairy Industry Association
and also keeps the farm’s records
and keeps all the breed registry
paperwork. Mike said she works
very hard on the farm and with her
job, and has their two children
also; Sarah, S, and Spencer, 3.
Mike, 37, also works off the
farm, auctioneering, and currently
he is kept busy doing most of the
selection for the state Holstein
Association commission sale.
But in the meantime, the farm is
a full-time operation, and has to be
kept going and managed, and the
cows have to get milked three
times per day.
Up until a month ago, Mike had
only employed one man as his
herdsman. He hired a second full
time worker for the farm because
of his sale-selection
responsibilities.
“I’m going to be gone at least 20
days this month, and (20) the next,
so I have to have this kind of labor
to keep this going.”
The Weimers are family far
mers, and they share the decisions
and choices that many rate-family
farms are being forced to make,
especially in recent years with the
changes in the dairy industry, and
international trade.
Mike said that for him, the
choices that many were taking, or
seemed to consider, were not
Solid Gold Decisions Are Well Considered
necessarily appealing to him.
So he said he began searching
for information he needed.
About two to three years ago,
Mike said he started making
changes at the farm. He attended
dairy day meetings and read arti
cles on what others are doing in the
industry.
He has a college degree, works
in the industry and visits a lot of
farmers, so he had the opportunity
to see what others were doing, and
all interests in the dairy industry
seemed to be repeating the same
message: get bigger or die.
Mike said his doesn't agree that
dairying has to be a job for a full
time owner/operator, to the exclu
sion of other vocations. And he
isn’t alone. Many see farming as a
main revenue source to help pay
for the land, but continue to work
off-farm to provide for more cash
flow and living requirements.
Either way. each farm operation
is as different as the owner and
operator, and while some manage
ment considerations may be the
same across the board, each indivi
dual has to decide how farming can
be successful for him.
For Mike, it was a matter of fig
uring out a way of incorporating
his love of dairying with his other,
related vocational abilities and
assets.
He said that if he were to expand
his milk-production to the size
required by some economic equa
tions for return on investment, he
would probably have to give up
doing off-farm work; that is, if a
bank would loan the amount
needed to do a large expansion.
At the time he was considering
changes, he was milking about 50
cows. He then had a herd dispersal
and sold almost all of the herd,
except for a couple of older cows
and some heifers.
He reinvested money into
remodeling a bam and adding
frees tails.
Shortly after going to 70 cows in
1993, he talked with a county
extension agent, who helped him
work out financial projections; and
it seemed that milking three-times
per day would work well to boost
cash flow. And it has, Mike said.
But in the meantime, there were
still some things missing in con
trolling the business, he said.
Soon after expanding the herd,
Mike said he did attend a dairy
expansion seminar, primarily, he
said, “Just to keep open minded
about it”
Then he heard.about the Dairy
MAP (Management and Profita
bility) program, he said, and
attended the basic course.
Weimer couldn’t find what he
needed, he said, until he attended
the first Dairy-MAP program.
The combination of the work
shop speakers and the discussions
with peers and homework appe
aled to Weimer, he said, because it
allowed him to see that he could be
the type of fanner he wanted to be;
not like someone down the valley,
or in another state, but Mike
Weimer.
He and Cindy put together a
mission statement for the first
time; he started using his DHIA
records for herd management of
health and reproduction and dairy
production; he started monthly
meetings with his herdsman; ...
“A lot of things they bring up (at
Dairy MAP workshops), you
know that you should have been
doing them.” Weimer said. "I went
to college, and several of the guys
(also at the workshop) went to col?
lege and several things you knew
(already). But the program helped
Mike and Cindy Weimer, with children Sarah, and Spencer, stand at the halter of
their 6-year-old, Excellent 94-point, Solid Gold Rotate Easter cow, after she was
named the total performance winner at the 1993 Pa. Holstein Association fall champ
ionship show.
trigger (me) to do it”
For example, sitting down with
the herdsman on a regular basis
was not something he was used to
doing.
“There’s so many routine things
during the day (fuming), that it
takes effort to stop and have a
meeting,” he said. But now he does
it.
“1 now take time and get infor
mation from everyone involved in
the farm, when making a high per
centage of decisions. I have one
exceptionally good herdsman, and
I sit down with him once in a while
and go ova ideas, and do problem
solving.
“I did start using the (DHIA)
records more after MAP,” Mike
said. “Primarily, I used it before
for merchandising.”
The Weimers have been
involved with merchandising
cattle and include that as an aspect
of the family business that also
requires management
Mike has been involved with
judging cattle since growing up on
a family farm in Emmitsburg, Md.
When in college at the University
of Maryland, he was on the cattle
judging team in college and went
to Madison, Wis., for the national
contest, his team finishing a
respectable fourth.
This past year, the Weimers
have sent five bulls to stud. Mike
regularly sells embryos to buyers
in France and Holland.
This year, one of the cows he
bred and developed he sold for
$23,000 to Golden Oaks Farm, in
Illinois, during the Genetic Advan
tage Sale, held in New York. At
this year’s Eastern National Hols
tein Sale, he sold a 93-point Mark
daugther for $6,900.
These things didn’t just happen.
These things were hoped for,
planned for, and worked for.
Mike said he uses a dairy man
agement program, but prim* to
attending Dairy MAP, he didn’t
really update the program with
DHIA-crcatcd data.
Now he does.
“I didn’t used to keep them
updated, but now I do,” Mike said.
“It’s easier (now) for my vet to go
over. We have a cow search
through Holstein Association we
were primarily using it for man
agement, but it’s easier for me to
go through my DHIA records, so
we keep both of those up-to-date
now.”
His DHIA technician is part of
the team. His hired men are part of
the team, his veterinarian, etc.
Altogether, they are creating the
entity known as Solid Gold Farm.
This past year, he and his herds
man attended a second, advanced
workshop offered through the
Dairy MAP program. This prog
ram was on feeds and nutrition.
On Tuesday, he said he was
going to hold a meeting with his
herdsman and new employee to
figure out a realignment of respon
sibilities. Mike hired someone to
fill in for a milking, so the three
could have time to talk and work
out a strategy.
"We’re going to go over respon
sibilities. I have a list of notes I
made up last night I want to have
monthly meetings, get copies of
somatic cell reports so we can talk
about problem cows, talk about
things we think need done.
“I’m asking that the three of us
are going to come up with a one
year goal, a five-year goal, and that
would be fa things with the had
and things with the aops.”
The Dairy MAP program was
not a magic formula for success
nor a panacea for farm economic
health, according to Weimer, but
Cull For Improvement
(Continued from Pag* A 25)
Fewer losses from reproductive would also create an opportunity
and other health problems would *° r incrc ? se f cash flow, because
permit more animals to be ™? re ammals 00,11(1 Ixs sold for
removed for low production, thus oair y P ur P oses -
Cows Removed from PaDHIA Herds
1993-94 Test Year
10.6% died
15.4°/
unspecified
10.3°/
type problem:
health and injury 12.8 %
mastitis
rn| involuntary BH| Voluntary
jjßlHi Culling HH Culling
he said it made him realize what he
had to do to get better control of his
direction.
“In no way did I use everything
(learned about management) I
should have, but everything I’ve
used has been good.
“I guess (my) main goal is to get
better, not bigger. When into this
merchandising, there is a lot of
opportunity, if you can do a good
job with the herd.”
Editor’s Note: Every year sev
eral hundred Pennsylvania dairy
farms go out of business. Chang
ing times make incorporating
sound management technologies
important for the efficiency and
profitability of dairy farm
businesses.
In an effort to respond to the
need for up-to-date business
management information, many
dairy industry officials and orga
nizations have turned to Penn
State’s Dairy-MAP program as
one way to help stabilize and
reverse the downward trend of
the dairy industry in
Pennsylvania.
This is the last of three farm
interviews with family members
who have participated in one of
the Dairy-MAP seminars held
across the state last year.
upgrading the herd’s genetics. It
11 .0%
low production
8.1% dairy
21.1%
reproduction