Holstein Association
STATE COLLEGE (Centre
Co.) Senior winners in the Pen
nsylvania Holstein Association’s
Distinguished Junior Member
Contest are Jill Harnish of Christ
iana and Rachel Tanis of Centre
Hall.
These two women will represent
the state in the National Distin
guished Junior Member Contest to
be held in June at the National
Holstein Convention in Pittsburgh.
To receive this award, contes-
Jill Harnish Says
‘My Heart
Is In Production ’
The farm where 1 was bom,
raised and curently work is also
the same farm where my father
was bom, raised, and works. My
father milks registered Holstein
cows, although that was not al
ways the case. When my father
was bom my grandfather had a re
gistered Ayrshire farm. In the ear
ly 1900 s my great-grandfather
was the first to bring registered
Ayrshire cattle to Lancaster Coun
ty. My father showed Ayrshires
extensively as a teen-ager. In 1965
he married my mother and began
to take over the farm. He gradual
ly began to switch to Holsteins,
and by 1970 my father’s herd was
100 percent Holstein.
In the year 1970, my sister Jen
ny was bom, joining my older bro
ther Brian who was bom in 1968.
The year 1975 brought my arrival.
At this time my parents’ operation
consisted of 40 registered and
grade Holsteins. My father also
cropped 90 acres of land.
My first recollections of my du
ties on the farm were holding the
tails of cows for my father during
milking and cleaning out water
bowls, for which I got paid a pen
ny a bowl. Later when I was too
tants needed to write about their
accomplishments in Holstein
activities, school work, communi
ty involvement, leadership, and
their ideas for the future in agricul
ture and the Holstein industry. Six
finalists were chosen. The finalists
were interviewed by a panel of
judges, who then combined their
scrapbook achievements and inter
view scores to select two winners.
Read about these two outstand
ing women in their own words.
young to be in 4-H, but not too
young to show, I had plans of
showing one of my dad’s calves
which I had named Maple. Maple
and I made our debut at the Solan
co Fair. Everything was fine until
show time approached, when I
backed out and my sister showed
Maple for me.
When I was 8 years old I began
regular chores in the bam. After
school I would sweep up in the
bam and feed my pets. By this
time I had overcome my setback
of my first showing experience.
That is when I decided I wanted a
cute little Jersey calf. After three
years of having Jerseys as my 4-H
project, I guess you could say I
wised up, or maybe my thrill of
Jerseys just wore out
In 1987 I won $3OO toward the
purchase of a registered heifer calf
in the Youth Participation Contest
at the Solanco Fair. In March of
1988 my father went to a herd dis
persal and bought a December
calf. Archview Marvel Marcie, for
me to put my money toward. Mar
cie was the start of my Holstein
herd. Because my parents believe
you appreciate what you work for
(Turn to Pag* B 16)
Jill
Chooses Distin
Rachel Tanis Promotes
Industry She Loves
Through the years that 1 have
worked in the Holstein industry, I
have found that it has given me
many things. From meeting new
friends to watching the Holstein
breed develop into something
greater from year to year has been
rewarding.
HOME OPERATION: My ex
perience with the Holstein breed
began after my family moved
from Mansfield, Missouri to
Branchville, New Jersey in 1983
where we resided until 1988. We
then moved on to Centre Hall,
Pennsylvania because of develop
mental pressures on our farm. This
was a learning experience for all
of my family. I am the daughter of
Jacob and Sally Tanis 111 and have
two older brothers, Jacob IV, age
24, and Adam, age 23. We have
all grown stronger as a family
through these moves from state to
state and are proud of the fact that
we are a family run farm. Present
ly we have 97 cows on test with
approximately 110 young stock.
Our herds Breed Age Average is
currently at 109.0 points. Aside
from milking cows we also raise
com, alfalfa, and soybeans. With
my brothers and father working in
the fields during the harvesting
season, it leaves my mother and
me to do the milking.
At the present time, we have a
85-cow tie stall bam. We also
have five separate pens for our
breeding stock housing and one
pen for raising bulls. Our calves
are first housed in one of the IS
calf hutches we have and then are
moved into a pen where they are
gradually weaned off by the 12th
week.
FEEDING PROGRAM: Since
moving to Pennsylvania we have
been using a Total Mixed Ration.
Our herd average since then has
increased almost 9,000 pounds.
Our present herd average is
26,374 pounds of milk, 974 of fat,
and 849 protein. Our TMR is pre
sently based at 90 pounds of milk.
uished Winners
Rachel Tants
MILKING/HEALTH PROG
RAM: Our herd is milked twice
daily in a tie stall bam. We pre and
post-dip and have been pleased
with the results. We would like to
see a lower somatic cell count yet,
some of our best milkers are the
cause for it to be where it is. We
make sure that a cow with a high
somatic cell count gets her ma
chine sanitized before it goes on
another cow. This has kept our
cases of mastitis down consider
ably.
We use two vets for our herd
health. One comes once a month
to check for pregnancies. The
other is a local vet, who is used for
our monthly herd health checks.
My father takes care of most of
our veterinary work except for
operations. He is also in charge of
doing all of the artificial breeding
of the cows. We strive to keep our
calving interval at 12.3 months.
We have been able to maintain
this because of the clean up bulls
that we have on our farm. These
bulls are also used at the neigh
bors’ farms throughout the years.
RECORD KEEPING: Record
keeping is completed primarily by
my father, mother and myself. My
mother’s primary concern is with
the DHIA sheets since she is the
primary milker. She also is in
charge of the bill paying in the
family. My father does all the
breeding so he keeps track of all
the latest heats. He is also in
charge, along with my brother, of
the Held work and our feeding
progarm. I am in charge of making
sure that the calf registration and
vaccination is completed on time.
With school and Dairy Princess
duty taking up most of my day
time, I find myself at times work
ing late at night on some of the re
gistrations to make sure they are
sent out on time. I am also in
charge of deciding when the
calves are ready for vaccination
and when they are ready to be
weaned. We have found this sys-
tem to work best for us so far be
cause each of us has a certain in
terest in different areas.
RESPONSIBILITIES ON THE
FARM: As stated before, our re
sponsibilities are shared by family
members. While serving as an Al
ternate Pennsylvanai Dairy Prin
cess, Centre County Dairy Prin
cess, and a student at Penn State, I
have found myself away from the
farm more than before. Yet I help
every morning before class when
the average 20 calves need fed
milk. We also must clean up the
feeding mangers in front of the
cows, and their beds while they
are at pasture. I work closely with
my father with the breeding choic
es of my own cows. I usually fol
low his advice because I haven’t
found too many faults in his herd.
He and I believe that one breeding
choice could affect us in the fu
ture. I also feel that careful record
keeping is essential in raising a
successful herd. Our system so far
has proven effective so I plan to
follow it when I begin to raise my
own herd.
BREEDING PROGRAM: Ideal
Holsteins have been long known
in Centre County for not using the
index system. We have found that
in our herd, breeding with the
“High Number” bull, has not been
profitable. We breed our cows to
be long lasting and we found that
using the index bulls did not give
us this. We mainly use Semex
bulls because of the strength of the
offspring we get We begin by
looking at the maternal line to see
how the dam classified and how
much she milked. If the dam is not
profitable, why invest in a bull out
of her? Sometimes we touch base
with whether or not the dam is
positive on protein or milk for a
final evaluation. We also look for
improving our type in our herd.
We believe that a good looking
cow can last in the herd longer
than one that is bred for index.
(Turn to Pago BIS)