When It Comes To Production, Van Blarcoms Are Top In State CAROLYN N. MOYER Bradford County Correspondent COLUMBIA CROSS ROADS (Bradford Co.) Ask Robert Van Blarcom what the key is in main taining his high herd average and he’ll mention several things. At the top of his list are switching to TMR, milking three times a day, and better genetics. Van Blarcom began farming in 1977 with his parents, William and Mildred Van Blarcom. Prior to that he attended two years of college and worked in Frederick, Md., installing milking equipment. Unlike some, Van Blarcom admits! that farming was not his lifelong ambition. In fact, he laughs at how he fell into farming. “I told my brother, Jim, that I was thinking about it I was work ing on other people’s farms and saw all these people working in the city and I said ‘they’re walking away from nice places.’ I was in Frederick County, so it was kind of With a flip of a few switches, Robert Van Blarcom can control his TMR mix. He designed his setup, which includes scales, timed augers, and a roller mill. CAROLYN MOYER Bradford Co. Correspondent 'ypt.pi place to raise a family than on a farm. Here I am holding Charlie, while my husband, Paul, holds Gregory. Home tor me is in the south east comer of Tioga County, not far from Bradford and Lycoming counties. Many view this area as nothing more than prime hunting ground - a testimony that is heard on opening day of just about every season with the roar eman ating from a steady stream of traffic. For my family, however, this is home regardless of the season and to us the area means dairying. I grew up on a 500-acre Jersey farm not far from where I live now. After graduating from Penn Stale with a degree in agrieultur al science and a minor in dairy and animal science, I returned to the area and began my journal ism career at a regional farm newspaper based in Bradford an expensive, growthy area. I thought that while they were work ing in the city, their farms were going down the tubes. Then I looked up and thought it’s not the same up there (in Bradford Coun ty). Ground isn’t worth sick-em up there next to what it was down here. So I told Jim I was thinking about coming back to the farm—it was just a thought. He told my parents that I was.” After realizing that his brother had told his parents, Van Blarcom decided to talk more seriously about coming home to farm. “When I said something to (my parents) they said, well, we’re going to have to add a couple of silos and double the size of the herd. So they had gone that far with the planning. Then I felt if they were willing to do that much for me, that we’d go for it,” he noted. So he made the move. They increased the herd size to 74 milk- County Home is now a 325-acre Hol stein and Jersey farm where my husband, Paul, farms with his parents. We now have two sons, Charlie and Gregory, and are ex pecting our third child early August - just in time to take to the fairs! In the short year that I’ve been writing for Lancaster Farming, I’ve been privileged to meet many new people and renew old friendships in the farming com munity. I hope through my writ ing, that I’ll be able to put a spot light on farming northern Penn sylvania. After all, there’s more to the area than deer, bear, and turkeys! *v. The Robert Van Blarcom family farm is located on a picturesque knoll In Northwest ern Bradford County. The farm has been In the family since 1958. ing and dry cows and started farm- Their year-end average for 1994 The Van Blarcoms average 90 ing together. was 29,136 pounds of milk, 906 pounds in the tank about six In 1980, Van Blarcom married pounds of protein, and 934 pounds months out of the year and run a his wife, Donna, an Elmira College of fat. somatic cell count of 250,000. graduate with a degree in bioche- Their April 1995 test was slight- Their milk is marketed through mistry. Although Donna worked ly higher at 29,490 pounds of milk. Milk Marketing Incorporated, off the farm for a couple of years, 940 pounds of fat, and 909 pounds “We were Eastern members, she is an integral part of the farm- of protein, on 90 cows. About one- I’ve been a co-op member since I ing operation. The couple has four third of the cows in the herd are at started farming,” he said, children, Shelly, 11; Jonathan, 9; 30,000 pounds or above in milk In their search to increase pro- Melissa, 8; and Elizabeth, 6. production. They’ve had a few duction while controlling feed Today the family has 88 cows cows stretch to the 40,000 pound costs, the Van Blarcoms switched on test. mark. to a TMR in January of 1989. “We’ve more than doubled pro duction, but we’ve only increased five or six cows since we started. I’ve got a slip somewhere that says 12,800 pounds for herd average. That was our first year,” he said. In the past two years, the Van Blarcoms have been at the top of the list on the state DHIA reports with a herd average in excess of 29,000 pounds of milk. They’ve been in the top 10 for milk for the last five or six years. “We were within 150 pounds of 30,000" -ntbr di ’ / at one point but we didn’t stay there. That wasn’t a goal, it just happened,” he explained. ,Mf * Robert Van Blarcom inspects a handful of whole cottonseed from the bln on his barn floor. Van Blarcom began buying individual com modities after switching to TMR In early 1989. ,-*c Two-year-olds are expected to work as well. “I expect a 2-year-old to make 23,000-24,000 pounds. We have a group of them that, right now, are doing a nice job. They’re averag ing about 100 pounds,” he said “It used to be if you got a 100-pound 2-year-old you wegs pretty happy. I’m still happy with a 100-pound 2-year-old.” Homestead NOTES ina Van Blarcom jve always indue., their four children in the farm activities. Pictured counterc lockwise from the top are, Shelly, 11; Jonathan, 9; Eli zabeth, 6; and Melissa, 8. ‘That saves a lot on feed costs, because we buy ingredients instead of total mixes. We always have shelled com, soybean meal, roasted beans, bakery by-products, cottonseed we keep most of them on hand and buy them by the truck load.” Van Blarcom deals directly with the feed brokers. If they have the (Turn to Page B 3)
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