84-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 19, 1995
Attention To Detail Keeps Family Farm Strong
KAREN BUTLER
Maryland Correspondent
UNION BRIDGE, Md.—“ How
many of you live within a couple
miles of development?” The ques
tion was asked of participants at
the Pennsylvania Dairy Princess
seminar.
Says Maryland princess Christ
ina Harper, “Every hand went up.
Every issue comes- down to, we
need to educate the public.”
It’s clear that this capable, arti
culate young lady will be an
enthusiastic for the
industry.
“It’s traditional to speak to farm
groups, but I’d like to do some
new things, too. I’d like to address
any group that’s interested in hav
ing me come speak with them.”
It’s easy to see where Christina
Harper, Maryland’s new dairy
Princess, gets her enthusiastic
love of farm life. A visit to Otter
dale View farm, the beauty spot
near Union Bridge where the
recently crowned Princess lives
with her family, shows that agri
cultural roots run deep for this
young lady.
Parents Bill and Jean Coshun
farm 200 acres that belonged to
Bill’s grandfather, Joseph. Bill’s
father, also called Bill, worked the
farm in turn. The elder Mr.
Coshun still helps out when
needed. All field work is done by
Bill and his wife. Christina helps
with the milking, cares for the
calves and heifers, and pitches in
wherever she is needed on the 50
■ dai' Shf - edi' her
Christina’s chores include calf and heifer care, as well as
milking.
“Cookie” will participate In the Brown Swiss Futurity at
the State fair this year. Says Christina of her cow, “She has
an ‘automatic’ takeoff, when she wants If off, she takes It
off!” The cow had pneumonia as a calf, which stunted her
growht, according to the vet. Though she’s small In size,
her conformation Is real correct, says this 4-H dairy Judg
ing team member.
dairy princess title by relieving
her of her chores at certain times.
Christina has an older brother, not
involved in the farm. The darling
of the family is baby Joseph, six
months old.
Facilities cm the farm include a
double four herringbone parlor
installed in 1971. Up until that
time the farm was beef and chick
ens. Bill utilizes a chalkboard
mounted on the parlor wall to note
which cows need bred, which
might be medicated (those cows
are also clearly marked with
orange paint), and which are dry.
There is also a “check” column for
the vet. Another management aid
in the barn is a large breeding
wheel with each cow’s number on
it. Pinpointing each and every
cow’s status down to the day,
whether bred or just freshened,
proves invaluable in the breeding
program.
“It’s nice to get a cow bred by
three months,” says Bill, “that
way you can stick with a 12 month
cycle. The longer she goes, the
less money you’re going to get out
of the cow.”
It is this attention to detail that
has helped this family farm stay
viable in the face of all the chal
lenges confronting smaller opera
tions. Coshun and his family look
at the bottom line when making
management decisions. Any input
must justify the money spent on it
by returning a profit to the farm.
Cows used to be fed in the par
lor, but they got in the habit of
pushing each other around, and
was discontinued. Now they line
up at a trough running the better
part of the barnyard. A stationary
mixer at the base of the 20 by 60
concrete stave silo mixes the
TMR, then it is paddled out into
the trough. Two 2500-bushel
capacity com cribs provide stor
age on the farm: one for com, one
modified to hole small grains.
Manure is pushed off the con
crete pad in the barnyard once a
day into a 23 by 42 Slurrystore. It
Is pumped out twice a year.
The majority of the Otterdale
View Holsteins are grade,
although there are some registered
cows in the herd. This, once again,
helps keep costs down. The grade
cows don’t require a lot of money
to be tied up in pedigrees, and
since the farm is not in the busi
ness of marketing cows, this adds
to the bottom line. Christina has
three Brown Swiss cows of her
own in the milking string, and also
owns one Swiss heifer. One of her
cows, Cookie, will participate in
the MD Brown Swiss Futurity at
the State fair.
The herd is not on test Bill esti
mates herd average to be around
18,000 pounds. “We don’t have
the highest production, we’re not
pushing for it” He adds, “And we
don’t have any DHIA records to
meet”
Bill and Jaan Coshun, Christina, and baby Joseph enjoy the shade this porch pro
vides from the hot summer sun. The family built their log home on the farm about
four years
Cows used to be fed In tho parlor,
around, and not wanting to exit, so that prac , was discontinued. Now they line up
at a trough running the better part of the barnyard. A stationary mixer at the base of
the 20x60 concrete stave silo mixes the TMR, then It Is paddled out into the trough.
fIOMESTEADfpTES
Adds Christina, “They don’t do
as well when we push them.”
Two people can milk the herd in
one hour and forty-five minutes. A
chlorohexidine teat dip is used pre
and post milking. Starting last
summer, the cows have been kept
inside under fans during the heat
of the day, and turned out at night
when temperatures drop. Bill says
it also gives them a chance to get
off the concrete. Christina cites
the “...good wearability of feet and
legs on concrete.” as one advan
tage she sees in the Brown Swiss.
“We pick our com here.” says
Bill. That way they save the cost
of having someone come and
combine it. “It’s all a tradeoff,
because we can’t pick too many
acres of com. We’re a small farm,
we only have access to ourselves.
One of the things that makes a
small farm work and able to com
pete with bigger farms is that we
can handle some things more effi
ciently." Sixty-five acres are
planted in com.
Fifty-one acres of soybeans are
grown. A portable roaster is
brought in from Pennsylvania, and
the soybeans are roasted before
being stored in a converted 2500
bushel capacity comcrib. Yields
average SO bushels per acres. Bill
is working with a nutritionist from
Glade Valley Feed and Supply
who helps balance the ration and
tests forages. About 35 acres of
hay are grown. Storage facilities
favor square bales, although some
hay is made in big round bales,
and some also goes for haylage.
Another facet of the farm is the
28 acres of choose-and-cut Christ
mas trees planted in what was
once meadow. For only $l5, the
public can experience the beauty
of the farm at Christmas time as
they come cut their own trees.
Otterdale View is also the largest
producer of Christmas wreaths in
Carroll County, selling wholesale
as well as direct marketing from
the farm.
“I would like to see dairy far
mers setting an example and
drinking their milk, especially in
public. Little things like that
help,” says the resident dairy
princess.
She offers this insight into her
role, “A lot of the controversial
issues that fanners have to deal
with now all come down to con
sumers and the public being une
ducated about the dairy industry,
they don’t understand it. I think
that it’s my job as dairy princess to
educate. We can all try to educate
people, especially on environmen
tal issues. We want people to
understand that we’re stewards of
the land.”