Lancaster Farming, Pages C 6 to C 9
MUN Test Provides Basis For Dramatic
EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Managing Editor
TUSSEYVILLE (Centre Coun
ty)—Doug Rimmey thought he
was getting about maximum pro
duction from his 70 Holstein cows.
But last Tuesday, sitting around the
farm shop table eating fried eggs
and potatoes in the farm equipment
and repair shed with his dad Ralph,
Doug explained how the use of the
new Milk Urea Nitrogen (MUN)
test, offered by Pennsylvania
DHIA, increased milk production
by three pounds per day per cow in
less than two weeks.
“As tight as it is in the dairy busi-
Performance Economics Introduced
STATE COLLEGE (Centre
Co.) —PA DHIA has developed a
Performance Economics Program
in association with Dr. Steve Ford,
Farm Management Specialist at
Penn State, and George Wilcox,
Senior Extension Agent, Erie
County. Confidentiality and
simplicity were our objectives.
The program consists of 5 pages
of instructions, a one page work
sheet, a completed worksheet as a
sample and a replica of the PA
DHIA Technician’s laptop com
puter feed screen.
The simple instructions guide
our members on a line by line cal
Fifty years ago, Clara and Ralph Rimmey came to farm these 100 acres eon and daughter-in-law, Doug and Belinda, and grandchildren. Jf
along Route 322-eapt of State College known as Tussey Ridge. Today their and Brandi, 13, carry the family’s love of fanning Into the future.
ness, I thought that with a herd our
size, it would not take too much to
recover the price of the MUN test,”
Doug said. “I didn’t think it would
be wise for us not to try it We were
getting outofourcows about all we
could, but by just adding a pound
of protein per cow per day my,
what a difference.”
Ralph and Clara Rimmey rented
the 100 acre Tussey Ridge home
stead that borders Route 322, east
of State College in 1956 after
Ralph got out of the U.S.Navy.
They started with one month’s rent
paid in advance and $l5O in pock
et. In addition to their shoe-string
culation of the worksheet, which
provides cost per cwt. figures on
home grown feeds, purchased
feeds, and other non-feed items.
What are the non-feed items? Bas
ically it is all other expenses in
operating your dairy farm includ
ing dairy herd cost, heifer cost,
and other items like BST.
You start with your 1040 F Fed
eral Income Tax form or your
budget if you make one. You end
with cost per cwt. figures which
are reported to your Technician.
You report your milk price. You
need to get Herd Summary I, PA
DHIA will do the rest.
A NEWSLETTER FOR MEMBERS & CUSTOMERS
David A . Bigelow, Training Coordinator
Call 1-800-DHI-TEST For Information
Pennsylvania Dairy Herd Improvement Association
f v DHIA Service Center
I > Orchard Road, University Park, PA 16802
December 23, 1995 Issue
start, Ralph claims he didn’t even
know how to run the milking
machine.
“You can’t start out small today
and make it,” the elder Rimmey
said. “It’s a shame.”
In 1959 the farm owner gave the
Rimmeys nine months to round up
the money to buy the farm, which
they did. And since that time, they
have been making a living at farm
ing and building equity in their
farm.
About 17 years ago, father and
son went into partnership. Doug
took over the cows, and Ralph
manages the fields. In addition to
What will you get back? On
Herd Summary I: 1) Cost per cwt.
to produce milk in a test period. 2)
Net farm income per cow on a 12
month basis. 3) Net farm income
for herd on 12 month rolling basis.
4) Cost per cow and net income
per cow by lactation group. 5) Net
income per cow by group and you
can create a BST group. 6) Gross
income projection and there is
more. On the Monthly Lactation
Report: 1) Net income per day on
each individual cow. 2) Total
expense per cow per day. 3) Total
(Turn to Pago C 7)
Milk Production Increase
the home farm, they rent 130 acres.
But the highway that puts develop
ment pressure on the farm also
makes it rough to get too produc
tive land away from the farm.
“The traffic doesn’t like us out
there, and we don’t like to be (Hi the
road with farm equipment either,”
Doug said.
Since 1988 they have farmed
very little grain, using the land to
produce forage and pasture for the
cows. Both tie stall and a free stall
bams are used to house the cows. A
TMR mix is used. The ration
includes com silage, oat silage, dry
shelled com, soybean meal, and
high moisture com. Additional
feed is top dressed for cows milk
ing over 60 pounds.
Milk production herd averages
have been over 20,000 pounds for a
number of years, but production
seemed to have reached the top
level.
“When the first MUN test results
came back, I knew very little about
the numbers,” Doug said. But I saw
we were in the recommended
range. So, I thought, “Oh, good! At
least we know where we stand.”
But their feed consultant, Jeff
Bogus from the Center Hall Farm
Store, had other ideas. The initial
MUN test showed the herd was not
wasting feed. But at 12.1 points
they were at the low end, and
Bogus <"'.<tgested an increase in
Vol 10 No. 2
protein to see if it made a differ
ence in the tank. It did.
Within two weeks, production
increased by three pounds per cow
per day. And while the next MUN
test came in at 16 points, they were
still within the safe range, and the
Rimmeys had a nice return on their
investment in both the MUN test
and the extra pound per cow per
day of protein they fed the cows.
Adjustments are still being made to
see if they can fine tune the feeding
program even more.
“Hopefully. I will know more in
a few months or a year,” Doug said.
“But what we see is very interest
ing. We were forage testing and
feeding in line with the results of
these tests. But with MUN testing
you can zero in closer to see where
you are overfeeding or
underfeeding.”
As Doug and his wife Belinda,
and their children, Nathan, 17, and
Brandi, 13, become the succeeding
generations on the Tussey Ridge
farm, technology and new ways of
doing things make a business of
farming unheard SO years ago. But
it’s farming as a business that
allows the Rimmey family’s love
of the land and the farmers’ way of
life to be realized into the future.
Put the old loves and the new ways
together and you get the true mean
ing of what it really means to have
a “family farm.”