Shirley Noble, center, loves spending time with her grandchildren on the farm. Shown with her are, from left, Stephanie, Maria Jo and Michelle. Not pictured are two boys, Adam and Tommy, two more girls, Jessica and Jennifer, and a new addition to be introduced to the family In September. Barn Kooler Fans 20", 24" & 36" IN STOCK Cool Down with a Cool Price Receive Year-Round benefits for your livestock w/ a Schaeffer Barn Kooler M Cedar Crest Equipment Two Convenient Locations WE CUSTOM DESIGN SYSTEMS FOR YOU • SCHAEFER Venti/ation Equipment 608 Evergreen Rd. Lebanon, PA 17042 (717)270-6600 1-800-646-6601 RD 2 BOX 271 East Earl, PA 17519 (717)354-0584 A Tradition (Continued from Page 836) Before the construction crews are commissioned to add addition al stalls to increase the size of the herd, however, the Nobles will strive to increase their production per cow. “We’ll remodel and get bigger stalls, or we’ll be out of business. The cows are banging themselves up too bad,” Stuart said. “But we’ll increase production before we increase die numbers.” To get their production up from their current DHIR averages of 12,600 pounds of milk, 3.1 percent protein and 4.97 percent fat, the Nobles will concentrate first on fine tuning their feeding program. Breeding decisions also play a major role in increasing production. “We try to get a good, sound type animal and the production will come,” said Stuart. “If you’ve got a cow that has good feet and “Vermont,” EX 91, took the highest honors at last year’s Troy Fair, named supreme champion. Gathered around her are, from left, Elaihe, Stuart, holding Marla Jo, and Steve Noble. Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 1, 1996-837 Of Dairying legs on her with good capacity, that will go out and eat, production will come. If you’ve got a cow that starts out with a lot of milk, she might not have the feet and legs to survive a few years. The rest is luck.” Stuart continued, “We try to cross it up. We might have a real milky cow and cross it up with a strong type bull.” Longevity is important, too, in the completely homebred herd. The oldest cow in the bam is over 15 years old, with many others reaching over the six-year-old mark. Eight of the animals in the herd are Excellent with three scor ing 91 and the other five scoring 90 points. The average classification on 72 head is Very Good 82. The ultimate decision maker in the herd however is income over feed cost. “We can talk about herd average (Turn to Page B 38)
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