Vol. 42 No. 2
Meeting Set For Development Of Maryland Dairy Association
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
FREDERICK. Md. As part
of an ongoing effort by those in the
Maryland dairy production indus
try to create a more powerful and
representative force in dealing
with issues affecting dairy produc
tion, an organizing committee has
called a special meeting.
During a recent hearing, held in
Deadlines
Change For
Thanksgiving
The Lancaster Farming
office will be closed Thurs
day, November 28 in obser
vance of Thanksgiving Day.
News and advertising dead
lines for this week are as
follows;
• Public Sale Ads - Noon
Mon., 11/25.
• General News - Noon
Wed., 11/27.
• Classified Section C
Ads - 5 p.m., Tue., 11/26.
• All Other Classified
Ads - 9 a.m. Wed., 11/27.
At Whitney Harter Farm
Goats Have Been Elevated To
Commercial Dairy Levels
BELLEFONTE (Centre Co.) When you think of goats, you may visualize a few
farm pets that all look alike, eat tin cans, and keep the fence rows trimmed. Or the old
adage “Contary old goat” may come to mind.
But for Danny Harter and Anne Whitney, and several hundred other farms across the
East Coast, goats have been turned into a miniature dairy herd with all the trials and bless
ings of dairy farming.
Yes, the animals are smaller in size so that you need to handle 10 goats for every cow.
The milking parlor uses calf stanchions, and the milking units have two teat cups instead
of four. But it’s still a seven-day-per-weck, two-time-per-day, 365-day-per-year job. The
sanitation and nutritional requirements art: the same as a cow dairy. Goats, like cows,
have a pecking order and a mind of their own which would give some credibility to the
idea that goats are contrary. But so are cows.
“For some reason, a lot of people who -have no ag background want to milk goats,”
Anne said. “They have no idea what it requires. We always ask if the interested person
has goats or cows now.”
In addition, you need to be prepared to make the large investment to set up a dairy that
will qualify as a milk production unit if you want to have any chance at profit.
“And you need to give up emotional attachment to the animals and make decisions
based on monetary value. You need to be thinking in terms of milking several hundred
goats. This takes $40,000 to $50,000 investment in animals alone. And then you have the
parlor, milking equipment, and bulk tank to buy.”
Whitney and Harter were milking 20 goats by hand before they decided to enlarge their
dairy. So they know how incredibly hard the dairy business can be. That’s why they
traveled from Vermont to Texas to view goat milking parlors and piece together what
would be ideal for their operation.
The stanchions in the parlor are calf units with increased space between stalls. The goat
pipeline milkers came from Germany, brought across customs through Canada. Ten
goats are brought at one time into the linear parlor that has five milking units on line.
Peed is given at the rate of three pounds of grain per day for goats milking over nine
pounds, and two pounds of grain for those milking under nine pounds. An excellent qual
ity hay that tests 22 percent protein is purchased from Idaho. Their own 27 acres ate being
turned into all alfalfa with a move toward green chop to reduce labor.
Their milk is shipped by bulk truck to the Fleur De Lait Foods plant in New Holland in,
Lancaster County on a three or four day pickup from routes that start as far west as Ohio.
Milk prices are figured on protein and time of year. The milk price ranges from $l9 to $4O
per hundredweight But you don’t get milk from a goat.
Four Sections
Frederick, of the 1996 Maryland
Dairy Task Force, a member of the
task force announced that an orga
nizing committee is scheduled to
meet 10 a.m., Nov. 26, at the New
Midway Fire Hall, located along
Rt. 194 (Woodsboro Pike), to con
sider the formation of a Maryland
dairy association.
Lunch is to be served at 12:30
p.m., at a cost of $6.
To make reservations, call Wil
hide immediately at (410)
775-7201, fax (410) 775-7624, if
interested in attending the
meeting.
According to Myron Wilhide, a
More Work Needed To Control Poultry Ascites
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Fanning Staff
MANHEIM (Lancaster Co.)
The poultry industry has to come
up with better ways to diagnose
ascites disease and “put this into
our selection process,” said Dr.
Robert L. Owen, V.M.D. and
director of research/development
operations and veterinary services
for Hubbard Farms.
Owen the diplomate for the
American College of Poultry Vet-
EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Managing Editor
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 16,^1996
Maryland dairy farmer who repre
sented the Maryland Farm Bureau
on the Task Force, there have been
three dairy task forces created by
the Maryland Legislature since
1993, and Wilhide served on all
three.
During the hearing, Wilhide
said that the findings of the 1993
Dairy Task Force included the
recommendation for the formation
of a dairy association to represent
dairy interests in policy making.
However, he said people
became confused as to the purpose
for the organization because of the
wordings proposed to describe
erinarians and director of R&D for
the Walpole. N.H.-based company
told producers Monday that as
broiler companies continue to
select for rapid early growth in
flocks, there is a diminishing
respiratory capacity for the birds,
which can lead to ascites.
Owen spoke to 25 poultry pro
ducers and agri-industry represen
tatives Monday at the Penn State
sponsored Poultry Health and
Management Seminar at Kreider’s
such an association. He said it was
assumed by many that such an
organization would not be sup
ported by the entire industry.
In the meantime, there has been
no effective lobbying interest sol
ey dedicated to representing Mary
land’s dairy producers.
While the Maryland State
Grange, and Farm Bureau, repre
sent dairy farmers who are also
members, the representation and
policy is not directed specifically
on behalf of only dairy producers,
according to Wilhide.
“Other ag groups have asso
ciations,” Wilhide said. “We did
Restaurant.
Owen reviewed research into
identifying the disease and coming
up with management strategies to
successfully deal with it.
Ascites (pronounced AY-sites)
is simply part of a larger category
of heart-related chicken health
problems, including cardiopul
monary and leg disorders, accord
ing to Owen.
Veterinarians recognize ascites—
by the distinctive blue coloration
Danny Harter and Anne Whitney with a prize milking goat at their farm
located east of State College.
$27.50 Per Year
have co-ops (representing most
dairy producers), but no associa
tion to address legislation.
“We need an organized voice
for dairy to provide a forum (for
the debate and creation of policy
ideology),” he said.
According to Wilhide, a dairy
producers’ association has yet to
be formed since 1993, in the mean
time, the dairy industry in Mary
land has slipped from being the
second most important agricultur
al industry (in terms of annual
gross sales) to being third.
Horticulture has moved up into
of the bird’s comb and wattles. The
legs can turn blue, and there can be
gross lesions with a distended
abdomen holding yellow, acidic
fluid.
Hie blue-like conditions of the
bird are caused simply by a lack of
enough oxygen in the blood. What
kills the birds is ventricular fibril
lation of the bird the heart beats
,'l3l2tapid, uncontrollable pace. The
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60* Per Copy
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