Vo). 42 No. 17
Holstein Annual Meeting Salutes Nichol, Promotes Raney
JOYCE BUPP
York Co. Correspondent
READING (Berks Co.) The
Pennsylvania Holstein Associa
tion (PHA) wrapped up its annual
business meeting with a salute to
its retiring executive director, de
claring February 21 “Bill Nichol
Day.”
Nichol’s honor was announced
in a resolution unanimously
adopted by the delegate and mem
bers attending the annual state
Holstein meeting and convention.
Land O’Lakes OKs Merger
VERNON ACHENBACH JR,
Lancaster Fanning Staff
MINNEAPOLIS,
Minn. The members of Land
O’Lakcs Cooperative have recen
tly approved' a plan to merge with
the Atlantic Dairy Cooperative,
according to a news release nmte
this week by Land O’Lakcs Inc., in
Minneapolis, Minn.
The announcement this weekof
the merger approval by I-apH
O’Lakes could very well signal the
impending approach of yet another
milepost by die ADC, whiChhas
traveled a lot of ground in the past
20 years, growing from mergers of
Survey
Examines
Computer Use
On Farms
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Fanning Staff
BERNVILLE (Berks Co.)
Easier recordkeeping. Mote accu
rate records. A decrease in paper
work. Understanding information
about the farm.
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Learning about computers at a meeting of the Tulpehocken Young Farmers Associ
ation. Standing at left Is Bill Palmer, Shartlesville. Seated, counterclockwise from far
left, Denise Stump, Bemvlile; Lolly Leeher, Bemvllle; Paul Zimmerman, Shartlesville;
and Tony Talarigo, Bemvlile.
Four Sections
held February 20 - 22 at the Shera
ton Inn.
Nichol, who headed the admin
istrative business of PHA for near
ly 38 years, officially retired on
February 28. Ken Raney, longtime
membership and public relations
director for PHA who had been
saving as the interim director
since July, has been hired by the
board as the new executive direc
tor, effective March 1.
In his annual report to the mem
bership, PHA president Jay Hous
regional cooperatives to being on
the verge of possibly creating a
national production/processing/
marketing cooperative with even
greater significance in the Middle
Atlantic and elsewhere.
The announcement of the possi
bility of a merger between the two
large cooperatives arose during the
ADC annual meeting earlier this
year, when it was announced that
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Grazers Spread The Word At Conference
EVERETT NEWSWANGER
Managing Editor
LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.)
A summary of the Southeast
Pennsylvania Grazing Conference
at the Host Resort may have been
stated when Jim Landis, a West
Virginia dairyman, concluded his
talk on “Farming in the 21st Cen
tury” with these words:
“Grazing pays now, and the
Lord willing, it will continue to be
the most efficient way of providing
food known to man through the
21st century. You and your child-
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 1, 1997
er. Spring Mills, recognized Nich
ols’ contribution to the association
during in his leadership tenure of
nearly four decades.
“Bill’s greatest accomplishment
has been the purchase of the
125-acre farm at Middletown,”
Houser said. The Middletown
farm is a nationally-recognized
animal export facility, with close
proximity to the Harrisburg Inter
national Airport, and has handled
not only the exporting of thou
sands of head of cattle of many
breeds, but other species of ani
mals as well.
Houser opened his president’s
address by paying tribute to the
Pennsylvania Holstein youth pro
gram accomplishments, noting the
success of national-winning dairy
bowl teams and nationally-hon
ored junior members. Pennsylva
nia teams have won national dairy
bowl titles five times since 1983.
The PHA youth scholarship
fund has been granted tax-exempt
status. Houser reported that over
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ren and your grandchildren will
enjoy the blessing of working with
living things God gave us—soils,
plants, and animals—if you grow
grass and let the animals do the
walking for you.”
Landis believes you will find no
more efficient way to convert the
energy of the sun into usable
human food than by using grass
and animals. Because managed
intensive grazing reduces input
costs, cow stress and operator
stress, milk produced from this
method of farming offers returns
per acre greater than most other
Ken Raney has been hired as the new executive secretary
of the Pennsylvania Holstein Association effective today.
The photo was taken aHbs association’s booth at the farm
show earlier this year.
crops.
Unlike many farmers who ate
considering dumping milk to get
government attention, and stating
operating costs mote than $l7 per
hundred, Landis speaks of the “tre
mendous U.S. milk prices received
in 1996. According to Landis, far
mers in New Zealand are receiving
only half as much for their milk,
and in Argentina they are receiving
only two-thirds as much.
On Landis’ farm in Georgia they
received a net average price of
$15.32 per hunderded weight for
3.6 milk after hauling and market
ing expenses were taken off. In
1995 their average net price was
$12.51. On a cow producing 15,000
pounds of milk that is a $406
increase for 1996.
“We have a distinct price advan
tage at the present time and the dif
ference is management,’’ Landis
said. “But price is only one thing to
look at I predict the price of milk
will trend lower as the government
moves away from subsidies. But
the sooner the better.
“The public doesn’t care if the
poor farmer is put out of business.
This happened in New Zealand 10
years ago. And now under the
unregulated conditions, the con
sumer has many new dairy pro
ducts to entice him to buy. It will be
in the explosion of new consumer
products that will drive the market
and increase markets for dairy far
mers after the government stops
supporting the prices.
“We have been a victim of this
tax called a check off where they
use our money to advertise generic
milk. Can you imagine what would
happen if the cola companies had
been advertising sweet water with
a burp all these years, being taxed
$27.50 Per Year
but not allowed to use their name.
We have allowed the media to take
.our money and try to get people to
believe and get us to believe that
people enjoy drinking chalk water
and kidney flush.
“Consumers have a right to have
all kinds of milk and milk products
to eat, advertised by the company
selling their branded product
When this happens, the price to far
mers will go down, but as grazers
we can do it because the future lies
in the kind of efficient production
we have.”
Landis also says pasture grazing
increases herd health because it
spreads the cattle out over rotating
pastures. In addition, the cows
spread their own manure, and the
outdoors increases vigor in the
animals.
Larson Sayre, beef farmer from
Churchville, Maryland, looked at
rotational grazing as a labor saving
system. He said the cows laugh at
us when we do all the work for
them, carrying the feed into the
bam and then back out to them.
In addition, the savings in plant
ing and harvesting equipment will
buy a lot of wire to divide the farm
off into paddocks. Sayer had little
sayings such as: “Make the lives
tock work for us, not us work for
the livestock”.
Speaking of grazing manage
ment, he said, “If you fail to plan,
plan to fail.”
And he said, the words “always”
and “never” should not be used
because change is the backbone of
becoming a rotational grazer.
Other topics covered were soil
management, seasonal dairying,
and feeding, breeding, and calf
raising.
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