A3O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 1, 1998 What must your herd accomplish in order to generate the profit needed for your family and for other purposes' 7 What goals do you need to set for your herd, and are these herd goals consistent with your personal values and goals and with the overall goals of the farm business in general' 7 Last week’s article focused on various benchmarks that you can compare your dairy business to, but there is more to goal setting than simply “being like” other respected producers or being similar to a set of benchmark data Goal setting lequires more thought than that, because the goals you set for your herd or business should be tailored to your specific situation Goals can be affected by a variety of situations, such as availability of capital, renting a farm vs owning a farm, growing most of your feed vs buying a lot of the feed you need, using BST vs not using it, tie-stall vs free-stall operations, large herd vs small herd, grazing vs confinement, starting up m dairying vs being established or phasing out of dairy, etc Analyze your own situation and options, your personal and business goals and values, your management style, you abilities, your likes and dislikes, your production costs, etc After you have done that, you now have a basis for setting some goals for your herd and then developing management strategies to help the herd meet those goals Table 1 can serve as a guide for developing some goals for your herd Values in the “High" and “Fair” columns are arbitrary, so feel free to substitute figures that might be more appropriate for you The table lists a lot of possible goals, but don’t let that overwhelm you Select only a few key areas that you would like to focus on or improve Then, set goals that are attainable and profitable, and enter your values in the “Yours” column Also enter a target date for completing these goals, and then strive diligently to attain your goals by your target date Table 1 Example Holstein Goals and Your Goals ■irst-Calf Heifers Age at first calving (months) Weight at first calving (after delivery) SCC Average cell count for the herd is less than Percent calving with code 3or less - cows Fuls Family Sweeps Lebanon Fair Beef ( 4 4 # Heifer supreme champion at Lebanon Fair Tuesday afternoon went to Heather Fuls, center. From left, Rebecca Shirk, Lebanon fair queen; Fuls; and Brian Hrutkay, judge. M J. h ° w^ anshlp champions at Lebanon Area Fair. From left, Brian Hrutkay, Judge; Nathan Tice, reserve; and Heather Fuls, champion. DAIRY FARM MANAGEMENT BASICS A Farm Management Course oy Glenn A. Shirk Penn State Extension Agent Lancaster County, Pennsylvania -V Your Target Date £vel of Herd Management High Fair ' Yours 22-24 24-26 > 1250 1150 200,000 300,000 95 90 100 95 - heifers Production. Income over feed cost per cow per year Milk per dairy worker per year (lb ) Milk per cow per year Average milk per day, for all cows in milk Cows peak at ( lb per day) Monthly decline in their lactation curve (%) Heiters peak at (lb per day) Monthly decline in their lactation curve (%) Reproduction Days to first heat Heats delected (%) Days to first service Days open (90-95 days = 12 5 mo calving interval) < 110 Services /conception - includes cows bred & culled < 1 7 First-service conception rate (%) Cows conceiving to 3 or less services (%) Calving interval (goals affected by management, culling and breeding decisions) Average forall cows (months) 12 5-13.0 <l3 5 Average for high producing cows (months) 130-140 <14.0 BST-treated cows variable variable Percent of milking herd culled, died and merchandised per year: - Removed due to problems listed below 10-15 15-20 (mastitis, reproduction, feet and legs, DA's, diseases, injuries, death, etc ) - Sold for dairy or for low production 15-20 IQ-I5 -Total 25-35 25-35 Average value of all cows removed from herd > 600 300-500 (includes cull cows, dead cows and breeding stock, excludes young stock) Fat test (an indicator or rumen health) Percent of cows testing less than 3 3-3 5% Protein test Solids-non-fat test (SNF) Milk urea nitrogen (MUN) As % of body weight Forai te and Fiber Inti Forage DM intake as % of total DM intake - Fresh cows, only in first 2-3 mo of milk and 40-50 only after a good dry cow program - Average producers and cows later in milk Forage DM intake as % of body weight Forage NDF (neutral detergent fiber) intake, as % of body weight - Long cut forage & avg-fiber concentrate 0 75-1 1 - Short cut forage & low-fiber concentrate 0 95-1 1 Body Condm Springers, dry cows and cows at dry off time Fresh cows Lactatmg cows (1-8 months in milk) Maximum body condition loss after calving - heavy producers >4O - low to average producers 3 2-3 5 (Continued from Page A2S) placings. LEBANON AREA FAIR BEEF SHOW RESULTS BREEDS ANGUS 4-N AND OPEN Clam Junior Yearling Heifer: 1 Jen Main. Claes 2 Senior Heifer Calves; 1. Jen Hain. Class 3 Summer Yearling Heifer: 1. Heath er Fuls. Champion: Heather Fuls Reserve. Jen Ham. SHORTHORN Class 4 Junior Yearling Heifer: 1. Kyle Fleener. Champion: Kyle Fleener SIMMENTAL OPEN AND 4-H SHOW Class 5 Summer Yearling Bull' 1. Valerie Blauch Class 6 Junior Yearling Bull: 1. Angela Blauch Champion Bull; Valerie Blauch. Reserve: Angela Blauch. Class 7 Summer Yearling Heifer: 1. Valerie Blauch. 2. Cassle Schaeffer. 3. Jen Campbell. Class 8 Junior Yearling Heifer: 1. Angela Blauch. 2. Tim Schaeffer. 3. Michelle Blauch. Class 9 Senior Yearling Heifer: 1. Matt Blauch. Clast 10 Cow/Call; 1. Valerie Blauch. Champion Haifar; Valeria Blauch Raaerva; Casala Schaeffer. SUPREME CHAMPION HEIFER Heather Full MARKET STEERS OPEN CLASSES Lightweight Clast 1 (805-1,100 Ibe.); 1. Janlne Winehork. 2. Gretchen Artz. 3. Ste phanie Eberly. Lightweight Clast 2 (1,150-1,171 lbs.): 1. Brandon Wine bark, 2. Andrew Jos Alkins. 3. Ryan Spaa. Lightweight Champion; Brandon Wine bark. Reserve: Andrew Joe Atkins. Medium Weight Clast 1 (1,100-1215 lbs ): 1. Heather Fuls. 2. Megan L. Fult. 3. Natha niel Artz. Medium Weight Class 2 (1,220-1,271 lbs.): 1 Cassandra Schaeffer. 2. Matthew Blauch, 3 Ann M. Leed. Medium Weight Champion; Heather Fult. Reserve: Cassandra Schaeffer. Heavyweight Class 1 (1,278-1,335 lbs): Where's your mustache? “ High Fair Yours 1900 1500 1 000,000 700,000 >22,000 18,000 >7O >55 >llO 90 <8 <lO >B5 >7O <6 <8 < 45 45-60 >7O >6O < 70 70-90 >6O >5O >9O >BO 3 5-3 8 < 10 3 1-3 3 8 5-9 0 12-16 50-60 1 4-2 4 3 5-3 8 3 5-3 8 2 5-3 5 < 1 score Show Justin Full. 2. Nathan Spatz. 3. Kyle Fleener. Heavyweight Clasi 2 ((1,365-1,500 lbs.): 1. Wendy Atkins. 2. Timothy Schaeffer. 3. Joseph Tice. Heavyweight Champion: Justin Fuls. Reserve: Wendy Atkins. MARKET STEERS 4-H CLASSES Lightweight Class 1 (805-1,100 lbs): 1 Janine Wmebark. 2. Gretchen Artz. 3. Ste phanie Eberty. Lightweight Class 2 (1,150-1,171 lbs.). 1. Brandon Wmebark. 2. Andrew Joe Atkins 3. Ryan Spatz. Lightweight Champion; Brandon Wine bark. Reserve: Andrew Joe Atkins. Medium Weight Class 1 (1.190-1,2151b5.); 1. Heather Fuls 2 Megan L. Fuls 3. Stacy Weidler Medium Weight Class 2 (1,220-1,271 lbs ); 1 Cassandra Schaeffer 2 Matthew Blauch 3. Justin Weidler Medium Weight Champion; Heather Fuls Reserve Cassandra Schaeffer. Heavyweight Class 1 (1,278-1,335 lbs.): Justin Fuls 2. Nathan Spatz. 3 KyleFleener. Heavyweight Class 2 ((1,365-1,500 lbs.)' 1. Wendy Atkins. 2. Timothy Schaeffer. 3. Joseph Tice. Heavyweight Champion: Justin Fuls. Reserve: Wendy Atkins. SHOWMANSHIP FFA Out of School: 1. Wendy Atkins. In School; 1. Cassia Schaeffer. 2. Annie Lefavar. Champion; Wendy Aikin*. Reserve Cas sia Schaeffer. 4-H Year* Ex parlance 0 Years: 1. Heather Fuls. 7-8 Years; 1. Jus Bn Fuls. 2. Ryan Spatz. 3. Nathan Spatz. 5-6 Years; i. Kyle Fleecier. ■ 3-4 Years; 1. Megan Fuls. 2. Blaine R. Brown. 3. Jennifer Ham. 1-2 Years: 1. Nathan Tice. 2. Billie Jo Atk ins. 3 Jennifer Campbell. CHAMPION SHOWMAN Heather Fuls RESERVE Nathan Tice MILK 110-130 1 7-2 0 3 4-3 9 < 15 3 1-3 3 10-16 3 6-4 1 45-50 1 8-2 4 09-1 1 95-1 1 3 5-3 8 3 5-3 8 < 1 score MARKET STEER CHAMPION Justin Fuls RESERVE Heather Fuls
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers