A2B-Lancuter Farming, Saturday, October 24, 1998
GAIL STROCK
Miltlln Co. Correspondent
LEWISTOWN (Mifflin Co.)
While Washington, D.C. may
seem acres away from the family
farm, some Mifflin County farm
ers were lucky enough to person
ally meet one of their main agri
cultural influences in the U.S.
Legislature.
U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum stop
ped recently at the Lewistown
farm of Marlin, Manila, and Mark
Ellinger to accept the Friend of the
Farm Bureau Award from the
American Farm Bureau Federa
tion and the Pennsylvania Farm
Bureau.
Santorum serves on the Senate
Agriculture Committee while
Mark Ellinger is Mifflin County
Farm Bureau president.
Joel Rotz, director of National
Legislative Programs with the
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau, pre
sented the award.
“Farm Bureau recognizes those
members of Congress who have
demonstrated a high level of sup
port for key issues of importance
to Farm Bureau. Sen. Santorum
has been a strong supporter of
necessary funding for agricultural
research and crop insurance pro
grams," Rotz said. “Without prop
er funding for agricultural re
search to keep our nation’s agri
culture competitive and on the
cutting edge, and government pro
grams that help fanners manage
their risks, wc will not continue to
be the world leader wc arc today.”
Santorum, a Republican from
DHIA
'enter,
Jervice
GEORGE CUDOC
QUESTION: At harvest time
we had the opportunity to buy
wheat at an unheard of low price.
May vet and feed person both said
wheat would be a good way to
stretch my high moisture com that
usually runs out before next year’s
harvest We made the transition
over a two-week period and yet our
cows dropped in production imme
diately and have yet to come back
to where they were before the
change. I know that com harvest is
almost here, but should I bother to
plant wheat this year, as I had
planned? My milk drop resulted in
almost $4,000 less milk sold over
the wheat-feeding period. This
cheap wheat doesn’t seem so
cheap to me now.
ANSWER: Wheat used in daily
cattle should be a very available
source of energy, mostly as a
starch carbohydrate.
What took place at this farm can
Sen. Santorum Receives Farm Bureau Award
Pittsburgh, said he knew little
about agriculture.
“When I got to the Senate, I de
cided the best way to leant about
an issue is to get on a committee
where you’re forced to leam about
it."
According to Rotz, Santorum
has suported “fiscal responsibility
through a balanced budget along
with significant tax cuts that in
clude reductions in the capital
gains tax, 100 percent health in
surance deductions for the self
employed, and higher exemptions
from estate taxes. These tax cuts
provide relief to America’s farm
ers as well as other small business
es that make up the backbone of
our national economy. It’s tax re
lief like this that will help spur
more investment in farming
operations and improve oppor
tunities for future generations to
continue family farm operations."
Santorum and seven United
States representatives, including
Rep. Bud Shuster, received the
awards. The awards, presented
every congressional session, are
based on four or five farmer
friendly votes cm national issues.
After the awards presentation,
Santorum said, “It's nice to be in
front of a group of farmers and not
have anyone comment on milk
prices.” He then laughed as one
farmer said that that was his first
question on the list
Santorum fielded questions
about the Food Quality Protection
Act and the use of pesticides. San
torum said he doesn’t understand
hard Road, University Park, PA 16802
lead to a lot of frustration, not only
for the dairyman who lost the
chance to make cheaper milk due
to smart purchasing of a good feed,
but also for his feed advisors who
feel a bit responsible for the lack of
success in attaining the goal of cut
ting costs without sacrificing
production.
Assigning or assuming blame in
most cases accomplishes nothing,
but the chance to avoid such fai
lures in the future can be of real
benefit
To solve this mystery of less
than desirable performance, we
have some very good tools to work
with, both on a chemical and phys
ical level.
Looking at some physical prop
erties of the cow, we can shed
some light on what has probably
happened here.
At some point in problem sol
ving, we need to stand back and
look at what is too easy, too
simple, and even too absurd to
consider.
Manure is the answer! You have
to make light about a subject like
manure.
Seriously, the knowledge that
we can gain by making a habit of
studying the manure of our cows
can go a long way in avoiding
problems such as milk production
losses when we make feeding
changes.
Pennsylvania Farm Bureau presents a Friend of the Farm Bureau Award to U.S.
Sen. Rick Santonin at the Lewistown form of Mark Ellinger. From the left are political
candidate Jake Gorman, Mark Ellinger who is owner of the farm and president of the
county Farm Bureau, Sen. Rick Santonin, and Joel Rotz, PFB director of national legi
slative programs.
the movement which advocates
the use of little or no pesticides.
Food production in the United
States would decrease and more
land, such as in the rain forests,
would be cleared to grow more
food.
Average Farm Feed
Costs For Handy
Reference
To help farmers across the state
to have handy reference of com
modity input costs in their feeding
operations for DHIA record sheets
or to develop livestock feed cost
data, here’s last week’s average
costs of various ingredients as
comniled from regional reports
across the state of Pennsylvania
Remember, these are averages,
The first due that something
was going wrong was that, when
the wheat was fed, bits and pieces
of wheat came through in the man
ure. This unused portion of feed
that the cow was supposed to util
ize as energy was only fertilizing
the fields that it was spread upon.
Grains used for carbohydrates in
a cow’s diet must be made avail
able to her. You can accomplish
this by processing all grains physi
cally, chemically, or a combina
tion of the two.
Seed grains, like wheat and
com, have a protective shell
around them that can inhibit
microbial breakdown in the rumen
and pass undigested out into
manure.
Grind these types of grains fine
to get the most from them.
In the high-producing cow, we
must allow her every opportunity
to digest her diet quickly because
of the large amount of feed that
moves in and out of her digestive
system at a rapid rate, daily.
Chemically altered grain
like high moisture, steam flaked,
and soda treated has already
made these grains a step or two
closer to being digested, and there
fore in less need of physical
preparation.
The next tool that this farm had
at its disposal is a little more
sophisticated than scoring manure,
and, when used extensively, can
provide monthly feedback data
about how we can best balance and
Santorum spent about one hour
at the farm.
The Ellingers farm 165 acres of
com, hay, and soybeans on a farm
that's been in the family sine
1955.
Mark said he has had an interest
deliver diets to our cows.
Milk component analysis pro
vides us with vital information
concerning the nutrient needs of
the dairy cow. MUN, which is used
on about 33 percent of the Pennsyl
vania Dairy Herd Improvement
Association member farms, is the
one component that has the best
potential in solving the type of
problem in today’s question.
Research and database studies
have coupled MUN output with
protein utilization in the diet of the
dairy cow. The diet in this particu
lar herd maintained the same per
cent of crude protein (CP), percent
UIP, percent DIP, percent non
structural carbohydrate (NSC),
and percent dry matter (DM), even
though wheat was being utilized in
replacement of some high mois
ture com.
The herd remained reasonably
constant at 13.7 MUN from the
first of the year on, with a slight
climb in May to 15.1.
Within three weeks of making
the change to include wheat in the
diet, the MUN rose to 18.4.
Protein totals and portions
remained the same, but the NSC
portion available to the cow
dropped.
The diet was balanced for the
same level of percent NSC, but
what the cow could actually use
was altered.
With MUN analysis done on a
monthly basis, we can quickly
make changes to the diet makeup.
o
V
in politics since joining the or
ganization 20 years ago. He has
served as governmental relations
director and on the local State
Senate Legislative Committee and
the National Legislative Commit
tee. He is also a Granville Town
ship director.
so you will need to adjust your fig
ures up or down according to your
location and the quality of your
crop.
Com, No.2y 2.19 bu., 3.98
cwt. ‘
Wheat, No. 2 2.37 bu., 3.96
cwt
Barley, No. 3 1.33 bu., 2.85
cwt.
Oats, No. 2
cwt
1.32 bu., 4.12
Soybeans, No. 1
8.08 cwt.
diet delivery, or a combination of
the two. The cows tell us what is
going on by component
evaluation.
We can then better predict the
outcome of feeding management
changes that we all will suffer
through at one time or another.
What we can measure we can man
age, and what we manage we hope
to control.
This is a typical way in which
we can combine good tools that we
have at our disposal.
The best tool is the good “cow
sense” that many dairymen use on
a day-to-day basis.
Developing such techniques,
such as manure scoring, and
adding that to what we already
know will encourage looking for
the problem woth a different
perspective.
MUN testing and analysis is a
perfect fit to take that cow sense
and knowledge to the next level.
This is what today's daitying is
all about, regardless of size or
scale.
The last thing I asked this dairy
man, who also happens to be a
friend of mine, was why he didn’t
ask someone about the big MUN
change sooner. His answer was
that he didn't want to sound stupid.
That’s the only part of the whole
situation that seems near stupid to
me.
Looking forward to questions
from you.
!«*.
u
4*f
4.84 bu..