DHIA
November
jusquel
Lackawanna
November 14
November 16
Somerset
November 19
November 19
York
Lvcomlm
November 20
November 20
■ November 20
Tioga
Northampton
Snyder
r November 20
November 23
Clearfield/Jefferson J
Franklin '
Fayette
Fulton
Beaver
November 23
November 24
December 3
December 8
December 10
Berks
Adams
Mercer
Schuylkill
Dauphin
January/
January 7
January 16
Indiana
Washington
January 7?7
February 2
February 2
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
compiled from regional reports
across the state of Pennsylvania.
Remember, these are averages,
so you will need to adjust your fig
ures up or down according to your
location and the quality of your
crop.
ANSWER: In this case, the key
word is “feeding.”
Most often when problems like
this occur, the feed man or person
balancing the diet is to blame, in
the eyes of the dairyman. The feed
ers at this farm are to be com
mended on recognizing the prob
lem to be in the on-farm feeding
management.
The paper ration that was
created looked to have all the
necessary components for success
ful performance. The main ingre
dients were com silage, dry hay,
and grain.
When trying out the new mixer,
com silage went in first, followed
by grain, and lastly the dry hay.
Trouble started when the hay
would not mix in, but rather balled
up by itself in the allotted mixing
time of 3 to 4 minutes.
Because problems can occur
with the hay mixing into the TMR,
Com, No.2y 2.26 bu., 4.05 it may be removed and fed sepa
cw![ lately. This is one of the most com-
Whcat, No. 2 2.66 bu., 4.44 mon mistakes in TMR feeding.
cw ‘: TMR, as we all know, can only
Barley, No. 3 1.40 bu., 2.99 work to its full potential when total
cw i: adhesion (of ingredients) occurs.
Oats, No. 2 1.36 bu., 4.24 This herd was used to cafeteria
cw*: style feeding of individual ingre-
Soybcans, No. 1 5.13 bu., dients, fed multiple times per day.
B ‘r-' C^ L .. Success in this feeding style var-
s 6‘ 2-81 5 wt ‘ ics according to management
Alfalfa Hay 119.75 ton, 5.99 capabilities. Switching to a TMR
, „ ... . system also carries along with it a
Mixed Hay 121.13 ton, 6.06 need for topnotch feeding
cw i;. management.
Timothy Hay 113.63 ton. This farm had been very suc
-5.68 cwL
DHIA County Banquets
Fairdalc Church noon
Green Grove Grange 7.45
ionna
Berlin Commi
Thomasville Fire Company 7pm
Moss's, Williamsport 7 pm
Edgewoods, Mansfield 730 pm
Blue Valley Farm Show 7pm
Middleburq Fire Hall 7 pm
Gibblcs Restouronl
Fairground Office, 7.00 pm
Needmorc Fire Hall, 700 pm.
Extension office 7.30 pm
Ag Service Center noon
York Springs Fire Hall 7r
Mercer Co Extension Bldg 11.30 am
Dairy Days 10-2 PSD Schuylkill campus
Counlv Buffet on R 22
in conjunction with Genex
West Alexandria Church, (tentative date)
7 pm
milv BuiHlm
Greencaslle 7
QUESTION: Recently we pur
chased a TMR (totally mixed
ration) mixer and started to man
age our feeding accordingly.
Almost immediately, our cows got
bellyaches and would lie down,
kick at their stomachs and bawl.
We then started to feed more often
and the problem subsided. Fvc
read where producers feed once
per day and get along fine. What
could be wrong in our case?
Register for our Complete Product Line
Catalog & Quarterly Newsletter FREE! j
Company J
Address J ! 374HEIDLER5BURG RD.
City, state & Zip | BIGLERVILLE, PA 17307
Phone ! 1-800-345-3546 .
Email I 717-677-6197
ln-frm ii 98 1 ax 717-677-4291
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 14, 1998-A2l
cessful in managing their previous
feeding program. Switching to a
TMR system left them with the
-motion that a safer feed manage
ment program was in place and
good cow sense was temporarily
abandoned.
We talked about the type of
program they want for the future
and this advise was offered:
•When possible, stress the total
in TMR.
• For better blending, put long
hay or chopped hay, as in this case,
in the mixer first.
• Determine mixing time for
your farm and don’t rely totally on
the manufacturer’s suggestions.
• Load into mixer with your wet
source of forage before the con
centrate portion.
• When using only diy hay to
grain, use a binder product such as
molasses, wet brewers, or tallow.
• Feed for a minimum of 5 per
cent refusal and this should be the
same as beginning feed.
•Most importantly, inform your
feed programmer of any need or
desire to alter your TMR from
what is in your plan. As an exam
ple, if you fed your hay outside of
your TMR mix as this herd did,
then make allowances, such as not
feeding the com silage and grain
mix (that was considered a TMR)
all at one time. Force cows to eat
the long fiber that they need to
maintain rumen health.
These are some tips offered to
this farm to solve a feed manage
ment and delivery problem.
As one last through!, keep in
mind that a TMR has the same
requirement for details as much as
any other type of feeding program.
As a TMR user of 20 years. I’ve
probably made most of the mis
takes that I hear of today in the
field. The single most costly thing
about a TMR is not the $13,000 or
higher price tag on the mixer, but
rather the failure to use a TMR the
way it works best total!
Junior
Exhibitor
Scholarship
Deadline
Nov.
23
HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.)
Exhibitors in the junior shows
at the state Farm Show here in
January must send in their applica
tions by Nov. 23.
Anyone pursuing an advanced
degree or wanting to enter a trade
or technical school, who enroll as a
4-H or FFA member in the Farm
Show beef, sheep, or swine junior
contests, must fill out an applica
tion to qualify for the scholarship.
An application can be obtained by
calling the Farm Show office at
(717) 787- 2905.
Last year about $2,000 per scho
larship was awarded to qualified
applicants, according to Ken
Winebark, Mycrstown, chairman
of the scholarship committee. For
more information about the appli
cation, contact Winebark at (717)
866-5881.