Page 20—Keystone Farm Show Section 1, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 2, 1999
(Continued from Page 18)
Table 1. TV
:chn<
Peiui!
PERCENT
OF
NO. OF
COWS
FARMERS
18.3
56.5
25.1
16.2
117.5
61.8
35.7
122.9
35.0 95.6
53.8 72.2
18.1 97.2
22.1 94.9
25.5 73.5
Survey Average:
65.3 17,476
One third (35%) of the state's dairy
farms use a TMR. However, these
herds average 95 cows per herd,
representing more than half of the
state s dairy cows. Eighteen percent of
the herds have used bovine
somatotrophin (bST) on some of their
dauy cows. These herds averaged over
97 cows per farm and more than 20,000
pounds of milk per cow. Over half
(53.6%) of the farms use DHIA. These
herds tended to be larger and sold more
milk per cow than the survey average.
Twenty-two percent of the farmers
mdicated they used a computer on their
farm. Those farms with computers
averaged nearly 95 cows per farm and
produced almost 1000 pounds more
milk per cow than the average herd.
Written farm plans or goals are used on
25.5 % of the farms. These farms
GENERATOR SYSTEMS
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What‘s Happening On PA Dairy Farms
id on
Farms.
MILK
TECHNOLOGY
PER
Milking parlor
Bam Pipeline
Milker Pails
Automatic
Takeoffs
Total Mixed
Rations (TMR)
DHIA
17,876
17,974
16,025
18,817
19,143
18,726
21,144
bST on Some
Cows
18,440
Personal
Computer
Written Farm
Plans
17,795
f
»
'k
I
tended to be larger than average but had
average milk production.
Summary: Many of the technologies
examined in the survey are related to
herd size and milk sold per cow. The
most common technologies used on
Pennsylvania dairy farms are bam
pipeline milking systems and DHIA.
Milking parlors, computers. bST, and
automatic takeoffs are used on 25% or
less of the state' s dairy farms but these
farms are the larger herds, produce
more milk per cow, and include a over
40% of the state's daily cows. There is
little difference in milk production
between farms using a milking parlor
and farms using a bam pipeline. The
majority of the state's dairy farms are
characterized by smaller herds milked
with vacuum milker pails or bam
pipeline milking systems and employ few
other production technologies. The use
of individual technologies does not
necessarily infer greater profitability.
However, larger herds are successfully
employing technology to increase milk
production and capture economies of
scale. If smaller herd owners are to
survive they must be able to decide
which technologies and management
practices are best suited to increase
profits on their individual farm.
WHAT'S HAPPENING ON
PENNSYLVANIA DAIRY FARMS?
PART HI
This month information is presented on
the dairy and cropping characteristics of
Pennsylvania dairy farms. This is the
third set of results from a 1997 mail
survey of Pennsylvania dairy producers by
I
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A i’A'4 A A'A‘A*A*A'a!*i'A'A'i'i'l’t'iV’A'l'i'A'i'A'l't A’A* A* A'A A A'A'A'A'A’A’A'A’A'A
the Department of Agricultural
Economics and Rural Sociology. The
survey was mailed to a random selection
of farms and the results were
representative of the state's dairy
farms based on known county
distributions. Each farm was asked
several questions regarding herd size,
milk production per cow, and acres
farmed. The survey results indicate that
smaller daily herds on relative small
acreage continues to represent the
majority of Pennsylvania's dairy industry.
This point is specifically noted by
examining median instead of average
values.
The farmers reported owning an average
of 65.3 cows (Table 1). However, the
median herds size was only 52 cows per
farm, indicating that half of the state’s
herds have 52 cows or less. In fact,
44.6% of the state's herds have fewer
than 50 cows and 25.4% have less than
40 cows. Herds with 80 cows or more
account for 23.1% of the state's herds.
Please remember while there are
numerous smaller dairy farms, the
greatest concentration of cows and
therefore total milk production is on the
larger farms.
>le I. Number of cows
■nnsvlvania
Number of Milking Percent
Cows
<3O
30-39
40-49
50-59
60-79
80-99
>lOO
(Turn to Page 25)
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