DHIA Service Center, Orchard Road, University Park, PA 16801 Question; We keep our feeding program the same throughout the year but in late summer, our butterfat hits a yearly low and contin Agricultural Generators Automatic L.P. Gas, Diesel, \ Natural Gas Generators 5 to 2,000 KW Service - Rental - New & Used Units In Stock WjKLMWmWSVST£A4S * » ** \ Power Generation Systems Specialists Call Leonard Martin Ag Symposium 2000 This announeemenl is sponsored by the PA Department of Agrieulture ues into early fall. What can we do? This is the most asked ques tion since summer. Payment emphasis has been on fat more now than at any other time in history. Many of the dairymen that I talk to feel that their cows have dropped no less than five points in the last several months. They are looking at past fall and winter production and know that these same fat prices during those times can represent quite a bit of added income. Will these prices hold? 330 Fonderwhite Road, Lebanon, PA 17042 Your guess is as good as mine. The average herd in Pennsyl vania with a flve-poinl drop in percent butterfat during June, July, August, and September lost about $5,500 in potential income. This is not exactly cor rect because the same reasons for the drop in butterfat during these months ate also the same reasons we get slightly higher milk yields. Let us discuss the causes of this and decide if we can achieve a reasonable trade off. First we need to examine the statement made about this par ticular herd and its non-chang ing feed program. With the in formation that was gathered we see that these cows are being fed the same this fall as last. Com silage, hay crop silage, hi-moisture com, protein con centrate. and hay make up the diet year-round. Careful con sideration has been given to macro and micro nutrient bal ance. This seems like a diet that is well balanced and deserving to be put in front of any cow Generators 25 to 135 KW Units In Stock! 717-273-4544 Fax 717-273-5186 Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, February 26, 2000-A37 yet there is a reason that we should examine what the cows tell us and not what the ration spreadsheet says. In this case, I am quite certain we are looking at one of the most common mistakes made in trying to feed our herds the paper diet is not the one the cow is consum ing. Further study into what this herd is eating tells us why there is a butterfat problem. Cows are housed in the bam at night and are fed cafeteria style ac cording to the formulated ra tion. During the day, they are haylage feed which happens to be round bale silage. The mis take made was to assume dry matter intake remained the same during the past few months. With no known way to measure the haylage consumed outside, there can be a large shift in the amount of liber consumed from forage. While inside the bam, the cows eat everything except a portion of their long hay and the problem now becomes compounded. How do we correct this? In my experience, it is better to guess the DMI too low than too high. Rumen health will suffer and lead to other problems when a diet gets out of balance from a fiber standpoint for more than Fair Dates Sept. 14 Sept. 17- Sept. 19 - Sept. 20 - Sept. 21 - Sept. 23 - Sept. 26 - Sept. 26 - Sept. 27 - Sept. 29 - Oct. 2 - 5 Oct. 4-7 Oct. 9-13 Manheim Communil Oct. 12-14 Oct. 13-15 Umontown Poultry & Farm Show Oct. 17-21 Dillsbura Community Fair A St Jm* Farmers » Businesspersons » Legislators <S» M|" The Time Is Now -An Alternative To Tobacco tl *1 just a short time. When we can not measure what the cows are eating, we must make an edu cated guess about DMI. Your cows will tell you when you feed them correctly. Use your DHIA records along with on-the-farm indicators such as manure scoring, body condition scoring and DMI to adjust diets to maintain proper rumen health. This will serve you and your cows well and give you the opportunity to en joy some of that $5,500 worth of lost opportunity. Average Farm Feed Costs for Handy Reference To help farmers across the state to have handy reference of commodity 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 ingred ients as compiled from regional reports across the state of Pennsylvania. Remember, these are averages, so you will need to adjust your figures up or down according to your location and the quality of your crop. Corn, No.2y 2.46 bu., 4.40 cwt. Wheat, N 0.2 2.451 bu., 4.09 cwt. Barley, N 0.3 1.74 bu., 3.72 cwt. Oats, N 0.2 —1.54 bu., 4.79 cwt. Soybeans, No.l 4.75 bu., 7.94 cwt. Ear Corn 77.03 ton, 3.85 cwt. Alfalfa Hay —135.00 ton, 6.75 cwt. Mixed Hay —142.50 ton, 7.13 cwt. Timothy Hay—141.25 ton, 7.06 cwt. (Continued from Page A 32) 16 :ommi 23 Beaver Commumt 23 le Fi mv Grani ter County Fair Fair 22 Southern Lane; 23 Olev Valle' tommumt 1 luro Fair Cove C 10 Bloomsbi ■ 30 Ephrata Fair ■ 29 West Lampeter Community F; ■ Oct. 1 Tn-Vallev Community Fan Hollidavsburo Community Fair New Holland Farmers Fair immunih Industrial Hemp / Dutch ‘ Hanf' (Food / Seed / Oil / Industrial) Open Meeting Yoder’s Banquet Room, New Holland, Pennsylvania Friday - March 17th 10am - 2pm A tall fiber & seed plant from the mulberry family 90 day growing period - good alternative to tobacco A good crop for Organic farmers 60,000 documented uses Archival Paper Stronger / Lighter Building Materials Particle Board * Plastics ♦ Textiles 2nd Highest Protein to Soy * More Digestible than Soy A perfect balance of Omega Oils & EFA’s Removes heavy metals from contaminated soils Deep tap roots - good for the soil Excellent rotational crop Hawaii Planted December 14, 1999 More States Will Follow Find out what it’s all about Come & Get Involved to Save the Family Farm Seating is limited Call or write to confirm your attendance Lancaster Hemp Co. * PO Box 302 Lancaster, PA 17608-0302 Locally call 1-717-354-9315 or 1-800-USE-HEMP (873-4367) Email Sphouse@mindspnng com milv Fair ' Fair; Gn lumly Fair Farm Show
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