"Hii
No Tithe for Boredom at Stuck Farm
Dave Stuck adds com and
freestall barn at Plum Bottom,
up to capacity soon.
GAIL STROCK
Mifflin Co. Correspondent
BELLEVILLE (Mifflin
Co.) - “It must be something
you really can’t help. It’s got to
be a sickness." joked Dave
Stuck of Belleville, Mifflin
County, when asked why he
dairy farms.
Not raised on a farm. Stuck
went from milking zero to 190
cows in twelve short years and
plans to add about 100 more.
He thrives on the challenge of
doing more.
The dream of dairy farming
began with Dave’s father,
Barry. Dave worked on sever
al farms throughout high
school and college. He and his
parents formed a partnership
after Dave graduated from
Penn State with an Ag Science
degree.
They started farming in 1989
with 45 cows while renting the
Heide Farm, owned by the
Hayes family, on the Back
Mountain Road between
Belleville and Reedsville.
“Dad and I worked our way
up to 60 cows, then 80. It was
obvious that the more cows
we'd have, the easier it’d be
financially," said Stuck.
Dave and his wife, Jennifer,
and daughters. Julia, 4, and
Laura, I, still live on Heide
Farm, although Dave's herd
outgrew the facilities by 1997.
Dairylea Cooperative Supports Changes
SYRACUSE, N.Y. Dairylea
Cooperative Inc. supports
changes to the formulas for Class
111 and Class IV that were pro
posed by the National Milk Pro
ducers Federation (NMPF) at the
recent U.S. Department of Agri
culture (USDA) hearing in Alex
andria, Virginia.
“The make allowance issue is
important to farmers and manu
facturers alike,” said Edward
Gallagher, Vice President of
Planning and Regulatory Policy
for Dairylea. “Unfortunately, in
Federal Order Reform’s imple
mentation, the USDA excessively
raised make allowances which
lowered Class 111 and blended
prices to dairy farmers.”
Dairylea and other major
dairy cooperatives worked with
the NMPF in developing a pro
posal, which, if adopted, would
protein supplement into the TMR Mixer outside of the
The free-stall barn has 288 stalls and Stuck plans to be
They then moved their dairy
operation next door to Plum
Bottom Farm, owned by the
Rodgers family, and bought
100 more cattle.
Stuck rents the large dairy
facility at Plum Bottom, in
cluding 600 tillable acres and
75 acres pasture. The partner
ship owns 80 acres. He plants
350 acres of com, 150 acres of
soybeans, and 180 of an alfalfa
and grass mix. Dave’s goal is to
increase the herd to nearly
300.
Although beginning as a
dream, the reality of dairy
farming for the Stucks hinges
on the bottom line. “Regard
less of how well we love what
we do, we have to make a
profit. The cows are the varia
ble,” said Stuck. “Our land,
feed, and buildings are fixed.
We make a profit per cow. so
we’re adding more cows.
“Once we decided to ex
pand. we researched the cost
of building a new facility for
200 cows. We couldn’t cash
flow it. It would have taken
400 cows, and we didn't want
to go that far yet," he said.
“The money it cost us to retro
fit the parlor into a double-six
herringbone with automatic
take-offs at Plum Bottom is
relatively inexpensive com
pared to building a brand new
parlor. Plum Bottom’s free
stall barn is set up for 288
increase blended milk prices in
the Northeast by 5‘ to 10' per
hundredweight. Changes to the
current pricing system for cheese
and butter/powder products,
which were presented by the
NMPF at last week’s hearing, in
clude:
•Updating the current milk
manufacturing cost allowance
for cheeses, butter and nonfat
dry milk by replacing the
USDA’s outdated Rural Business
Cooperative Service (RBCS)
data and the California dairy
product manufacturing cost sur
veys, with the most recent manu
facturing cost data from those
two surveys;
•Absent current whey manu
facturing cost data in the RBCS
and California surveys, deter
mining the whey manufacturing
cost allowance by using the non-
cows. We're remodeling the
entire barn for cow comfort. I
firmly believe in a stall for
every cow.”
Stuck depends upon three
full-time milkers, Teretha Ka
nagy, Carolyn Loucks, and
Dale Williamson. One person
milks per shift at 5 a.m.. I p.m.,
and 9 p.m. Doug Miller of
Belleville serves as crop man
ager and field man.
Galen Kenepp feeds calves
on weekends. Dave's father
feeds calves weekday morn
ings, while Jennifer feeds
calves weekday afternoons.
Dave’s parents keep the
books and write the checks,
while Dave handles the day
to-day management.
“It takes 5 hours for each
person to milk, clean up,
scrub the parlor - to do any-
thing that keeps the milk in
spectors happy. On a bad
day, the parlor barely stops."
Dave said. “I feed the cows
99% of the time, bring the
cows to the parlor two out of
three milkings, scrape the
manure, do herd checks, and
simple vet work - administer
calcium and dextrose IVs
in the parlor during milking."
“We aren't 100 speedy. Ev
erything that happens during
fat dry milk make allowance
plus approximately one cent
per pound to reflect the higher
costs incurred in drying whey;
and
•Establishing the Class IV
butterfat price by deducting
approximately 6 C per pound
from the butterfat price, using
a formula that does not impact
producer revenue from other
classes.
“This balanced approach
takes into account the dairy
farmers’ need to have a fairer
formula to determine Class 111
prices, but it also recognizes the
importance of cheese manufac
turers to the livelihood of dairy
farmers.” Gallagher said.
The USDA is not expected to
issue a final decision until the
end of the year.
each milking is recorded -
when milking started, any
medications administered,
fresh dates, amount of milk,
temperature of milk to make
sure the compressor is working
- everything.”
"We run a very simple oper
ation. If you find a problem,
correct it. If a cow's sick, make
her better. If she's dead, drag
her out," said Stuck. “No one
told me how to do things. I
read a lot and visited a lot of
farms to learn. We just do
what’s best for us. One thing
we do differently is not using
artificial insemination. I know
the AI genetics is much better
than the bulls I have, but de
tecting cows in heat and get
ting them serviced requires a
lot of labor and time. Our
cows breed. We have no prob
lem with cows not settling. It's
our biggest key to making milk
constantly."
Stuck's DHIA records show
a herd average pushing 24,000.
He maintains a 25% cull rate.
Dave admits that his farm right
now is caught between being a
large family farm and a smaller
large-herd production opera
tion.
“We're at that in-between
stage. I have to manage people
and still do my share of the
workload," said Stuck. “But I
can't micromanage every de
tail. That's why it’s so impor
tant to communicate with em
ployees about everything that
happens in the milking parlor."
"1 keep focused on the di-
Franklin County Cow Numbers
Up From 20 Years Ago
Phil Wagner
Franklin Co. Dairy Ext. Agent
The trends occurmg in dairy
ing in Franklin County. Penn
sylvania's number two dairy
county, mirror those occurmg
in other ma|or dairy counties in
the United States.
Farm numbers continue to
decline, and many of those re
maining in the business are in
creasing m cow numbers. The
dairy cow population continues
to hover around 45.000 cows.
Twenty years ago cow numbers
stood at 37.000. Average herd
si/e is 100 cows.
Building of new dairy fa
cilites, especially freestall barns,
continues at a rapid pace. Many
1970's vintage cow housing fa
cilites are fully depreciated and
out-dated when it comes to cow
comfort, cow handling, and
ease of feeding. Many are plac
ing a new freestall barn at an
ideal site and walking the cows
to an existing parlor that is still
fairly efficient. A new parlor
may be part of the future at
some of these dairies.
Specialization is occuring
more each year, especially in
the areas of contract heifer rais
ing and custom planting, har
vesting. and manure handling.
As farms increase in cow num-
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 3, 2000-D3
rcction the farm is going and
rely on input from all employ
ees. The management of peo
ple is getting easier,” he said.
"It’s hard going from a doer to
a manager, especially when
you're working right along
with them. I quickly learned to
be decisive. Explain how you
want it done and encourage
them to do it that way.”
Dave’s goal of owning his
own farm is slowly becoming a
reality. In 1995, his parents
purchased a 33-acre neighbor
ing farm and currently live
there.
Barry continues to work
full-time off the farm as an ac
countant, and Dave’s mother
Jean works as a medical tran
scriptionist. The partnership
purchased 80 acres of land
near Heide Farm in 1996. And.
all the while, Dave's wishing
for what every dairy farmer is
wishing for - better milk prices.
“I'd be a much better inter
viewer it the price ot milk were
up," he added with a laugh. "It
I could buy a farm and support
my family with just 30 cows I
would. I didn't set out to get
this large. But the nice thing
about growing in si/e is you
don’t have to be there seven
days a week.”
“As a manager, you do have
to live with the decisions you
make. Ambition is what drives
you. It you like what your
doing, and you want to suc
ceed. and no one's telling you
differently, then you're suc
ceeding.”
hers more feed is being pur
chased.
This includes grains. Western
hay. and silage purchased on
contract from neighbors More
corn silage and less hay crop si
lage is being fed each vear as
cow numbers increase The
land base is shmkmg due to
pressures from both expanding
dairies and residential/mdustnal
development
The county has a group ot
purebred dairy cattle breeders
that have been capitalizing on
the opporlunties available with
marketing dairy genetics This
has provided increased income
without the necessity of major
facility additions and significant
increase in cow numbers. An
other segment of producers
have successfully transitioned
to intensive rotational grazing
as a means of cost and invest
ment control.
As herd size continues to in
crease. key areas of focus have
become people management.
marketing issues, and environ
mental concerns. As long as
dairy remains a viable industry
in Pennsylvania, Franklin
County will continue to be a
key player.