A32-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 3, 2000
Good Attitude Critical In Making Dairy Profitable
Carolyn N. Moyer
Bradford Co. Correspondent
TROY (Bradford Co.) - On
Lottahill Farm, nestled in the
Endless Mountains ot Brad
ford County, the Beardslee
family is ready to take on the
challenges of the future. In
tact, they are in the process of
studying ways to ensure that
their dairy survives well into
this Century.
Currently, Roy and Barbara
operate the family farm in
partnership with their son and
daughter-in-law, Tim and
Cathy.
The farm has been in the
family since the mid 1800 s and
was originally settled by Roy’s
great grandfather. Roy took
over the operation in the
19605, when his father phased
out of the operation, and Tim
officially became a partner in
1978. Now the two families
own a total of 800 acres with
500 acres of tillable ground.
Much of their tillable acreage
is rented from others.
Their total Holstein herd
numbers 340 head with 184
milking animals. The herd,
with a average milk production
When he’s not in the fields, Roy Beardslee spends
time in his office which is carved out of a comer of the
garage. Here he can manage the day-to-day operations of
the farm.
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Tim maintains a balanced
breeding program with em
phasis on udders and feet
“1 don't mind using high
milk bulls as long as they have
the type I want,” said Tim. “1
don’t use a lot of minus bulls
on fat and protein. 1 just try to
stay balanced.”
Although the Beardslees are
only in the early stages of ex
pansion planning, they have al
ready spent a considerable
amount of time pushing a pen
cil to see how things would
turn out.
“We’re either going to have
to do a major remodel here or
we’re going to have to expand.
We’re way over capacity right
now,” said Roy.
About two years ago the
Beardslees met with a consul
tant to explore possible roads
for the future, but decided
against expansion at that time.
“It looked like too big of a
project for just Tim and I,”
said Roy.
Now they are again working
with a consultant and they’ve
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Tim, Cathy, Barbara and Roy Beardslee say that the bottom line in milk production is
pounds of milk, fat and protein from the tank. Currently the Beardslees are considering
expanding their dairy operation from 184 milking animals to 400.
enlisted a neighbor who is also
thinking about making a
change. Partial funding for the
consultant’s fee was obtained
through a program run by the
Pennsylvania Dairy Stakehold
ers.
“It’s going to be good for
both of us whether we do it or
whether one of us does it, or
whether neither one of us does
it. It’s a good process to go
through,” said Roy.
With the consultant, they
evaluate different scenarios
and then examine the cash
flow and the other specifics
like labor, feed needs and nu
trient management require
ments.
“We’ve gone through 300
cows and we changed the
method a little bit and went to
went to 350 milking cows and
now we’re at 450 milking. It’s
sort of fitting the operation to
make the cash flow.” explained
Roy.
The Beardslees are also
aware of pending environ
mental regulations that they
want to meet, especially since
they are located so close to a
state park.
“We have been to a farm in
Chambersburg which has
about 300 cows. He composts
t o
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his solids and pumps the liq
uid. He can handle the liquid
on about 40 acres right now
and meets all of his nutrient
management plan require
ments, and he’s right in the
middle of Chambersburg
where odor is a big concern for
him. We’re looking at that as a
model.”
Change is not new to the
family. Even though the farm
has always been a dairy opera
tion, the numbers of cows has
increased over the years, as
has the setup of the operation.
In 1978, the milking bam was
consumed by fire, forcing them
to build a new structure. They
were, however, able to save all
of the animals.
“Right after the fire, we
moved our cows to a neigh
bor’s farm and we built back.
As we look back at it, we
would have sold the cows im
mediately and focused on
building,” said Roy.
They reason that if they
hadn’t been distracted by the
day-to-day care of the cows,
they would have spent more
time looking at other opera
tions before building their
present double six herringbone
parlor and freestall barn.
“We lost a lot of money in
production and we couldn’t
properly care for the cows,
even though everyone involv
' 4 %
*. *?*
ed did the best they could,”
said Roy.
“As we look back on it, we
probably could have done a
better job of building if we had
sold our cows and focused on
that. We may have not built
there, we may have built some
place else. That’s just some
thing that if somebody had a
fire now, they ought to consid
er, because it takes a lot of
time to build.”
The fire was in August and
the Beardslees were back in
the new bam in December.
The Beardslee Family also
weathered two milk company
bankruptcies over the years.
They are now members of the
North Penn Bulk Producers
Association and sell their milk
to Parmalat.
“It’s never-easy,”* said Roy,
“But you go through it and
you survive.”
Although the Beardslees are
looking at increasing numbers,
they are quick to point out that
expansion isn’t for everyone.
“If you’re standing still,
you’re going backwards, but
there are a lot of ways to ex
pand, it doesn’t have to be
physical in size,” Beardslee
noted.
“You can put on more cows,
you can change practices. You
make changes to improve the
(Turn to Page 35)
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