Project Grass And Partners Work
Together To Improve Animal Humanity
FREEPORT (Armstrong Co.)
On June 6, a crowd of 52 peo
ple attended a Project Grass Pas
ture Walk on Joseph King’s
dairy farm. The Project Grass
Field Day and Pasture Walk
demonstrated how the combined
efforts of agencies and farmers
does improve animal economics
and welfare. By moving the ani
mals out of the bam and out onto
pasture, a producer experiences
better economics, less labor, and
better animal health benefits.
Joe King, Bellefonte is cur
rently milking 72 Holstein cows
with a herd production of 20,000
pounds per year. King has con
verted a farm that had six acres
of pasture and 105 acres of cro
pland to 40 acres of pasture and
“Mattie,” Joe King’s Holstein fcow,* J.B. Harold Project
Grass Coordinator Beth Hirt Centre County Conservation
District and 52 people attended the Project Grass Pas
ture Walk at Joe King’s Dairy farm, Bellefont.
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71 acres of cropland. Little Fish
ing Creek, a tributary stream of
the Bald Eagle, runs through
King’s pasture. The stream is
now fenced limiting cow access
to the stream which benefits both
the water quality and the cow’s
health.
King called the Centre County
Conservation District looking for
technical assistance to establish a
grazing system on his farm. He
signed up with the Project Grass
program, and the Centre County
Conservation District applied for
the Katherine Mabis McKenna
Foundation/Westem Pennsylva
nia Watershed Protection Pro
gram’s Grant on King’s behalf
seeking cost-share money to in
stall the grazing system.
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JB Harrold, NRCS and Proj
ect Grass coordinator, designed
the rotational grazing system.
Penn’s Comer Conservancy ob
tained the funding through the
Laurel Grant. Beth Hirt, Centre
County Conservation District
wrote and submitted for a grant
and developed King’s nutrient
management plan. King used his
grant money to install all fence
for the grazing system and to in
stall waterlines and troughs.
Burrell Whitworth and Greg
Boyd of the NRCS office in
Clinton/Centre Counties pro
vided technical support with the
installation of the grazing pad
docks and submitted an EQIP
application for King to increase
the financial support to further
develop the best management
practices on his farm.
King used the EQIP money to
install a stream crossing and a
spring development to supply
adequate clean water source for
the cows.
A combination of support
from Project Grass, NRCS,
Centre Count Conservation Dis
trict, Penns Comer Conservancy
helped Joe King convert a farm
with erodable corn acres into
permanent grass. This conversa
tion helps to eliminate the soil
erosion problem along stream
banks by establishing grass and
riparian plants. The installation
of the streambank fence also
helps the wildlife habitat.
Project Grass will give produc
ers free consultation on their
farms. Contact your County
Conservation District for more
information.
Economics Drive Franklin
County Farmer
To Expand
(Continued from Page A 27)
sion.
“No matter what you do, your
costs are going to overrun what
you thought,” said Doug. “We
saw overruns of 10 to 15% for
the parlor, mainly because we
worked with three to four differ
ent people to build it. The
freestall bam stayed on budget
because we only worked with
one person who built it.”
One of the biggest challenges
in expanding is getting the ani
mals used to the new facilities.
“People told me that our produc
tion would fall, but it didn’t,”
said Doug. “We had people in
that night who were really im
pressed with how well it went.”
The McCullohs only saw a
drop in production for about two
weeks. “The new parlor is much
cooler and more open than be
fore when we were milking in a
12-stall stantion bam,” said
Greg.
Now it takes less time to milk
220 cows in the new parlor than
it did to milk 120 cows in the
stantion bam.
“We milk three times a day
compared to two times a day in
the old bam,” said Doug. “And
we spend maybe only an hour
more milking three times now
than we did milking two times in
the old bam.”
When the McCullohs expand
ed, they built a separate freestall
bam to lower the amount of time
that cows are standing in the
holding area.
“Our cows are standing in the
holding area for at most an hour
and half,” said Doug. “Before
they were standing two to three
hours.”
According to Doug, when you
expand, your cash flow improves
because your unit costs are re
duced. “You can handle prob
lems more,” he said. “But you
have to be willing to milk that
many cows.”
On the expanded operation,
Doug and Greg have divvied out
management responsibilities.
Doug handles the crops and ma
chinery maintenance while Greg
handles herd management.
“It’s very unusual for a young
man Greg’s age to be interested
in cows,” said Doug. “Most
younger guys are only intersted
in the crops.”
A fourth generation farm, the
McCullohs’ operation employs
four part-time milkers in addi
tion to Doug and Greg. “The
nice thing about part-time em
ployees is that you can get some
one who is a really good worker
but who might not want to work
a lot of hours.”
According to the McCullohs,
labor becomes more of a chal
lenge as a dairy expands. “When
you’re small, you can’t take off
because you don’t have extra
help,” said Doug. “But, when
you expand, if someone doesn’t
show, you’re the one left filling
in.”
The McCullohs depend on ad
vice from their nutritionist, vet
erinarian, and banker to manage
their operation. “Those three
people are very important to us,”
said Doug. “We need to have
people who are on track and can
give us good ideas.”
Doug’s wife Barbara helped
on the farm until two years ago
when she returned to college to
become a registered nurse. Now
she works at Quincy United
Methodist Church. Their
19-year-old daughter, Kristin,
works at the Washington Coun
ty Hospital and goes to school in
Hagerstown, Md. Seven-year-old
Brian likes to help out on the
farm.
Although the McCullohs are
content with the number of cows
they have now, they haven’t
ruled out future expansions.
“If Brian decides to join the
operation, we want to be able to
include him. We could add on
another 100 stalls to the new
bam, and we have enough feed
now that we could do it,” said
Doug. “With the acres we have,
cow numbers aren’t a problem.”
Even with depressed milk
prices and other disgruntled
farmers, the McCullohs are posi
tive about their current opera
tion and the expansion.
“I am glad we are where we’re
at now instead of where we
were,” said Doug. “It was harder
at 120 cows than it is at 220.”