New Dairy Thrives (Continued from Page 23) val is 13.7 months The herd is fed total mixed rations two times daily but feed is provided four times daily. The Hornings have used BST since February 1994. They have 1.4 services per oreenancv and 1.6 for all cows, which is considered excellent, according to Trachte. Lancaster County averages are 2.2 and 2.9 service. The 21-day pregnancy rate is 17 percent com pared with the county average of 11-12 percent. In addition to the newly-built barn, two silos, feed bins, and a manure pit were installed. A dry cow barn is attached to the new one. Heifers are raised adjacent to the new barn. They raise corn and alfalfa hay and purchase forages from neighboring farmers to whom they are able to sell manure. One of the Hornings’ top priorities is to work to gether as a family. Although their children range in ages from four to 11 years, each helps out on the farm in a responsibility they enjoy. “Destinee loves the barn. She’d rather be there than in the house. She’s up at 6 a.m.,” her mother said. “I like helping with milking,” Destinee said. So does her 9-year-old sister Marcia. Her twin, Monica, prefers scraping the barn. The younger children like to help with calf care. “The farm is a good place to raise a family,” Denise said. “The farm is a business and needs to be oper ated as one but to keep it going, we need to take time away from it.” The Hornings recently returned from a three-day camping trip. While they were gone, Lewis and Amy took care of the herd in addition to their daily care of the hog operation. This month the Hornings will have an all-expense paid trip to Minnesota as Land O’ Lakes young pro ducers. Originally the families hope to arrange an every other weekend off. But the three-times daily milking schedule makes that unrealistic. “It’s just too much work for one family,” Denise said. During a recent open house on the Horning’s farm, Jay Mylin of Lancaster DHIA said that he is im pressed by the Hornings’ ability to maintain profes sionalism and yet operate it as a family farm. The Hornings’ mission statement is to provide high quality dairy products at a profit, follow Godly princi ples of honesty, integrity, and good stewardship, pro vide a healthy family atmosphere, and be a positive influence in the community. When people asked the Hornings why they have been able to achieve so much success including a high rolling herd average, they said, “We are trying to do the best we can do, to make our steps count, to work together as a family, and to build long-term relation ships with professionals that can help us live in accor dance to our mission statement.” DFA Web Site Hosts Checkoff News As part of a joint partnership between DFA and Dairy Management Inc. (DMI), the organization that manages the national dairy checkoff programs, DFA producer members can get the latest checkoff informa tion when visiting the DFA official website at www.dfamilk.com. A special link “button” located in the lower right section of the DFA home page links DFA members to the latest checkoff-funded promotion and marketing programs aimed at building dairy product demand. “We’re excited about this opportunity to partner with DFA in producer communications,” said Joe Bavido, director of industry relations for DMI. According to Agi Schafer, DFA vice president of communications, DFA’s web traffic is growing and generating an increased amount of questions from pro ducers and consumers about dairy farmer-funded pro motions. “With that in mind, it just made sense to partner with DMI to make answers quick and easy to find. It also gives consumers an access point for dairy promo tion’s home page information,” said Schafer. e 0' The
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers