A3B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 21,2002 With New Chief, Association Reports Turnaround (Continued from Page A 1) keeping services prices down, Nunes said. If the organization had contin ued to rely on the reserve fund, the monies would have been de pleted by 2008, according to Nu nes’s figures. Income in 2002 included a $296,000 increase in registration payments, as well as revenues from blood-typing services, ear tags, classifications, and a Michi gan TB project. Holstein USA has nearly reached its goal of signing up 400 members by the end of the year for its new Holstein Complete, a comprehensive service that in cludes registration, classification, production records, genetic re ports, pedigrees, and sire selec tion in one package. This year, Holstein USA also accelerated its push to have its national farm animal identifica tion and records (National FAIR) system recognized and imple mented as the national standard for quickly tracing livestock in the event of an animal health cri sis. Jodi Luttrop has joined the staff to manage the animal iden SALE, SALE, SALE UP OFF On JJfWJftJh TOOLS m m m a. a. ; m a a a ACCESSOmSWWLE, TOO! NUTS & BOLTS $ l.O5 Lb We Now Carry Animal Health Supplies. 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IMtsgnve NJ NewCiuek.WV jamaqua,PA 632 Elvsburg d3, PA 17821 'X’.'f 2227 ' ™ 84 « J ,s ™' ™ 1177 Distnhuto, Phone: (570) Moch^n"TuTg, PA PlJ* Kh La^l^A I<ax (5/UI 1717) 766-0126 1419)687-5801 (570)869 3029 tification program, first devel oped by Holstein USA four years ago. She spoke about its progress at the Tuesday meeting. Luttrop said Holstein USA is at work creating alliances with other livestock industry leaders and federal officials, with the goal of having National FAIR recognized by USDA as the ani mal identification standard for all species of livestock across the country. “If an animal disease crisis hit our country tomorrow, you would be shut down,” Luttrop said. The value of a unified sys tem would be that any suspect animal could be tracked in a matter of hours, she pointed out, rather than the month or more it could take now. Ensuring food safety is another major goal of the national ID sys tem. “A lot of other countries are ahead of us in animal ID,” Lut trop said. “Consumers want to know where their food comes from.” FAIR uses both visible and radio-frequency identification eartags to identify livestock. Ani mal IDs, similar to human social security numbers, are entered into a central database. Register ed users are able to access the da tabase. Not only would the system allow rapid tracing when imple mented nationally, Luttrop said it can also serve as an excellent management tool for dairy and other livestock producers. She re ported some dairy farmers al ready using the tags to help with computerized recordkeeping on their farm. Even though Holstein USA de veloped FAIR, other companies could vie for the technology and court the government for rights to distribute and market it, according to Dave Paddon, Hol Wayne County Herds Complete 76th Testing Year HONESDALE (Wayne Co.) The Wayne County affiliate of Pennsylvania DHIA (Dairy Herd Improvement Associa tion)/Dairy One has completed its 76th year with 79 herds on offi cial test (63 published and 16 non-published herds). The Wayne County herds av eraged 18,999 pounds of milk per cow, 699 pounds of butterfat, 3.68 percent butterfat, 587 pounds of protein per cow, 3.09 percent protein and a value of milk per cow at $2,701.80. Total feed costs averaged $1,140 per cow, and income over feed costs was $1,561 per cow. Awards for production of milk, butterfat and protein plus recognition for high quality milk and herd man agement were presented to the following producers for the testing year: • High Herd For Milk Pro duction; Eroh Dairy, Pleas ant Mount, 27,462 pounds of milk per cow. Small Dairies Can Succeed Without Increasing Milk Sales Over the past few years, statements have been put forth in the dairy industry with words to this effect; 1) No business can survive without increasing sales each year; and 2) Growth should be at least 5 to 15 percent annually. It is said that this increase in sales is necessary to cope with volatile market fluctuations and inflation. This presents a quandary for the dairy producers who are not interested in pushing their cows to higher pro duction and/or milking more cows. How are they to maintain a viable business in light of these admoni tions without jeopardising their personal goals? Let’s first address the potential outcomes if every dairy producer were to follow the increased sales ad vice. If all dairy producers were to increase milk output by an average of 10 percent annually there would be over 2.5 times as much milk on the market at the end of 10 years. It is doubtful that demand will grow by that magnitude. Given our present knowledge, this would result in a dramatic reduction in the farm gate milk price. If one were to buy into the advice of increasing milk sales, the most likely approach would be to increase cow numbers. At the end of ten years, a 100-cow dairy would be milking 259 cows. There are still many dair ies that don’t even want to milk 100 cows let alone 259. Given the limitations of land and markets, some stein USA regional representative from New York. “There will be competitors,” Paddon said. While the USDA has provided grant money to Holstein USA for developing the ID system, Pad don said is a challenge getting it accepted as the standard for the various species of livestock. Half a dozen computers programmers are working to make it compati ble across the board. Vice president Nunes said Hol stein USA is seeking counsel to protect their work in developing National FAIR while the struggle for USDA recognition continues. “We’re two years ahead of ev • High Herd for Butterfat Pro duction: Rowe Brothers, Hon esdale 1,055 pounds of butterfat per cow. • High Herd For Protein Pro duction: Eroh Dairy, Pleasant Mount, 803 pounds of protein per cow. • High Cow For Milk Produc tion: Rowe Brothers, Honesdale, “Quarter* 1 38,781 pounds of milk. • High Cow For Butterfat Pro duction; Rowe Brothers, Hon esdale, “Esther” 1,537 pounds of butterfat. • High Cow For Protein Pro duction: Jack and Ella Chyle, Pleasant Mount, “Vinnia” 1,099 pounds of protein. • High Lifetime Cow For Milk, Butterfat and Protein Produc tion: (Based on cows removed from herds) Kevin and Gerar da Burleigh, Pleasant Mount, “Bess” 240,563 pounds of milk, 9,786 pounds of butterfat and 7,315 pounds of protein in 10 lactations. Bill Henning Cornell University other suggestions might be more appropriate for the long term viability of smaller farms. Diversifying enterprises will do more to counter market fluctuations than increasing one's intensity in specialized production. If diversifying can be ac complished on the farm, this might be a good alter native. If resources do not allow onfarm diversifica tion consider diversifying off the farm. There are places to invest off the farm that can involve no increase in labor and even little or no management, A perusal of Cornell's Dairy Farm Business Summaries easily reveals numerous places on the typical dairy farm that erybody else,” Nunes said. “But as this thing drags on, that will change.” Among Luttrop’s efforts to promote National FAIR, she pro duced a 12-minute video on it, in cluding farmer testimonies on how FAIR has worked on their operation. FAIR was also instru mental this year in successfully tracing turberculosis in Michigan dairy herds. “What we’ve done in Michigan is biggest feather in our cap,” Luttrop said. For more information on Na tional FAIR or other Holstein ac tivities, call (800) 952-5200, ext. 4062. • High Quality Milk Award: Chris Lantzsch, Honesdale, 101,000 (average cell count for testing year). • Herd Management Awards: Rowe Brothers, Honesdale; Ryan C. Wilmarth, Lake Ariel; Eroh Dairy, Pleasant Mount; Highland Farm (Bill Bryant), Honesdale; John Wetmore, Honesdale; N. Gary Kravetsky, Thompson and Jack and Ella Chyle, Pleasant Mount. • High Mixed Breed Herd For Milk, Butterfat and Protein Pro duction; Al-mar Farm (Margaret Non), Honesdale 20,678 pounds of milk per cow 768 pounds of butterfat per cow 672 pounds of protein per cow. • High Protein Breed Herd For Milk, Butterfat and Protein Pro duction: Chyle-Land Dairy (Jack and Ella Chyle) 16,646 pounds of milk per cow, 754 pounds of butterfat per cow and 609 pounds of protein per cow. present opportunities to improve net return in an amount equal to or exceeding inflation. The increased return results through changes that increase efficien cies in crop and/or animal production. Assistance in identifying these opportunities can be asailable through consultants, agribusiness professionals, or Co operative Extension. This does not necessarily require increased milk sales. Beyond these two suggestions. Dr. Eddy LaDue of Cornell’s Department of Applied Economics and Man agement recently authored 10 keys to financial success on small farms in the Oct. 10, 2002 issue of Hoard’s Dairvman. In summary his 10 keys are: 1. Control machinery cost. This includes initial in vestment, maintenance, and operation. 2. Be entrepreneurial. Search for better markets and find better ways of getting things done. 3. Employ modern techniques. 4. Employ labor efficiently. 5. Shop for lower-cost inputs. 6. Use commercial lenders, not dealer credit unless unique circumstances warrant otherwise. 7. Keep records. 8. Change to improve. Take advantage of new tech nologies that fit your goals. 9. Maintain family support. Amidst all the work and projects, keep family goals in mind. 10. Enjoy farming. Dr. LaDue’s number 10 is particularly notable. For well over a century, there have been a few groups of people who have well established track records of op erating small, family-based farms. These farms have been quite successful, while abstaining from any gov ernment subsidies. Very often, these people don’t even claim economics as their primary reason for farming. If you would like to learn more about these farmers and how they manage to stay both small and profita ble, come to the Low Input Sustainable Farming Con ference on Saturday, Jan. 11 in Jordan Hall at the Ge neva Experiment Station. For a conference registration packet call Bill Henning at (315) 536-5123. Deadline for registration is Dec. 20. Bill Henning is Small Farms Specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension’s NWNY Team and with Pro- Dairy. He can be reached at 315-536-5123. For more information about opportunities for small farms, visit the Cornell Small Farms Program web site at: www.smallfarms.cornell.edu.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers