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
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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.