Chester County Holstein Enthusiasts Tour Lebanon Tiestall Operations
DAVE LEFEVER
Lancaster Farming Staff
LEBANON (Lebanon Co.)
In Lebanon County, the number
of dairy farms with tiestall barns
seems relatively high compared
to some other areas. In many
parts of Pennsylvania and the
rest of the country, freestall oper
ations are a more common sight.
Some people might think this
is because Lebanon County dairy
producers are behind the times or
even stubborn about making
changes.
Farmers here would say the
opposite.
Scott and Karen Nolt, for ex
ample, recently built a new bam
with 80 tiestalls alongside the
100-stall bam that Scott’s par
ents, Allen and Carol, built in
1996. For the Nolt family, ties
talls are part of a progressive
management program that in
cludes good cow care and high
production.
The Nolt’s Country Path Farm
was one of four farm stops in the
south Lebanon area for a busload
of Chester County Holstein Club
members on their annual Hol
stein tour March 14.
Scott Nolt is the fourth
generation on the farm, previous
ly owned by his mother Carol
Allen Nolt milked cows on the farm
for several decades before building the
first new tiestall barn in 1996.
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Sugar Valley Collar Shop
18 Wagon Wheel Lane
Loganton, PA 17747
D & J Farm Store
65 Hess Rd ... .... ...
Qua.ryv.lle, PA 17566 B.rd-ln-Hand Farm
J Supply
Daniels Farm Store 200 Maple A\e
424 Glenbrook Rd Bnd-ln-Hand, PA 17505
Leola, PA 17540
717-656-6982
Gap Repair Shop
994 Gap Rd
Kmzers, PA 17535
717-442-4781
(Ziegler) Nolt’s parents and
grandparents. Scott and Karen
are now managing the dairy herd
while Allen takes care of most of
the fieldwork. The family raises
most of the forages for the cows
and replacement stock on the
125-acre home farm along with
some rented land.
The Nolt family, along with
two fulltime hired men and some
part-time help, are milking 170
cows four times a day (4X) in this
setup. With a rolling herd aver
age of 30,856 pounds of milk,
1,064 of fat, and 924 of protein,
they believe it’s working for
them.
“I like the individual attention
(to the cows) and not having to
work with the manure so much,”
Scott said on why he chose ties
talls over a freestall/parlor opera
tion.
The new stalls are bedded with
sand spread on top of rubber
“sand traps” tire strips cut 4
inches wide and packed on edge
in the stalls to help reduce the
amount of sand needed. Curbs at
the rear of the stall also help save
sand from being pushed back
into the gutter.
Sand is blown into the stalls
every four or five days with a
blower attachment on a skid
Elvin Zimmerman
18051 Ridgewood Ave
Bar nell. MO 6501 I
573-378-2658
Gideon F. King
5465 Elam Rd
Kinzer, PA 17535
loader.
“In five minutes, I have the
barn bedded up,” Scott said.
Since they started using sand
for bedding, the Nolts have had
to treat very few cows for masti
tis, and have seen their somatic
cell counts drop to an average of
120,000 or lower. They are so im
pressed with the performance
that they have begun to replace
with sand the cow mats installed
less than two years ago in the
1996 barn.
An abundance of good help on
the farm, plus an openness to
new ideas, made Scott first de
cide to try 4X milking a little less
than two months ago. Since then,
the cows have increased their
milk production eight pounds per
cow per day to about 110 pounds
on average.
The Nolts treat their cows with
BST hormone to boost produc
tion. The 4X milking, besides
helping to maximize milk output,
should promote cow longevity,
according to Scott.
“If you milk them more often,
you’re helping to support the ud
ders,” he said.
The herd is milked in six-hour
intervals at 4 a.m., 10 a.m., 4
p.m., and 10 p.m. With two peo
ple running 10 automatic-take
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 22, 2003-A2l
Scott Nolt, left, talks to Chester County visitors about
the tiestall setup.
off milkers, each milking takes
about two and half hours.
“People say I’m crazy,” Scott
said, of choosing to milk four
times a day. “But I’m not trying
to prove anything.
“The help is everything. We
like it, they (the hired workers)
like it, and the cows love it.”
Karen helps with the 4 a.m.
milking while Scott stays in the
house to babysit their two daugh
ters, Katelyn, 3, and Jessica, 6
months. That arrangement al
lows Karen to stay involved with
the cows, even while the children
are small. For her, it’s a priority.
“Karen’s a milker,” Allen Nolt
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