E2-Foragmg Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 19, 2003
Masonic Homes’ Shorthorns
(Continued from Page El)
fenced, and he plans to convert anoth
er 200 acres to grass during the next
two years.
“We can be more flexible now,”
Stoltzfus said of the reduced need for
cropland to provide feed for the
140-cow Holstein herd, which was
managed in a nongrazing setup.
Grass varieties he has seeded on the
farm include perennial ryegrass, timo
thy, tall fescue, short season orchard
grass, smooth bromegrass, and Ken
tucky bluegrass. The 60 acres of
pasture fenced so far are divided into
paddocks that radiate out from the
central hay feeding station and han
dling facility.
The pasture is equipped with a se
ries of circular, concrete, spring-fed
waterers.
“It worked well this winter,” Stoltz
fus said of the gravity-fed watering
system. “It never froze.” Last summer,
the waterers temporarily dried up dur
ing the extended drought but returned
with the rains last fall.
A recently built outdoor feeding
structure was designed to reduce feed
waste and manure runoff and “keep
cows out of the mud,” Stoltzfus said. It
consists of a sloping concrete pad with
two rows of headlocks sandwiching a
gated drive-through area where the
hay is distributed. At the lower end of
the feeding station, an excavated
earthen basin catches the runoff and
allows slow infiltration into the soil.
Manure is scraped to the end of the
feeder and allowed to compost on its
own. According to Stoltzfus, the com
posted manure becomes nearly as fine
textured as “chicken litter” before it is
spread directly on the pasture.
At least for now, the added pasture
lands at Masonic Homes are more for
the sake of the brood cow herd than
for the 60 or so head of beef finished
on grain each year.
“Our goal at this point is to get as
much out of the grass as we can for the
cow herd,” Stoltzfus said. He said he’d
want to leam more about grazing be
fore making the move toward finishing
animals on grass.
The homegrown Shorthorn feeders
finish at an average of 1,275 pounds at
14-15 months on grain, according to
Stoltzfus. As an old English breed with
similarities to Angus, “Shorthorns
have a real good ability to marble,” he
said.
While most of the beef finished on
the farm is direct-marketed to retail
customers, the main focus of the Ma
sonic Homes Shorthorn operation is on
producing high-performance breeding
stock.
This outdoor hay feeding
setup is designed to prevent
runoff and keep cattle clean.
An embryo-flushing program has
been in place on the farm for about 10
years. The farm achieves a 65 percent
conception rate for embryo trans
plants, with all the work done on site
by local ET specialist Dr. Larry Ken
nel.
“Part of our success with the em
bryo work is that we do it all here,”
Stoltzfus said. “The embryos never
leave the farm.”
This year, six top cows are set to be
flushed, with the embryos going into
lower-quality heifer and crossbred car
riers on the farm.
In addition to the embryo donor
cows, about 25 females will be artifi
cially inseminated and another 50
serviced by one of several bulls kept on
the farm.
Stoltzfus uses other technologies as
(Turn to Page E 3)
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