E2O-Foraging Around, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 19, 2003
Rotational Grazing Makes Financial Sense For New York Dairy
Jim Grace
Cornell Coop. Extension
Peter Mapstone
Pastureland Dairy
Pastureland Dairy, located
in Onondaga County, is
owned and operated by Peter
Mapstone and his family. The
transition to rotational graz
ing began in 1987 when Pete
returned home from college.
At Cornell, Pete chose to do a
business analysis of the family
farm as a class project. He dis
covered that purchased grain
and concentrate accounted for
approximately SO percent of
milk sales. Pete realized that a
change was necessary to im
prove profitability.
One potential change that
Pete considered was a major
expansion, but projections in
dicated that a large expansion
would not generate enough
cash to meet cash commit
ments. Making a transition to
rotational grazing appeared to
offer an opportunity to
generate more profits, while
maximizing available re
sources.
Milk production did not de
cline when the Mapstones
adopted rotational grazing.
The farm presently sells
21,084 pounds per cow. More
over, the operating cost per
hundredweight of producing
milk declined significantly.
Pastureland Dairy incurs op
erating expenses of $9.28 per
hundredweight. Purchased
grain and concentrate is now
down to 17 percent of milk
sales. Even though the herd
has grown by 50 percent since
1987 to 170 cows, total pur
chased feed costs are only 15
percent higher.
The transition to rotational
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grazing began by fully utiliz
ing all existing pastures. In
stead of pumping water uphill
to paddocks, the Mapstones
dug a pond to supply water
via gravity. Cost control is a
key factor to achieving above
average profitability at Pas
tureland Dairy. For over five
years, a pre-owned $5O three
wheeler was utilized to move
cattle. Five years ago, the
farm purchased a used four
wheeler. The Mapstones re
duced cropping costs by grow
ing less com; they now grow
70 acres of com, down from
200 acres.
Making a change to grazing
has produced results that
transcend economic bench
mark information. Pasture
land Dairy has experienced
improvements in overall herd
health. For example, there are
fewer displaced abomasums
and retained placentas. A low
cull rate has allowed for inter
nal growth of 50 percent since
1987.
In 1991, Pete purchased the
herd from his father, Robert.
That year, Robert and Pete
also agreed to a rental ar
rangement to allow for equip
ment and facilities leases. Pete
is gradually acquiring equity
in equipment by paying for
new machinery when it is re
placed. In 1997 he purchased
a neighboring farm to allow
for expanded grazing. Heifers
were moved from the main
farm onto the recently pur
chased farm that spring, after
the Mapstones constructed
new fences around pastures.
This allowed for enlarging
heifer stalls on the main farm
to accommodate cows and ex
pand the milking herd from
within. Continual expansion
necessitated replacing the
bulk tank with a larger model.
Increased cow numbers
brought about the need to im
prove milking efficiency. An
eight-stall flat bam parlor was
an economical alternative to
constructing a milking parlor.
Open House Planned At USDA-Inspected
Small Livestock Processing Plant In N. Y.
OAK HILL, N.Y. Dines
Farms, in cooperation with
Cornell Cooperative Exten
sion, is inviting all interested
producers to see the new
USDA inspected livestock
processing facility and meet
the owners, father and son Jay
and Matt Dines and Jon Pay
ton.
On Saturday, May 10, the
Dines will host an open house
from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. at their
facility, which is located on
Dingman Road off Rt. 81 in
Oak Hill (in Greene County
just south of the Albany
County Line.)
The Dines and Payton have
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Milkers are able to achieve a
through-put rate of 60 cows
per hour by utilizing this
setup.
A major cropping change in
1996 was replacing alfalfa hay
crop silage with grass hay
crop silage. This provides a
smoother transition from con
finement feeding in the winter
to pasture-based feeding in
the grazing season. In dry
years, supplemental feeding of
hay crop silage is necessary to
provide for nutrient require
ments.
One goal Pete cited was ac
quiring qiore land to allow for
a constantly increasing herd.
He hopes to expand cow num
bers in the future to maximize
been slaughtering, processing,
and marketing their own live
stock at this location under
New York State (NYS) in
spection since 1996. They built
this facility a year and a half
ago because their markets
were growing and they could
not find reliable processing for
their increasing volume of
poultry and rabbits. They can
provide custom slaughter and
processing of poultry, rabbits,
small ruminants and swine.
In the future, they may be
looking to purchase animals
for their ever-increasing mar
kets. At this writing, they are
in the process of getting their
USDA inspection stamp. They
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the farm’s grazing capacity,
which would be approxi
mately 200 cows. Also under
consideration are constructing
a greenhouse facility to house
calves. If this is successful,
such housing may be con
structed for heifers and dry
cows.
There are numerous rea
sons why Pastureland Dairy
has succeeded in utilizing ro
tational grazing. However,
Pete gives much of the credit
to his father Robert, who has
provided excellent manage
ment advice, as well as labor.
A benchmark that illustrates
Pastureland Dairy’s success as
a business is a rate of return
on all capital of 27.3 percent
should oe able to offer this
service by the end of spring.
Livestock producers are in
vited to the open house to see
the facility and learn what can
be marketed under NYS in
spection vs. USDA inspection.
Lunch will feature a sampling
of Dines Farms products. To
register and get directions, call
Billie-Jo at Cornell Coopera
tive Extension of Albany
County at (518) 765-3512.
For information on live
stock for small farms, visit
Cornell’s Small Farms Web
site at www.smallfarms.cor
nell.edu. Click on “Produc
tion” then click on
“Livestock.”
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