Lancaster farming. (Lancaster, Pa., etc.) 1955-current, December 20, 2003, Image 38

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    A3B-Lancaster Farming, Saturday December 20. 2003
Penn State Cooperative Extens
Capitol Region Dairy Team
RENTING HEIFER
FACILITIES
Roland P. Freund
Regional Farm
Management Agent
Carlisle
Renting livestock facilities is
necessary for young families get
ting started in the business. They
have debt to pay on their cattle
and equipment, and adding more
debt to own buildings would
make the banker very nervous.
So they look tor shelter that can
be rented to house their animals.
It would be nice to say that the
space to house a heifer is worth
so many dollars per year. The
problem is that the dairy farmer
would like to find a modern fa
cility and all he can find is an old
bank barn. Both will house cattle,
but how can we evaluate the fa
cility to come up with a compara
ble cost of use?
It is not just a matter of space.
Even ignoring ventilation and an
imal comfort issues (which we
should never do!), the cost of
housing includes bedding and
labor and manure handling costs
which all vary greatly between
housing systems.
Some years ago I prepared a
study looking at the cost of rear
ing heifers. Three levels of hous
ing investment were considered:
• High investment, a slatted
floor and freestall.
• Medium investment, a “Vir
ginia counterslope.”
• Zero investment, a bank
barn or chicken coop.
Let’s look at the annual costs
per bred heifer housed as used in
that study. (See chart.)
Examining these numbers
more closely we might suggest
that the maximum a renter
should pay to rent a Medium fa
cility would be $l7O per heifer
per year. She could “own” her
own structure for that annual
cost. Because of location and con
venience considerations, the rent
er might want to get the use of
this facility for $lOO or less a
head. Regardless of rent paid,
bedding and labor will add an
other $5O to annual costs.
Now this Low investment bank
barn is another matter. The
owner should be thrilled to get
$2O a heifer per year for it be
cause then all his costs are cov
ered. In reality it might not be
Investment/heifer
Loan, repairs, tax
Bedding
Labor
Annual cost
Roland P. Freund
worth even that. Theoretically, if
(and it is a BIG if) the bank barn
raises heifers as w'ell as the medi
um facility, the renter should pay
a maximum of $5O less that he
can rent a medium facility for.
This is because bedding and labor
will cost $5O more for the bank
barn than for the medium facili
ty. That means that if the renter
could rent a counterslope facility
tor $lOO then an equal quality
bank barn would be worth $5O.
Unfortunately most of us can not
point to a single old bank bam
which raises heifers as healthily
as a counterslope.
These figures are used to illus
trate a process that needs to be
followed in coming up with com
parable rental rates. Use your
own numbers to evaluate each
unique situation which you en
counter. Make sure that you fac
tor in the cost of correcting any
ventilation and other inade
quacies.
In this century when nobody
leases a Ford Model T buckboard
to provide tor his transport
needs, we have to ask why people
are still willing to spend good
money for the equivalent technol
ogy in animal housing. Perhaps
the answer is that bank barns are
the only alternative available. But
we need to be creative and make
sure that, whatever housing sys
tem we consider, it provides ade
quate ventilation, some protec
tion from severe weather,
convenient access to feed and
water, and a reasonable manure
disposal system.
High Medium Low
$1.200 $875 $0
$205 $l7O $2O
$lO $l3 $2O
18 $37 $BO
$233 $220 $l2O
LanChester Pork Council Talks SWAP
CHARLENE M. SHUPP
ESPENSHADE
Lancaster Farming Staff
NEW HOLLAND (Lancaster
Co.) An estimated 50 swine
producers gathered at Yoder’s
Restaurant Tuesday to discuss
current production issues and
elect their board of directors.
Issues included animai health,
animal welfare programs, and
the pork quality assurance pro
gram.
ion
A highlight of the discussion
was the new Swine Welfare As
surance Program (SWAP) by
Erik Risa of the National Pork
Council. The SWAP program
was launched in August 2003.
This program is a voluntary
producer program that offers an
objective, scientifically based wel
fare assessment of pigs.
"SWAP is an objective assess
ment of welfare,” said Risa,
“(and) is independent of housing
or size.”
SWAP was developed to assist
producers in measuring animal
welfare on the farm. Risa stresses
that when an operation enters
into the program, SWAP “does
not certify a person, it certifies
the site.”
The SWAP program is hopeful
to provide an answer to the re
cent concerns of the retail food
industry for a guarantee that
suppliers are using animal wel
fare practices. The nine princi
ples to be evaluated focus on the
area of records, animal observa
tions, and facilities.
The SWAP program consists
of having a certified SWAP edu
cator visit the farm to review the
operation. After the initial evalu
ation. a farm is provided bench
marks on how the operation is
doing. Benchmarking provides
the producer a way to handle the
farm’s welfare assessments.
However, Risa stresses that
SWAP was not developed in re
action to the retail industry. The
program was started in 2000 as a
proactive action by pork produc
ers.
To summarize the hopes of the
program, Risa said, “In the end,
JANUARY 10
JANUARY 17
JANUARY 24
JANUARY 24
FEBRUARY 6-8 2004 PA JUNIOR HOLSTEIN CONVENTION
FOUR POINTS SHERATON, GREENSBURG, PA
FEBRUARY 6
FEBRUARY 13 7 30PM WARREN COUNTY ANNUAL MEETING
4-H BUILDING, FAIRGROUNDS, PITTSFIELD, PA
FEBRUARY 19-21 2004 PA HOESTEIN CONVENTION
FOUR POINTS SHERATON, GREENSBURO, PA
FEBRUARY 20
FEBRUARY 21
MARCH 3
MARCH 26
APRIL 3
APRIL 16
APRIL 23
APRII 29
Newly elected board members to the LanChester Pork
Council were, from left, Nelson Beam, Elverson;
Scott Bailey, Ephrata; and Kurt Good, Denver. They are
congratulated by board member Peter Day, far right,
Ephrata. Photos by Charlene Shupp Espenshade
Speakers for the meeting were from left, Dale Spiess,
Nichole Boettger, Erik Risa, and Bob Mikesell.
its the right thing to do. It dem
onstrates our commitment to wel
fare.”
Nichole Boettger of National
Pork Council also addressed
what is happing at the national
office. In regards to how they are
handling the “constitutionality”
question of promotion checkoff
programs, it is “business as
usual” until a ruling is made.
Also, Boettger noted the start
of an eight-course distance learn
ing program. The course examin
es different production issues,
providing the “science behind the
2004 PENNSYLVANIA HOLSTEIN ASSOCIATION
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
I 1 30A M DAUPHIN COUNTY ANNUAL MEETING
GEO’S FAMILY RESTAURANT, HARRISBURG, PA
9 OOA M PA PDCA JUDGING CONFERENCE
FARM SHOW COMPLEX, HARRISBURG, PA
7 OOP M BEAVER/LAWRENCE ANNUAL MEETING
7 30P M CLARION/VENANGO ANNUAL MEETING
WOLF’S DEN RESTAURANT, KNOX, PA
6 30P M BUCKS COUNTY ANNUAL MEETING
ST MATTHEWS LUTHERN CHURCH, DOYLESTOWN, PA
IO OOA M 91 SI ANNUAL MEETING, PA HOLSTEIN ASSOC
FOUR POINTS SHERATON. GREENSBURG, PA
IO OOA M PA HOLSTEIN CONVENTION SALE
FOUR POINTS SHERATON, GREENSBURG, PA
12 3()P M HOLSTEIN USA REGION 2 MEMBERSHIP MEETING
HOLIDAY INN, NEW CUMBERLAND, PA
9 30A M PA HOLSTEIN SPRING SHOW
FARM SHOW COMPLEX, HARRISBURG, PA
11 OOA M DELAWARE VALLEY COLLEGE GREEN & GOLD SALE
DELAWARE VALLEY COLLEGE, DOYLESTOWN, PA
7 OOP M WESTERN PA SPRING SPECTACULAR SALE
4-H PARK, MERCER, PA
7 OOP M SOUTHWEST PA SPRING SENSATION SALE
FAYETTE COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS, UNIONTOWN. PA
1 1 OOA M PA HOLSTEIN HEIFER SALE
PA HOLSTEIN FARM MID'V IJTOWN, PA
tactics instead of the how-to,” she
said. The courses are available on
an interactive CD and allow pro
ducers to utilize them when it fits
their schedule.
Dale Spiess of Boehringer In
gelheim and Charlie Francisco of
Intervet spoke about animal
health products and practices
that could be utilized on the farm
to improve productivity.
At the annual meeting, three
directors were re-elected to an
other term. They were Scott Bai
ley, Ephrata; Nelson Beam, El
verson; and Kurt Good, Denver.