Holmes Co. herds among state’s best

WALNUT CREEK, Ohio – Prior to the presentation of the awards at the 2006 Holmes County Dairy Recognition Banquet, Darrell Kick, a member of the DHI committee, listed the top 10 ways to identify a dairy farmer, including “if you have every received an award for fat and been proud of it, you might be a dairy farmer.”
And while it earned a laugh from the audience, Kick and the other honorees have every reason to be proud of the awards they received for production in their herds.
Holstein winners. Kick’s Dairy Farm, ranked 17th in the state among Holstein herds, was the county’s top herd with more 50 cows for milk, protein and energy corrected milk. Herd production averaged 27,003 pounds of milk, 1,030 pounds of fat and 824 pounds of protein equaling 28,431 pounds of energy corrected milk.
Hal and Rod Hunsberger had the top herd over 50 cows for butterfat, with 25,362 pounds of milk, 1,034 pounds of fat, and 802 pounds of protein for 27,456 pounds of energy corrected milk.
Paul J. Miller had the top Holstein herd under 50 cows for milk, protein and energy corrected milk with 26,225 ponds of milk, 925 pounds of fat and 781 pounds of protein for 26,490 pounds of energy corrected milk.
The top herd under 50 cows for fat was Martin Creek Farm with 21,504 pounds of milk, 959 pounds of fat and 658 pounds of protein for 24,188 pounds of energy corrected milk.
Dalroy Farm had the high lifetime producing Holstein cow with 273,839 pounds of milk, 10,917 pounds of fat and 8,329 pounds of protein in 10 lactations.
Among state leaders. R & R Swiss, the second ranked Brown Swiss herd in the state was also recognized as the county’s top colored breed herd with more than 50 cows. The herd averaged 23,591 pounds of milk, 907 pounds of fat and 768 pounds of protein for 24,988 pounds of energy corrected milk.
The herd also had the high lifetime cows in the colored breeds for milk and protein. The high lifetime cow for milk produced 204,668 pounds of milk, 7,451 pounds of fat and 6,553 pounds of protein in five lactations, while the high lifetime cow for protein produced 195,098 pounds of milk, 7,271 pounds of fat and 6,752 pounds of protein.
Wachtels No. 1. Springwalk Farm Guernseys had the high colored breed herd under 50 cows and they are also the top ranked Guernsey herd in the state. The 25-head herd averaged 18,564 pounds of milk, 9,288 pounds of fat and 627 pounds of protein for 22,853 pounds of energy corrected milk.
Dar-Re Farm is the sixth ranked Jersey herd in the state with 1,9,729 pounds of milk, 859 pounds of fat and 710 pounds of protein for 22,971 pounds of energy corrected milk.
They also had the high lifetime cow in the colored breeds for fat with 139,470 pounds of milk, 7,832 pounds of fat and 5,206 pounds of protein.
Lloyd Schlauch received the county’s most improved herd award with an increase of 3,054 pounds of milk, 126 pounds of fat, 134 pounds of protein and 3,649 pounds of energy corrected milk.
Holmes County is also home to three other state ranked herds, including the third ranked Ayrshire herd with 1,8,003 pounds of milk, 756 pounds of fat and 562 pounds of protein and 1,9,948 pounds of energy corrected milk. Hershey Hill Guernseys is the state’s second ranked Guernsey herd and Pine Grove Guernseys is the state’s fifth ranked Guernsey herd.
Checkoff update. Kim Haines, director of communications for Mid-East UDIA-ADA, described how the milk checkoff program is working to promote dairy products.
Haines said the program that has been the most successful is the effort to encourage fast food restaurants and schools to use plastic serve bottles. Wendy’s and McDonald’s currently have programs in place featuring milk on their menus and Burger King plans to implement a program as well. The result has been a strong increase in the sale of milk in the restaurants. They are also working with schools to encourage them to use plastic serve bottles in their meal programs.
Industry service. The DHI committee presented plaques to Hazel Young for her years of service to the dairy industry and retiring OSU Extension Educator Dean Slates. The committee noted as a result of his efforts, the county has seen an increase in the number of dairy herds in the county.
Slates thanked the group for their recognition. “The dairy industry is important to me,” he said. “Holmes County is a great place to be in the dairy business and I hope that I had enough influence on that to keep the next generation in the dairy business as well.”
Harold Miller, Dale Mohler and David Yoder were elected to the Holmes County DHI Committee.