RAGERSVILLE, Ohio – Ridenour Farms and Putt Dairy Farms were recognized as the official top milk producing farms in Tuscarawas County at the county’s annual dairy farmers banquet Feb. 23.
Ridenour Farms earned top milk production honors for herds of 100 head or less, with a herd average of 21,938 pounds of milk. Putt Dairy Farms, milking three times a day, earned recognition for herds of 101 head or more, with 28,448 pounds of milk.
Jim and Marcia Loveday, who milk three times a day, won the award for unofficial high herd in milk production for herds of 100 or less with 26,289 pounds. Bill Deetz, milking three times a day, won the unofficial top milk production award for herds of 101 or more with 28,116 pounds.
Butterfat. In official butterfat production, Carlene Farms took the top spot for herds of 100 or less, averaging 897 pounds. Putt Dairy Farms earned the same honor for herds of 101 or more, with a 1,000-pound average.
Ray Mutti won the award for unofficial high herd in butterfat production for herds of 100 or less, averaging 909 pounds. Bill Deetz earned recognition for herds of 101 or more, with 934 pounds.
Carlene Farms earned official top protein production honors for herds of 100 or less with a herd average of 668 pounds. Putt Dairy Farms took the top spot for larger herds, with an average of 852 pounds.
In unofficial protein production, Jim and Marcia Loveday earned recognition for herds of 100 or less with 743 pounds. Bill Deetz earned the same honor for herds of 101 or more with 821 pounds.
Most improved. The award for the most improved herd on official test went to Wayne and Steve Specht with an increase of 2,277 pounds of milk. Gary Burky, who milks three times a day, was also recognized in this category for improving by 2,230 pounds.
The most improved herd award, not on official test, went to Demuth Farms with 3,576 pounds.
Honors for high lifetime cow went to Gary Burky. In 10 lactations, the cow produced 308,860 pounds of milk, 9,086 pounds of fat and 9,715 pounds of protein.
High lifetime cow honors, not on official test, went to Mutti Dairy Farm. At 2,631 days and seven lactations, the cow produced 227,094 pounds of milk, 8,307 pounds of fat and 6,572 pounds of protein.
Somatic cell count. Edoris Farms Inc. earned top honors for official low somatic cell count with 168,000.
Yoder Dairy took the top spot for unofficial low somatic cell count with 137,000.
Tuscarawas County averages from all official herds in 2005 are 22,991 pounds of milk, 831 pounds of fat and 690 pounds of protein.
The meeting also included an update on how the county used a $5,000 3-A-Day of Dairy nutrition education grant. The money was used to begin a pilot program in local schools called Get MOOvin’ fitness clubs.
Royalty. Also at the meeting, Amy Donato was crowned the 2006 Tuscarawas County junior dairy princess and Karen Brown was crowned as the county’s senior dairy princess.
In other business, Kim Haines, communications manager at the American Dairy Association and Dairy Council Mid East, gave a presentation on how the dairy checkoff program is improving the industry.
Haines said the 3-A-Day of Dairy logo is now on 2.5 billion dairy products in the United States. Also, making a change from cardboard milk cartons to single-serving plastic bottles at establishments like Wendy’s and McDonald’s has greatly increased milk sales. Making the packaging change in schools has prompted more sales there, as well.
(Reporter Janelle Skrinjar welcomes feedback by phone at 800-837-3419, ext. 22, or by e-mail at jskrinjar@farmanddairy.com.)
Get 4 Weeks of Farm and Dairy Home Delivered
