The Rural Voice, 1980-10, Page 16TIME'S RUNNING OUT!
to treat your
Cattle for Grubs
SPOTTON
fits both Feedlot
and Cow -Calf Operations
The SPOTTON Insecticide system has
the flexibility you need for either feedlot or
cow -calf operations. Operators can treat
more cattle in less time and with less work.
And tests show SPOTTON produces grub
control averaging 98% efficacy. See your
animal health dealer for details.
"SPOTTON" SHOULD BE
APPLIED BEFORE THE
END OF THIS MONTH
- AVAILABLE AT
Hummel's Feed Mill
35 Mary St., Clinton 482-9792
OPEN: Mon. - Friday 8:00 - 6:00 p.m.
Saturday - 8:00-12 noon
PO. 14 THE RURAL VOICE/OCTOBER 1980
FARM MANAGEMENT
You can't go anyplace if you
don't know where you are
BY ALLAN SCOTT, Perth Ag. Rep.
How do you know if your business is well? First, you need a
benchmark. You can't go anyplace if you don't know where you
are, to start with. Secondly, you need to know "what's good" --
what are other people in the same business doing? Then you
need a modest goal --one you can meet in 12 months' time. How
can you go anyplace if you don't know where you're going?
How does this work in practical terms? A dairyman looks over
Dairy Herd Improvement summaries and finds a range from
below 11,000 pounds per cow to 17,000 pounds. He determines
where he is in the range either by checking his D.H.I.A. records
or by adding up the weights on his milk statement and dividing
by the average number of cows. Suppose you find yourself at
12.000 pounds. You want a challenge and so you set a goal to
reach 13,000 pounds in one year.
It has been easy so far. It gets tougher from now on. Milk
production is an overall indicator of the success of your dairy
business. You now have to identify the many factors that affect
milk production. You also have to criticize, constructively, the
system or management program that you are using with each
factor.
Take a blank page. Put Milk Production at the top of the page.
Put down the dollar value that is represented by an extra 1,000
lbs. of milk per cow. If you haven't quota, jot down the savings
that result if you can produce your quota with fewer cows.
Canfarm summaries indicate direct costs of 5800 to 5900 to keep
a cow for one year.
List Feeding under Milk Production and under it list the
various points that could affect feeding -overfeeding protein,
underfeeding protein or energy, wrong ratio of calcium and
phosphorus, poor dry cow program, inadequate heifer nutrition
and so on.
You can go on to a breeding heading and jot down your calving
interval, services per conception and non return rate. The
artificial unit will supply this information.
If your breeding statistics are poor, look for reasons. Nutrition
could be an important factor. You'll certainly want to pay special
attention to your heat detection system.
You can carry on listing headings such as Calf Mortality, Sire
Selection, Milking Equipment, Mastitis, Forage Program, and
so on. Jotting down points will bring ideas to mind. It will also
map out all the factors that can influence yourproduction. This
makes it easier to remember what you want to ask when you visit
your veterinarian, your unit veterinarian, the dairy extension
worker, the Milk Industry Branch rep. and your forage extension
worker. It will also help you to pick up pertinent factsheets at the
local Ag. office and elsewhere.
This system likely seems like a lot of fuss. However, such a
flow chart will help you to see at a glance all the factors that are
affecting milk production. WhFn all is said and done, milk
production is your grade as a manager. It's the end result of all
your activities. It's like your score on an exam.
Listing the different factors separately is a start on proving to
yourself that low production doesn't just happen --there are
reasons for it. It can be changed if you want to work at it. It won't
happen overnight, but dramatic changes do happen. One Bruce
County herd average went up nearly 3,000 lbs. just from ration
changes alone. Wouldn't you like to put up 770,000 lbs. of milk
with 48 cows producing 16,000 lbs. rather than 70 producing
11,000 lbs?