The Rural Voice, 1992-06, Page 31There are three generations of
Parkins running the dairy farm.
Gordon and Fern do not do any of the
actual milking any more, but Gordon
makes most of the decisions about
cropping. He does a lot of the tractor
work, and helps with repairs.
Heather, Larry, and the children
milk the current herd of 45 cows.
Larry and Heather have handled the
herd management for the last 12
years, while Heather does the
bookkeeping and paper work, which
is extensive, due to the fact that the
herd is registered.
"Neither Heather nor myself have
ever worked off the farm after we
started farming," says Larry.
"We're both interested in farming
and we both farm here together."
"You have to have a sense of
humour," smiles Heather.
The Parkins own 350 acres
and rent an additional 100 acres.
The crops grown are 100 acres of
barley and 80 acres of corn. Part
of the grain and corn are grown as
a cash crop. The Parkins have
their own dryer and dry the corn
that is mixed with the barley for
feed. There are 150 acres of
timothy -alfalfa hay, with 100
acres of pasture and 20 acres of
bush.
The current herd of 45 cows is
registered, continuing the practice
begun by Fern and Gordon in
1968. "We had a grade herd in
those days," says Fern. "We
bought some registered cows and
then decided to begin registering Cathy
the enure herd." barn.
The entire herd was registered
by the time Larry and Heather took
over herd management, breeding, and
feeding. Bull calves or vealers are
sent to market and heifer calves are
kept for replacements or sold for
breeding stock.
The Parkins had two tower silos
built, and used one for silage and one
for haylage. "They were never
empty," states Larry. "We filled
them with corn in the fall and with
haylage in the summer. Lately,
though, we've been combining the
corn and drying it to feed with the
grain. Now we put haylage in the
two silos."
"We've switched to feeding
haylage because I think there are
more calving problems with corn
silage," adds Gordon. "The cows
were too fat."
The Parkins also feed a custom
supplement — pellets made from
soybean meal, corn gluten meal,
distillers grains, wheat shorts, meat
meal, and salt and minerals. "We've
worked with a feed consultant for the
last three years," Larry says. A
representative comes once a month
and makes feed recommendations, as
well as recommendations about milk
production and general herd health."
The family has kept a milk record
system for the last 23 years through
the Dairy Herd Improvement
Association. "They come for two
"After each cow is dried off, we
get a record for one year's milking —
an average of 305 days. We use the
figures to compare cows within the
herd."
"Every nine months, the animal's
physical characteristics are rated,"
says Larry. "This record of type
classification is a valuable tool that
helps with decisions about which
cows to keep in the herd. We use it
to base the value of the cow on, also."
The 305 -day production average
of the herd yields the following
figures: 17,640 lbs. of milk (total
production of all cows); 700 lbs.
butterfat (or 3.96 per cent); 586
lbs. protein (or 3.32 per cent).
The Breed Class Average
indexes are 172 for milk; 184 for
fat; and 181 for protein. The
types of physical classifications
on the herd are: 1 cow, excellent
2E; 1 cow, excellent; 17 cows,
very good; 24 cows, good plus;
and 9 cows, good.
Gordon and Fern made the
decision to go with a loose -
housing system in the barn back in
the 1960s. "Most people in the
purebred business didn't want a
milking parlour and loose
housing," says Gordon. "But we
felt it was a more natural system
for the animals." The Parkins
originally installed a Surge system
with four milkers in individual
stalls. They changed to Boumatic
in 1976. "We were only going to
milk 30 cows," smiles Gordon.
In 1984, a computerized
feeding system was added to
dispense grain. There are two
feeding stations in the loose -housing
barn. The cows wear a tag around
their necks and when they approach
one of the feeding stations, a scanner
reads the tag and dispenses grain at
four-hour intervals.
"Each cow gets six feeds a day,
and the computer regulates it," states
Larry. "For example, if a cow is to
get 18 pounds of grain a day, the
grain is fed in six feeds of three
pounds at a time every four hours."
"Our feeding system was one of
the first ones in the area," says
Heather. "We were asked to be a
'guinea pig' and help iron out any
bugs. Things are running smoothly
now. The computer is updated every
time a cow calves or her milk is
weighed or one time a month."
Parkin looks after a calf in the Parkin's calf
consecutive milkings and take a
sample," says Heather. "The milk
comes from the cow to a meter then
to the pipeline and then to the tank.
They check for protein and butterfat,"
she continues. "Protein is beginning
to be increasingly important. There
is a component price being paid for
protein and butterfat instead of just
butterfat alone."
Gordon did all the bookkeeping
up until a year ago, but now Heather
does all of the paper work. "It is very
extensive, with record-keeping,
registrations, and pedigrees," she
states. "If we didn't have all this
paper work to do, it would be pretty
mundane. Each cow is an individual.
The records are a good culling tool,"
she continues.
JUNE 1992 27