OCR Text |
Show f. r Gunnison Valley News Section B Section, April i i ! 13, 1978 Farm , Home & Ranch Annual Section Evaluate Your Dairy Herd by Wallace R. Taylor Extension Dairy Specialist Utah State University - Vv State laws in Utah spell out the restrictions on burning of grass, stubble, range and other areas, but they specifically exclude farmers and ranchers, according to Thad Wasden, of Aurora, president of the Sevier County Farm Bureau. He said that wording in the One of the first steps in evaluating your dairy herd management is to spot those areas that are out of line with the average. Your Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA) records provide you the tool for comparing your herd with the average performance of other herds in the state. Much information is now available in the DHIA reports. These dairy production testing records increase in value the more you use them. The relative importance to your management of the information provided in your records will depend on your goals in such things as production, calving intervals, and percentage of cows leaving the herd. When studying your herd records, compare them against the 1977 state averages. These include rolling herd averages of 15,406 pounds of milk at 549 pounds of fat produced per cow, 13.18 months calving interval with an average of 121 days open and 35 percent of the cows leaving the herd. Then to get valuable clues as to the strengths and weaknesses in your herd management, compare your with herd specified management standards. The ratings range from excellent to poor. We will be happy to supply you with the table of the dairy herd management standards for cows of different breeds. It indicates a rating of excellent for 50 days and under previous days dry, 1.5 and less services 55 and under per conception, to first of milking days breeding, 12.5 months and less calving interval, 95 'hnd Jess, average days open, 20 percent Restrictions Spelled Out On Burning 4h law on the Consistent records are required to evaluate and manage the herd to best advantage. Whatever the breed, dairy herds such as this are a source of pride to owners throughout the state. and less cows leaving the herd, and 80 percent and over of cows practically free from mastitis as indicated by a negative or a trace on the CMT (California Mastitis Test). The goals you are concentrating on in your herd may change from time to time depending on problems that may develop. For example, if you have breeding problems in the herd, you will want to focus on such indicators as the days in milk at first breeding, average days open, services per conception, and average calving interval. You will want to the watch closely management lists you receive from the DHI Computing Service of the cows to breed, cows io cneck for pregnancy, and cows due to calve. These lists to guide management become particularly important in large herds where it is impossible to "remember , everything states agricultural . These Holstein cows in northern Utah are enjoying their daily ration of WL-30alfalfa, a variety possessing superior winter hardiness, strong stand persistence and outstanding resistance to bacterial wSt, pea aphids and spotted alfalfa aphids. 9 Its leaves are produced aB the way down the deader stems.' v-- closed fire season (June 1 to Oct. 31) reads: No provision of this act is to be construed to prevent the burning of fence lines on cultivated lands, canals, or irrigation ditches where such burning will not pose a threat to forest, range, or watershed lands, provided due care is used in the control thereof. Even though a farmer doesn't need a permit from the district fire warden, Wasden suggests that a farmer in Sevier County, might consider letting the fire department that serves his farm know when he is going to burn off cropland. This could prevent an unnecessary run by a fire truck in case a neighbor sees the smoke and turns in an alarm. The state .law on air cleanliness also exempts burning from being in violation, Wasden said. It permits burning prunings from trees, bushes and plants, dead or diseased trees, stubble, and weeds along ditch banks where the burning is done to clean the ditches fog irrigation. The law also allows the controlled heating of orchards or other crops to lower be chance of freezing, as long as the emissions from the heating don't violate the minimum standards set up by the air conservation committee established by the law. The farm leader urged all farmers and ranchers in the county to be very careful when ,they do agricultural burning, v x. "i |