Don’t Miss DairyProfit Seminars at 2011 Empire Farm Days

Seneca Falls, NY – This year’s DairyProfit Seminars at Empire Farm Days feature opportunities to learn about intensive grazing, transitioning to the next generation, and the latest findings to increase cow comfort.
 
The free open-to-the-public seminars begin at 10:30am in the Empire Farm Days’ Dairy Seminar Center at Rodman Lott & Son Farms in Seneca Falls, NY. Industry updates from the Beef Check-Off Program and a picnic lunch follow each seminar.
 
Cornell University’s PRO-DAIRY Program and Eastern DairyBusiness Magazine present the following seminars with support from industry sponsors:
 
Tuesday, August 9: Intensive Pasture Management — Three New York dairy producers experienced with grazing the dairy herd will present a panel discussion. Bill Paddock of Remsen, NY, milks 75 registered Holsteins and is a grazing specialist with the Oneida County Soil & Water Conservation Service. Mark Savage of Boonville, NY, is a partner in a 200-cow operation grazing both the milking herd and heifers. He has also managed a larger, free-stall confinement dairy. Joe Schultz operates a 50-cow herd near Lowville, NY, where his family has used intensive pasture management since 1988. John Conway of the Cornell University PRO-DAIRY staff, whose area of emphasis includes forage management and cost analysis, will moderate the session.
 
Wednesday, August 10: The Next Generation — PRO-DAIRY Farm Management Specialist Jason Karszes moderates this session on incorporating the next generation into farm business operations and ownership. The producer panel includes Steve Young, managing 3,000 crop acres at Oakwood Dairy, Auburn, NY; Jon Beller, partner with his parents in their dairy in Carthage, NY; Holly Burley, Dansville, NY, who worked in New Zealand after college and now manages a second operation owned with her parents; Kyle Getty, herd manager at Ideal Farms, Schaghticoke, NY, and a former research assistant with PRO-DAIRY; and Mark Mapstone, Farm Credit specialist at Sangerfield, NY, working with family business issues and generation transfer strategies.
 
Thursday, August 11: The Latest Cow Comfort Strategies — PRO-DAIRY Director and Cornell Professor Dr. Tom Overton moderates discussion of latest techniques and benefits of improving the dairy herd’s cow comfort.
 
Panel members are Aaron Allen, Schaghticoke, NY, partner in a 1500-cow family operations that has implemented sand bedding; Jeff Mulligan of Avon, NY, whose 1200-cow dairy is averaging 30,000-lbs. milk incorporating sand bedding along with fan ventilation and sprinklers; Lynn Murray of Carthage, NY, whose carefully-planned 448-cow barn incorporates spacious free-stalls, ventilation and sand bedding to improve herd health and production; and Dr. Mark Thomas, DVM, form Lowville, NY, whose practice includes consultation on the variety of management issues to be covered.
 
Also taking place on Wednesday, August 10, the 2010-11 Cornell PRO-DAIRY Junior DAIRY LEADERS graduate at 1:30pm. The class of twenty-four 16 to 19-year-old youth who wanted more hands-on experiences in the dairy industry beyond their home farms will make presentations on their year-long learning opportunities.
 
Also on Thursday, August 11, the annual Drive-It-Yourself Dairy Tour begins at 3pm at Twin Birch Dairy in nearby Skaneateles, NY, where attendees will be invited to join representatives of Novus International and PRO-DAIRY specialists for a presentation and discussion of the results of a study of farms in the Northeast, California, Texas/New Mexico, and British Columbia. Discussion will focus on how to remove limitations to health and performance by focusing on cow comfort. The tour is free, but RSVP is required. For directions to the farm and reservations, email dmconf@cornell.edu or call Heather Howland at 607-255-4478 by August 1.
 
DairyProfit Seminars sponsors include Albers Dairy Equipment, manufacturer of a full line of stalls, headlocks and barn equipment; APC, Inc., provider of high quality feed additives; Dairylea and DFA, Syracuse, NY, leading dairy cooperatives in the Northeast; Farm Family insurance companies, providing insurance protection in 13 northeastern states since the 1950s; the New York Beef Industry Council and Cattlemen’s Beef Board, the national beef promotion organization; the Northeast Dairy Producers Association of milk producers  focused on the future; and Cornell University’s PRO-DAIRY Program, providing innovative management strategies for New York’s dairy producers. Eastern DairyBusiness is published by DairyBusiness Communications, based in Syracuse, NY, producing multi-media for the dairy industry including three monthly magazines: Western DairyBusiness, Eastern DairyBusiness and Holstein World, the DairyProfit Weekly newsletter, three direct response buyers’ guides, DairyLineRadio, six active web sites and DairyProfit Seminars.
 
For more information on Empire Farm Days, the largest outdoor agricultural trade show in the Northeast, contact Show Manager Melanie Wickham, 877-697-7837, mwickham@empirefarmdays.com.