cows on his family farm, and his son wants to become the fifth. But a recent decision by the Pennsylvania Game Commission may change Kilgore’s plans. The Airville, York County, farmer was recently notified by the agency that the approximately 70 acres he farms on two nearby state game land tracts (SGL 83 and SGL 181) will be changing, reverting from a primary use of active agriculture to a focus on wildlife habitat.
They use a hand held computer that has all my cow information on it such as her age, her calving date, how many lactations (time between calves) she’s had and previous scores. Every inch of the cows is graded. They look at everything from the length of her teats and the texture of her udder to the strength of her back and legs.
We use this information to breed our cows to a bull that will hopefully improve any traits that are weak. A computer analysis will help us choose the best mate for our cows, or we can pick one from a bull proof chart (also in my photo section). Bulls are also chosen to improve health traits as well as milk, fat and protein production. You can even choose sexed semen to help guarantee a heifer (female) calf. It’s all pretty complex, but it is an important part of our farm.
Dutch Hollow Farms is part of a co-op, so while Chittenden says they’re luckier than independent farms their co-op still asked them to cut their milk production by six percent.
“Our milk wasn’t being disposed of, it was still gonna get shipped but we just weren’t gonna get paid for it,” Chittenden said. “So to make the product and not get paid for it is a humongous economic hit to this business — so we have to figure out a way to make less milk — we actually sold 35 cows yesterday.
Dutch Hollow Farms has Jersey cows, which produce higher fat content and higher protein milk than other milk producing breed, so Chittenden says their milk is often favored over some other farms. But that’s not the only reason he says their family feels fortunate.
Nate is a great guy and his social media, especially his Twitter is great - but also follow him on Facebook. They dairy just outside of Castleton on Hudson, producing wonder Jersey milk on the fertile gently rolling country above the Hudson River.