The Professional Dairy Managers of PA (PDMP) are back with their popular Summer Summit' on August 6, 2015; this time at Meadow Woods Farm in Lebanon County. It was only a couple of years ago when owners, brothers Bob and Dave Bomberger, thought the next generation might not want to continue the family business on the Penn Grant land their family has farmed for ten generations. But with an expansion at Meadow Woods that includes a new milking center with a cow handling and special needs facility, Dave's son Tom is now fully engaged in moving the dairy forward.
Most successful dairy producers like the Bombergers, know that cow welfare is an integral part of better-quality management and a profitable bottom line. So when they recently expanded with new buildings at Meadow Woods Farm, they included design and technology that incorporates elements of cow welfare into the layout so that cows are more comfortable throughout their workday and the Bombergers are better able to budget their cow-time' so there is less stress on both animals and people.
By sorting cows for treatment or insemination when they exit the parlor directly into to a "hospital pen" where water and fresh food awaits them, the Bombergers have increased their efficiencies with no additional labor cost or cow stress. They are quickly taken care of and sent back to their comfortable sand beds. "We catch problems much quicker with this sort pen laid out like this," said Dave Bomberger. "It's just much more efficient."
The expansion presented its challenges too. It caused the need for a CAFO permit and they are now managing their manure with a 4-stage lagoon, sand separation, and manure separation. The Bombergers and their team will share their experiences and lessons learned from growing to a 700 cow dairy as Summer Summit attendees rotate between stations throughout Meadow Wood Farms for discussions and insights on cow-time budgeting, quality milking procedures, manure management and more.
The day-long program includes a networking lunch, sponsored by Farmer Boy Ag, to encourage interaction and information sharing between progressive dairy producers and industry professionals and after lunch, attendees can visit the Meadow Wood feed center to see how the Bombergers are getting the most from their forage and nutrition program.
Advanced registration is requested; registration fee of $75 for non-PDMP members and $25 for PDMP Members is required for registration and includes the BBQ lunch. Check in and on-site registration begins at 8:00 a.m. and the first breakout session will start at 9:00 a.m. To register, call the PDMP Registration Office at 877-326-5993 or go to the Events page at www.pdmp.org to download a registration form.
The Summer Summit' is part of the Professional Dairy Managers of PA's ongoing commitment to offer top-quality educational development programs to help improve the productivity and profitability of the state's dairy industry. Attending workshops such as these help producers keep abreast of the latest technologies and management techniques, and provide important networking opportunities. Registration for this packed program are kept low with the support of sponsors including: Ag-One Associates; Alforex Seeds, LLC; American Farm Products; Cargill Animal Nutrition Consulting Services; Dairy Farmers of America; DuPont Pioneer; Fisher & Thompson Inc.; Homestead Nutrition, Inc.; RCM International, LLC; Red Dale Ag Service, Inc.; Select Sires Power, Inc.; White Horse Construction, Inc.; Zinpro and lunch sponsor, Farmer Boy Ag.
7.20.2015