Tour gives behind-the-scenes look at dairy

Jul. 24—Several area farmers, retired farmers and people interested in the local dairy industry toured three area farms in Franklin during Cornell Cooperative Extension of Delaware County's 91st annual Dairy Tour.

"This is a big social event," said Mariane Kiraly, the senior resource educator for farm business management at CCE. "Each farm is unique, whether it's their labor, growing practices, feeding. Other farmers take the tour to see what they're doing."

Friday's tour began at Valley-Hill Farm owned by Shane Stalter. At that farm, the use of cover crops was discussed. Paul Cerosaletti, nutrient management team leader at CCE, said Stalter planted winter wheat as a cover crop, and instead of plowing it under or killing it in the spring, he harvested it and disc-plowed and planted alfalfa seed to grow with some of the wheat.

Cover crops are planted after corn is harvested in the fall to give the soil something to hold onto, said Brian LaTourette, program operations coordinator at the Watershed Agriculture Council.

"When a raindrop hits bare soil, it explodes the ground and the dirt gets suspended in the raindrop. Too much rain causes excessive runoff," he said. "But a cover crop will disperse the rain, so in the winter there is not a lot of runoff. This especially helps hillside farms. A lot of times on hillside farms you see rocks by the roots of the corn. A cover crop will help slow down erosion."

According to Cerosaletti, 30 farms in the Delaware Watershed and 17 farms in the Susquehanna Watershed participated in the cover-crop program. He said farmers who participate in the programs get paid to do so.

Dale Dewing of Cornell Cooperative Extension gave farmers the best times to plant a cover crop. He said it was best to plant the cover crop before the second week in October, as there is "not enough heat in the ground or hours of sunshine in October to have the crops grow successfully. Less growth in the fall means a slower spring start."

In addition to stemming erosion, cover crops allow less nitrogen to escape the soil and get into the rivers, according to Jay Czerniak of the Delaware County Soil & Water Conservation District. The district oversees the cover-crop participation in the Susquehanna valley, while the WAC oversees the cover-crop participation in the Delaware Valley, Czerniak said.

"The EPA was concerned about the excess nitrogen in the Chesapeake Bay and mandated that the NY-Bay states reduce the nitrogen and phosphorus leaked into the river," Czerniak said. "One way to do this is to plant cover crops. This has reduced the nitrogen runoff substantially. Cover crops also keep the soil healthy."

Czerniak also said that as cover crops break down, they release plant sugars that "glue" the soil together, and by planting cover crops and letting them die or harvest, it makes the soil become more like a sponge, which helps the soil absorb more water.

After the introduction to the cover crops, people were able to view a plot of the winter wheat mixed in with the alfalfa.

The next stop was the Dairysmith Holsteins farm. There, three generations of the Smith family, Janice, Donnie and Cody, run a 130-head registered Holstein farm.

This was also the lunch stop, and Dairy Princess Jillian Hungerford of South Kortright, and Ambassadors Delaney McCann of Delhi and Angela Cercoletti of Davenport handed out milk from Clark Farm Creamery and ice cream from the Polar Bear.

"We always have milk and ice cream," Kiraly said.

Janice Smith talked about how she babies her calves.

"When they are born we see if the mother has any interest in caring for her calf and if the calf wants to nurse," she said. "If they do, we leave them together for a few days, otherwise we separate them. I immediately give the calves colostrum and feed them the next morning. They get two quarts of whole milk daily until the end of the first month, then they get a gallon. At the end of the second month, they get a gallon and a half at each end of the day and after three months I start to wean them off the milk. Someone asked if I ever used milk replacement. I did for a little while, then the price of milk went down, but the price of the replacement didn't. For the past 30 years, I've only fed them whole milk."

Kiraly said the Sitts, at the third stop, also only feed their calves whole milk, but they also add citric acid to the milk to make it last longer in the gang feeder they use. The Sitts' stop also talked about liquid manure application to fields after the crops are harvested.

Vicky Klukkert, staff writer, can be reached at vklukkert@thedailystar.com or 607-441-7221. Follow her @DS_VickyK on Twitter.