Producer Spotlight 
The corn champ of Pennsylvania
talks dairy
David Wolfskill (r) and F.M. Brown & Sons area
director Gary Behrens
David Wolfskill is a 3rd generation, lifelong dairyman. However, corn growers in Pennsylvania and across the U.S. might want to get a few tips from him on crop yields as well. The farm not only is getting great milk yield per cow, it's also setting records in bushels per acre.
David's no-till, non-irrigated test plots have won first place for the past five years in the Pennsylvania Corn Growers Association yield contest. He also grabbed first place this past year in the Pennsylvania region of the National Corn Growers Association, and in 2008 was the national overall yield champ for the NCGA, charting 297 bushels per acre. "We've been no-till since the late 1980s. We like to stay on the cutting edge," said David. Working with his DeKalb agronomist, the farm has been mixing seed maturities in its rotations to produce varying moisture levels that can optimally pack a grain silo, from dry on the bottom to heavier, higher moisture on top.
With his prolific corn track record, David's silage quality results are also notable. The Relative Feed Value for haylage this summer and fall ranged from 126 to over 200. His corn silage is consistently in the 20% to 22% ADF range and 30% to 37% NDF range. Because he makes such good forages it is not unusual for his TMR to contain 30 to 33 lbs. of forage dry matter on a steady 53 to 54 lbs. of total dry matter. This means his TMR on the 100 lb. group usually runs between 58% to 63% forage dry matter.
David's feeding program is formulated by FM Brown and Sons area director Gary Behrens and FM Brown nutritionist Mark Wagner. They formulate for two groups: High Group, balanced for 100 lbs. of milk, and Low Group, balanced for 70 lbs. of milk. In December, the High Group was averaging 95 lbs. and the Low Group over 51 lbs. of milk.
The dairy has used Diamond V Original XP in the TMR for 10 years. "This is the best winter I've had with herd health," David said. "We can get high groups averaging 98 to 100 pounds at two milkings a day. That means their stomachs are working like they're supposed to; good DMI, good health, good uptake. They all work together."
David's 1500-acre grain and dairy farm just west of Reading in southeastern Pennsylvania was started in 1948 by his grandfather. When David took sole ownership in 2000 and built new facilities, that was the first and only time he bought more cows. Otherwise, the farm has always operated with a closed herd.
"We have 280 stalls in the barn and we're milking 293 cows. I have to credit our barn with the slatted floor. Without the slats, I couldn't populate at that rate," said David. He credits the slats with helping keep his somatic cell count between 110K and 120K.
David is also quick to credit his employee team in running a productive farm. "I could not do this by myself. You need good people and you need to take care of them," he said. He has two herdswomen, one focused on milking, health and breeding, and the other on business management and supervising part-time milking, feeding and maintenance staff.
"I let them make decisions. They have the knowledge and skills. They don't need someone looking over their shoulders all the time," said David.
David's 14 year-old son and 11 year-old daughter may help run the farm some day. Whether or not they also are champion corn growers, they'll no doubt benefit from dad's hard work and management philosophy that attracts skilled people and gets the most from every farm asset.
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