When you get done right before a lightning storm. Your day starts early, and you only have so much daylight to get done. Some of my favorite memories on the farm have been the days when you beat the clock. In your farm business, what has been your favorite memory over the years if you have one, or maybe a couple? In the long run, you have to have that longer range view to say, "Are we meeting the benchmarks for animal health? Are we meeting the benchmarks for production? Are we meeting the benchmarks for all those things DHI has records on?" Trying to take that along with data on yields, and you can say, "Some guy in Iowa hit 350 bushel on corn this year." Well, what's a realistic yield for Pennsylvania? Are you making 120 bushel, or you making 170 bushel? What's realistic for the productivity of the ground that you're running? You can't always benchmark off somebody that's six states away. Your favorite cow won’t always get milk fever. In the long run you have to say, "Are we meeting our goals here as a business?" You're going to lose calves. If you focus on short run, shortcomings, et cetera, it can really start to snowball. I think it comes down to how you look at what you're working for in the long run. I always joke that I've lost my best cow 10 times, and another one's always showed up. I always joke because Penn State had a program called Dairy Challenge, and when something goes wrong on the farm I laugh, and I say, "This is a dairy challenge." The hardest days on the farm are easy to dwell on, but you have to move past them. What was the biggest challenge in operating your farming business? You talked about challenges for yourself. Ag Biz Masters helps people know what they're up against and take a realistic view of knowing what type of business are they looking to run, and how do they achieve those goals moving forward. I think in a career as a commercial farmer, you have to expect things not to go your way, and I think for young people getting into the industry, there are a lot of challenges. I always joke that it's a growing business, but realistically it is a business, and I think there's a lot of joy to be had farming, but it also can lead to a lot of pain, and disappointment. Why do you enjoy farming, and what inspires you to stay in business? We've since added on, and we're now milking about 260 cows. From there we've grown we we're about a 70 cow herd when I was a little fella. That was about the time the farm got electricity in the early twenties. It was purchased because of the lay of the land, and the good fertility of the land here in Slippery Rock.
The farm has been in the family since 1896. I'm a fifth-generation dairyman in Western, Pennsylvania, just North of Pittsburgh, in Slippery Rock. Can you tell us about your operation? Some of the history of it, and how you got started with it?Ī little history: I work on the Hartzell farm.