Document B8ye7wyL707E9BdnJQVd4b9vj

Cjmplete Dairy Feeds, Residues in . i zed Top Subjects at Florida Event FT. LAUDERDALE, FLA. - As labor becomes more expensive and barter to find, dairymen today are tak ing a hard look at automation and complete rations containing roughages fed to cattle in individually developed automatic systems. Florida is leading the way in this field of producing an all-complete ration'with roughage, according to fig ures revealed at the Florida Feed Assn, convention here. The data showed that many Florida dairies don't harvest any feed at all. This is in direct contrast to dairy farms throughout the country, where the storing and har vesting of forages is a major part of the dairy enterprise. , Basically, Florida is a state that doesn't produce enough forage materi al for dairy farms. But. in reco?; years, the price of farm labor has sky rocketed, and dairy farms in the state are turning to automation wherever possible. "There is a continuing trend to ward automation. The use of lowmoisture forage and high-moisture grains is important to the dairyman and today less forage is being harvest ed due to poor weather, high labor costs and the high cost of storage," said C. J. Wilcox, of the department of dairy science. University of Florida. All-Complete Rattens In the Okeechobee area, where there are large dairy herds, feed mills tn producing the all-complete rations, delivering them on regular schedules to dairies that have, for the moat part, discontinued feeding forage materials that have to be handled by labor on the (arms. The all-complete ration la attract ing attention not only from herd own ers In the slate, but dairymen from many other states have visited opera tions in the Okeechobee area and are "amased at what is taking place," according to Wilcox. It's all part of the trend among dairymen to automate wherever possi ble and reduce production costs. Not - only is automation taking place in the Florida all-complete rations, but it is also developing in concentrate-han dling, with the utilisation of bulk tech niques that have become commonplace in the poultry industry. Automation is nlnw HtM Hnvn !*# Ilw ft-nm milkina ly, the use of artificial insemination Increases. Today, be said, superior semen is available, genetically speak ing, and Florida continues to lead the nation in A.I. In IMS, only 5% of the cattle were artifically inseminated. Today the national average is 51% and Florida shows 84%. Turning again to feed, he offered data from South Carolina showing that the feeding of concentrates has in creased by more than 30% since IMS and has resulted in more income and less feed cost per 100 lb. of milk pro duced. Genetically speaking, the trend in the U.S. appears to be toward Holsteins, he said. After World War II. 30% of the cows were Holsteins. Based on semen sales today, he said, 80% of the herds appear to be Hotstoina: - CHEMICAL RESIDUES IN FEED -- Feed manufacturers ware cautioned at the Florida conventioa to look tor a different type of residue coning, not from pesticides, but from an industrial chemical known as PC8. PCB is poly chlorinated biphenyls. At least one manufacturer has been making it for about 40 years, and it has been used in a variety of ways -- as a waterproofing agent, a lubricant, sealant, adhesive, in paints, as well as a number of other ways. Paul Crist of the feed control de partment of the Florida Department of Agriculture, said this chemical has shown up in feeds in a number of cases and is creating some new and unex pected problems in feed manufactur ing. "Some of you have contacted us about it. It really isn't a pesticide as such, it is really an Industrial chemical MCNS 069075