Vernon and Luanne Horst stand on the porch of their farm house, which was built in the early 1800s. They find pleasure in restoring the house. The stone path leading up to the porch is original barn stone.
Vernon and Luanne Horst stand beside the plastic "Ag Bags" that hold 250 tons each of fermented corn silage. The corn is planted in the spring, harvested in the fall, and stored in these bags to feed the Horst's 75 milk cows during the winter and spring.
These storage bins hold ground shelled corn and protein supplements, which are added to the corn silage from the Ag Bags to feed the cows a "total mixed ration." Each bin holds nine tons of grain or supplements.
Vernon Horst stands on the ladder of the 1,000 gallon milk tank, checking the temperature of the milk. The milk is pumped from the cows in the milking parlor to the tank and cooled immediately to less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Land O'Lakes, a cooperative, picks up the milk in a tanker truck every day and delivers it to a milk processor.
Vernon Horst milks 75 Holstein cows on his dairy farm. The cows produce an average of 80 pounds of milk per day, or about 10 gallons. The cows are put out to pasture every day during the spring, summer and fall to graze on orchard grass. During the winter, the cows are housed in a freestall barn.
Horsts enjoy family life, community service
Name: Vernon Horst
Family: Wife Luanne, daughters Carmen, Beckee and Lachelle
Location: Franklin County, Pa.
Dairy Operation:
Vernon Horst's parents purchased their dairy farm in Franklin County, Pa., in 1968. After his marriage in 1976, Horst and his new wife, Luanne, took over the dairy operation.
Because the work crew is small in number at the Horst Farm, they have adopted many management practices - some even considered slightly unconventional - to streamline their process and to allow more time for family and community activities.
The Horsts milk 75 Holstein cows twice a day, at 11 a.m. and 11 p.m., in a milking parlor that was built in 2000. In general, most farmers milk in the early morning and early evening, but this schedule suits Horst and his brother, who helps with the milking. "It's made a difference in the workload, and then I have more time to serve the community," Horst said.
Since 1998, all heifer calves are custom-raised by another local farmer. The heifers are transferred to the other farm when they are 2 days old. They are returned to the Horst farm when they are 23 months old, one month from having their first calf. Without having to worry about raising the calves, Horst can devote more attention to the milking herd.
The Horsts also hire a local operator for field work, which includes planting the crops in the spring and harvesting them in the fall. Because cropping equipment is expensive to purchase and maintain, this is a more cost-effective way for the Horsts to grow corn, alfalfa and soybeans on their 145 acres. They also use pasture for grazing the cows.
Global View:
Vernon and Luanne Horst's oldest daughter, Carmen, is working on a three-year project in El Salvador teaching farmers sustainable agriculture practices. After visiting their daughter in El Salvador, the Horsts had a new appreciation for the availability and safety of American food. They had no access to fresh milk, something most Americans take for granted, and they were impressed by how time-consuming it is to prepare all food for human consumption.
"We got to see how safe our food and water supply is here," Horst said. "We realized how important it is for us as a country to keep our agricultural infrastructure so we can continue to provide safe food to the consumer."
Commitment to the industry:
Even before his trip to El Salvador, Horst recognized the importance of farmers working together to provide our nation's food supply. He is a firm believer in the need for agricultural cooperatives. "Co-ops are producer-owned, and we have the benefit of the services needed to produce milk and crops," Horst explained. "The farmers also get back any profits at the end of the year."
Horst dedicates his time to several cooperatives, including serving as a delegate for Land O'Lakes, the dairy co-op that buys his milk. He realizes that it takes farmers to make changes, so he and Luanne got involved with the Land O'Lakes Future Leaders program, which is directed at young co-op members. "It gave us our first experience with meeting other people outside of our town and to realize we're all going through the same things," Luanne Horst said.
Horst has been a director for 13 years and president for the past three years of the Cumberland Valley Cooperative, an agronomy and feed cooperative. He also serves as treasurer for the Mid-Atlantic Council of Cooperatives, which offers programs to educate young people on how co-ops benefit farmers. "In the future, there are going to be fewer and fewer farmers, so we need to work together," Horst said.
Joining Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association:
Through his involvement with Land O'Lakes, Horst was recently appointed to the Mid-Atlantic Dairy Association's board of directors. He looks forward to serving the organization.
"As a producer and a consumer, I realize dairy promotion is important," he said. "We're very fortunate in the dairy industry to have quality people with the foresight to see change and to use advertising to get more bang for our buck with programs and partnerships."