Continued on Page 2

August/September 2015

Mercer Vu Farms is an excellent model of modern farming in how they care for their animals, the environment, and the technology used to help efficiently meet their goals in husbandry and production. Currently, the farm has two locations.

The home farm is located in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania and an additional farm was added this year in White Post, Virginia. The Mercersburg location milks approximately 1550 -1600 cows per day. They produce approximately 17,000 gallons of milk per day, even with a rotation of 200 dry cows. The home farm also raises all of their replacement animals, approximately 1750 head, and 300 -400 steers are also raised to 400 pounds. The second Mercer Vu White Post farm location milks approximately 800 head.

Mercer Vu Farms has seen steady growth and development since its start in 1949. The current owners’ Grandparents Glenn and Mae Hissong started the farm right after Glenn returned from service in World War II. The original farm only had 7 cows - which were milked by hand. In later years, their son Ron and his wife Judy joined the expanding operation and eventually purchased it in 1980. In 2011, Rick and his wife, Becky, and Rod and his wife, Amy, bought out their parents Ron and Judy, and are now the joint owners of Mercer Vu Farms, Inc. Herd numbers have grown and improvements to feed storage facilities and manure systems have been added since their ownership. Employee numbers have also grown over the years from family members only to 35 full-time and 3 part-time employees.

For the past ten years, Mercer Vu Farms have relied on their Patz Vertical Mixers to produce a variety of balanced rations for their herd. Earlier this year, Mercer Vu purchased a second Patz 3600 Series Triple Screw Vertical Mixer. Likewise, the White Post, VA farm is utilizing a used Patz 950 trailer mixer.

Mercer Vu Farms grows and processes all of their own corn silage, high moisture corn, and alfalfa on 3,000 acres as feed for their livestock. The mix is supplemented with additional ingredients including cottonseed and finely ground chocolate candies. The mixer scale’s accuracy is a necessity as it ensures the employees in charge of feeding follow the nutritionist’s ration formula for optimal protein and fat content in the milk, as well as animal body condition. Rick reports a Rolling Herd Average of 29,350 pounds and a 3.44 butter fat. In an average day, Mercer Vu counts on their Patz mixer

to process 275,000 lbs. (138 tons) of feed for their cattle.

EXPERIENCE WHAT OTHERS ALREADY KNOW…FOR PROVEN PERFORMANCE, COUNT ON !

Excellence in AgricultureContinued from Page 1

SmartClean® Scraper Systems Just Got Smarter!

It is extremely important that the Patz Vertical Mixers perform to Mercer Vu Farms’ feeding expectations. The entire herd is divided into 12 feeding groups, which requires about 9-14 batches per day. In an average day, the mixer processes 275,000 pounds (138 tons) of feed for all the animal groups. It mixes at a rate of 20- 35 minutes per batch (depending on the complexity of the batch recipe and the location of the feed ingredients).

Mercer Vu Farms also utilizes three Patz 8916 Conveyors and one movable plow off unit in the farm’s manure separation systems. The process begins when recycled waste water flushes out of free stall barns. The manure then undergoes a multi -step process to ensure any re usable material is not wasted. First, the sand bedding is separated from the waste, with 90 -95% sand recovered and reused for bedding. The liquids and nutrients are separated out from the solid material and used as a valuable fertilizer for the crops grown on the farm. The solid material is then halved. Half of the dried solid material is reused as bedding for the dry cows and young stock, while the other half is composted and/or land applied.

In all aspects, Mercer Vu Farms chooses to do their best for the environment, their animals, and their surrounding community and neighbors. Their practices have not gone unnoticed, as many agricultural associations and events, such as PDPW (Professional Dairy Producers of WI) and the recent North American Manure Expo, include Mercer Vu Farms as one of their featured farm tours.

Rick says, “We have always been impressed by the Patz organization- from contact with individuals from the company, their field staff, and

independent dealer organizations. They have stood by their machines, and provided the support we need for our 24/7/365 operation.”

Patz is honored to partner with Mercer Vu Farms and wishes the Hissong family continued success.

Aug./Sept. 2015

New from Patz: The SmartSense® MasterMind V3.0 Control Panel for the Patz IntelliChain® and IntelliCable® Alley Scraper Systems!

This new UL/cUL certified control panel is truly smart, featuring:

• Advanced “Patz Remote Notification” emails and/or text messages operator(s) with scraper status and service updates.

• Customizable Auxiliary Relay function to automatically start or stop other machines

• Glove-friendly, 5.7” high resolution, color touch screen HMI

• Patz innovative “Learning System” continually adjusts scraper torque limits based on changes in weather, bedding, and manure

• Advanced troubleshooting tools, including a 4-week fault history, even if power is cycled.

• Torque History and User Settings Warning screen ensure the system is configured to optimal settings.

Contact your Patz Dealer today for details!

Make the Most of Your Livestock Manure and More with SEPCOM™ Separators

Turn your manure into a valuable resource with SEPCOM™ Separators!

Available in Standard Duty or Heavy Duty/Bedding units, these screw press separators are designed to extract liquid from slurry materials. These units effectively reduce the moisture content and alleviate many issues related to the transportation, storage, and odor of manure.

Using a combination of gravity and mechanical compression, the Standard Duty separator is capable of producing solids with a dry matter

content of 25-30%. Equipped with the longest dewatering screen on the market, the Heavy Duty/Bedding Separator yields dry matter contents of up to 35%!

Separated solids can be used for livestock bedding, field application, or marketed as an odorless organic fertilizer. Extracted liquids can be used for fertigation or in flush barn systems.

SEPCOM™ Separators are an ideal choice for a variety of separation applications, including cattle and hog manures, byproducts of the food/nut/wine industries, wastewater treatment, paper pulp, and more.SEPCOM™ is a trademark of WAMGROUP®.

Automated cleaning at the push of a button! The MasterMind® V3.0 Control Panel includes a glove-friendly color

touch screen display.

MasterMind Control Panel

SEPCOM™ Separators are available in Standard Duty (left) and Heavy

Duty/Bedding (right) units.

See the Heavy Duty/Bedding Separator in action

on YouTube!

We run the scrapers continuously to keep the

cows clean as possible – a key factor in keeping SCC low and herd health high.

-WI Dairy Farmer

Rick Hissong, co-owner

Check out new products at these upcoming shows!Canada’s Outdoor Farm ShowSeptember 15-17 • Woodstock, OntarioUpper Machinery Mall – 8th Lane

Big Iron Farm ShowSeptember 15-17 • West Fargo, ND

Farm Science ReviewSeptember 22-24 • London, OH614 Soybean Avenue

Int'l Plowing Match & Rural ExpoSeptember 22-26 • Finch, Ontario

World Dairy ExpoSeptember 29-October 3 • Madison, WITrade Center 850-880

Ozark Fall FarmfestOctober 2-4 • Springfield, MOBooth Location: #36

EXPERIENCE WHAT OTHERS ALREADY KNOW…FOR PROVEN PERFORMANCE, COUNT ON !

Starlene Moore of Starbar Farm & Ranch, McNeal, AZ.

Starbar: Making Their Unique Mark on the Organic Beef Market

Starlene Moore, the owner of Starbar Farm & Ranch, and her business partner Barbara

Sherry, are using their new, Patz 1000 Series 420 Vertical Mixer to make their mark in the organic, all-natural beef and pork market. Starlene uses the mixer daily to make a 1,400 pound batch of feed consisting of two thirds alfalfa, sweet sorghum, and Johnson grass, and one third home grown hydroponic fodder. When asked about the performance of the mixer, Starlene replied, “With the Patz mixer you can take two quality feeds and bring them together into one complete and palatable feed. It has increased our per day weight gain from 1.6 to 2.6 pounds per day. This is the best that the mother cows have looked through the winter. The mother cows have more flesh on them and more milk.” She also notes, “The mixer has also reduced hay waste. We have reduced it to almost zero.” The waste was due to the cattle pulling the feed out of the feeder and falling onto the ground. Now, the cattle are eating better as the mix is easier for the cattle to chew and digest. The tenderness of their beef is very important to Starlene and Barbara. They currently send samples of their beef to the University of Arizona, a USDA processing facility, where the tenderness of the beef is rated according to the Warner-Bratzler test. Starbar steaks, which are dry aged in an artisan, twenty-one day process, consistently receive “extremely tender” scores of five or six. They have, as proven by the test, shown that their steaks are more tender when their cattle are fed the mix of the hydroponic fodder and grasses made with the Patz 1000 Series 420 Vertical Mixer, versus using a less complex feed. Starbar plans to expand their organic, all-natural, beef business. Customers can currently purchase their beef at select Arizona farmers markets or on-line. With the addition of their Patz mixer, Starlene hopes to increase their steer growth and production by two thirds. This will allow them to expand their market, while continuing to provide their premier beef to all of their customers.

Aug./Sept. 2015

Strength, Size, Versatility: A Patz for Every PriorityExpanded Vertical Mixer Selection Meets the

Needs of All Operations!600 Series Stationary Vertical MixerSimple, strong design - engineered with you in mind! Designed for versatility and reliability, the Patz 600 Series Stationary Vertical Mixer is built to excel in a variety of applications. Great for mixing livestock feed rations, preparing compost materials, chopping straw bedding, and reducing the volume of bulky materials.

This compact, low-profile unit offers 185 cubic feet (5.2 cubic meters) of mixing capacity. It includes a heavy-duty mixer tub, strong steel cone-top screw, and an ASABE®-compliant top safety guard as standard equipment. An array of optional features, including the choice of drive packages, multiple knife options, scale systems, and side extensions to increase mixing capacity, are available.

800 Series II Stationary Vertical MixerBuilt strong to last long! This new addition to the Patz Vertical Mixer line provides durable and dependable operation.Available in low profile, 270 cubic foot (7.6 cubic meters) or 350 cubic foot (9.9 cubic meters) capacities, the 800 Series II Vertical Mixer has a strong mixer tub, comprised of heavy duty ¼-inch walls and a ½-inch floor plate, to fortify the unit and add to its life expectancy. The mixer design also includes a six-piece, ASABE®-compliant top safety guard, allowing safer operation of the unit by enclosing the mixer tub.

Working in conjunction with the mixer tub’s adjustable flow restrictors, the steel cone-top screw includes heavy fliting, ensuring a long life of thorough, consistent mixing and exceptional processing of longer materials. A state-of-the-art, 3-point weigh system ensures ration accuracy, regardless of ingredients used.

1800N Series Trailer Vertical MixerOur narrowest, most versatile mixer series yet! Each of these single, twin, or triple screw trailer units measure just 87 inches (2.2 meters) wide, making them ideal for barns or facilities with narrow doors and tight feed alleys, as well as safer road travel!

Available with mixing capacities of 265 – 910 cubic feet (7.5 – 25.8 cubic meters), the 1800N Series mixers rely on our high performance dual kicker screws and Patz Patented baffles to process feed ingredients, compost materials, and bales. A variety of mixer options allow customization, while still delivering the Proven Performance and versatility expected of the Patz brand.

SEEING IS BELIEVING! Contact your local Patz Mixer Dealer today for a demo!

All units just 87 inches (2.2 meters) wide!

Featured Recipe:

!

Ingredients2 Tbsp. olive oil2 medium red potatoes (about 8 oz.), cut into ¼-in. cubes.1 medium onion, chopped2 small zucchini, shredded (about 3 cups)4 frozen, cooked breakfast sausage links, thawed and cut into ½-in. slices.½ cup chopped roasted sweet red peppers6 cherry tomatoes, quartered¼ tsp. salt¹⁄8 tsp. pepper½ cup shredded chedder cheese4 eggs

Directions1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add potatoes and onion; cook and stir 4-6 minutes or

until potatoes are crisp-tender. Stir in zucchini and sausage; cook 4-6 minutes longer until vegetables are tender.

2. Gently stir in red peppers, tomatoes, salt and pepper; sprinkle with cheese. With back of spoon, make four wells in potato mixture; break an egg into each well. Reduce heat to medium. Cook, covered, 4-6 minutes or until egg whites are completely set and yolks begin to thicken but are not hard.

PA-9980 August/September 2015 ©2015 Patz CorporationPatz Corporation is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Excellence in Agriculture: Mercer Vu Farms

SmartClean® Scraper Systems Just Got Smarter

Make the Most of Your Livestock Manure and More with SEPCOM™ Separators

Strength, Size, Versatility: A Mixer for Every Priority

Check out new products at these upcoming shows!

Starbar: Making Their Unique Mark on the Organic Beef Market

Since 1948 www.patzcorp.com

FREE Recipe

From the 2014 Taste of Home recipe collection.

If you have a family favorite holiday recipe you’d like to share for our November LINK, please send it to: Patz Corporation LINK Editor POB 7, Pound, WI 54161-0007

Thank you.

ZUCCHINI EGG SKILLET

“We have a good, consistent ration...”

“Our Patz (mixer) can grind up the hay for our heifer ration and is more flexible than our old reel mixer. We have a good, consistent ration and save one load per day now.”

Source: Dairy Star 1/31/15

Mikel, Cassandra, Noah, Anna, and Eric RichardsGranite-Top Dairy, Fairbank, IA

Aug./Sept. 2015