Location Change for Next Week’s Roundtable Meeting

Walk-Ins Are Welcome

 

Thank you to those of you who joined us for the first three Dairy Roundtable Meetings! The next three are happening next week in Blair, Mercer, and Franklin Counties. Important note: There is an address change for the Mercer County event. It will now be held at the Penn State Extension office at: 463 North Perry Highway, Mercer, PA 16137

Walk-ins are welcome for all three events. If you know now that you plan to join us at one of these meetings, click here to sign up online. If you are unsure, you are still welcome to join us as a walk-in. Hosted by the Center for Dairy Excellence in partnership with the Penn State Cooperative Extension Dairy Team, the in-person events will focus on the steps involved in developing a business plan for dairy operations. You will receive a business planning template and learn how to get started with a plan.

All roundtable meetings are free and will include a meal followed by discussion. View a list of dates and locations below.

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Add the Blair County event to your calendar:
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Add the Mercer County event to your calendar:
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Add the Franklin County event to your calendar:
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Roundtable Dates and Locations

Tuesday, November 16 from 8-10:30 a.m. – Blair County
Bistro at the Village Green (403 Village Way, Martinsburg, PA 16662)

Tuesday, November 16 from 1-3:30 p.m. – Mercer County
*Updated location:
Penn State Extension – Mercer (463 North Perry Highway, Mercer, PA 16137)

Thursday, November 18 from 12-2:30 p.m. – Franklin County
Hoss’s Steak & Sea House (20 Falling Spring Rd, Chambersburg, PA 17202)

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How PA Dairy Producers Have Used Business Planning

Several Pennsylvania dairy producers and their consultants have found business planning helpful during the following situations:

• Identifying clear parameters for investments in new technology. “We definitely found out where our edge is. I would have hated to start this robotic milking project and then realized all of a sudden we need to cut out certain aspects. Now we know how far we can go and how many extra things we can add to this barn.” –Donny Bartch of Merrimart Farms in Perry County, Pa.
• Holding themselves accountable. “Writing out a formal business plan is the only way to hold yourself accountable. It gives you grounding. It’s written. It’s not subject to the history of interpretation. It’s not a conversation you had at 5 a.m. in the barn. A business plan makes it very clear what your plans and goals are. It doesn’t have to be complex. It can be two to three pages long.  It allows you to benchmark yourself in a very honest fashion.”  –Jason Frye, Pleasant Lane Farms, Westmoreland County, Pa.
• Crunching the numbers to determine viability of new projects. “The transformation team helped us to secure a grant, which helped us address some manure run-off concerns on the farm. We also did some number crunching on our old step-up parlor, which was 16 years old at that point. We realized by saving time in employee labor, we could pay the debt service on a newly constructed parlor.” –Andy Bollinger of Meadow Spring Farm in Lancaster County, Pa.

Planning for how to venture into the value-added space. “We put together a plan for what a cheese business plan would look like from a creamery point of view. We analyzed what the physical plant would need to look like, the cost of the items in the physical plant, the types of products we could produce, and what we should expect for labor costs.” –Jason Frye, Pleasant Lane Farms, Westmoreland County, Pa.

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