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Meeting Notes APRIL 15, 2015
Our Greeter this morning was Bob Nagle and he did an excellent job and Dale Utt helped a bit. President-Elect Herb rang the bell at 7:30 a.m. Dale Heffner gave a very nice invocation.
GUESTS: Dave Dries of the Spring Township Centennial RC; Steve LaPierre and Dale Dries from the Emmaus RC; Carl Reimer guest of Al Lewis. And Shirley Randall was with us.
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Sally Frank was formally inducted into AWRC at the April 9th Thursday evening meeting at the Holiday Inn. Chuck Ehninger did the ceremony. The next evening meeting will be on Thursday April 23rd.
Engineers Without Borders (EWB) on Friday April 10th held their silent auction at the DaVinci Science Center. Herb on behalf of EWB thanked all of the AW Rotarians who attended. They netted over $20,000.
Herb said we will be forming a committee to take charge of all evening meetings. If any member would like to be part of that, please tell Barb or Herb.
Snack packing at Parkland starts at 2:45 p.m. today. Volunteers are needed.
Tempting Tastes is set for May 3rd; Mike Henry reports that we have 120 admissions so far, and need at least 80 more.
Jerry Frank the other day sent us all an e-mail promo with a link that we can use to send to others. LCCC included an announcement in their last Newsletter.
Sue said that we really can use a couple more restaurants. Please work with Gwenn Carr with your ideas.
Halyna sent around a sheet for auction items. We have about 80 so far, and need 30+ more.
Dan reminds us that April 18th is Ontelaunee Park mulching day. Meet Dan Crane there at 8:30 a.m. for coffee and donuts. Bring rakes and shovels.
The AWRC’s next board meeting is 7:15 a.m. at Luther Crest on Tuesday April 21st.
Our April Dining Out will be on Sunday 4-26 at 6:00 P.M. joining with Emmaus Rotarians to put on a potluck dinner for the Friendship Exchange visitors from Wales. Location is Legacy Oaks in Macungie – Dale Utt lives there. AW Rotarians are asked to bring a bottle of wine or a dish to pass.
Directions to Legacy Oaks Club Room in Macungie --
Turn left coming South on Rt. 100 at the McDonalds on Donegal Drive; the Club House is right after the intersection with Village Lane just a block or so off Rt. 100).
DO NOT COME TO LUTHER CREST for our meeting next Wednesday. April 22nd’s meeting will be at the Northwestern Lehigh Middle School with Dr. Mary Ann Wright speaking, and we will award the Student of the Month for April. Roberto Reyes and the Interact club members will be with us.
Here’s where to go: Northwestern Lehigh Middle School, 6636 Northwest Road, New Tripoli, PA 18066. The fee is $10. Go to the rear parking lot and enter thru the rear door.
May 16th is the District Training Assembly in Blue Bell at MONTCO CC starting at 8:00 a.m. Club officers and members are encouraged to attend. The fee is $30 which covers lunch. At 2:00 PM there will be an RI Foundation Grant Model training session for certification. Earlier Barb and Herb will be presenting AW projects.
Friday May 1st is the Interact Club’s cupcake cook-off.
Saturday May 2nd is the Ziegels Church Yard Sale.
Saturday May 2nd is the Parkland Resource Fair at Asbury Church.
Halyna Stegura is the scheduled Greeter for April 22nd at NWL Middle School.
LUCK of the DRAW:
The door prize donated by Bob Nagle was won by Geoff Legg. The $30 pot of the 50:50 was not won by Joe Goll who selected a white marble.
FINES:
Substitute S-a-A Geoff Legg fined Dale Dries for coming late. He then asked who died 150 years ago today – Abraham Lincoln – and fined all who did not know – not very many. And he fined Al Lewis for picking up an extra raffle ticket.
HAPPY DOLLARS:
Bill Weber reminds us all of the benefits that we receive from the Rotary Foundation and urges us to continue our individual support. He also announced that it appears that both of our 2915-16 District Grant applications will be approved.
Vernon was happy about the special recognition that he has received on Facebook now that he has a new Great Grandson.
Bill Palmer’s granddaughter Shaina placed first in both the 1600 and the 3200 meter race of three High Schools last weekend.
Steve LaPierre is happy that his Wisconsin “Badgers” put up such a good battle against Duke.
Dan is happy that we have a “Mulching” team for Saturday.
Dottie Bloom is happy that as a non-morning person she still was at the meeting before the Henrys.
George Ikeda was most happy to report that three of his grandchildren played on winning Lacrosse teams last weekend.
Herb is happy that Yesterday the Sierra Leone Centennial School officially reopened.
PROGRAM:
Dr, Al Lewis introduced his friend Dr. Charlie Gardner, DVM to speak about dairy farming and automation. Charlie was raised in southern New Jersey and got his degree in Veterinary Medicine from Cornell University in 1973. In 1989 he started Dairy Management Consultants, specializing in dairy herd management. He became a board certified specialist in 1993 and then added an MBA from Moravian College in 1999. Dr. Gardner retired last year and now works as an independent consultant.
Dr. Gardner led us thru the changes in how dairy herds are milked every day using a series of videos. He began with describing the tied barn where cows are tied and milked in place with workers prepping the teats for germs and testing the milk for quality, before the vacuum system fills the buckets. The latter are added to a piping system. A sensor breaks the attachment. This method still is common in southeastern PA.
Note that if cows are laying down, that is a good sign that they are comfortable. And typically the herd is sized to allow a family unit to do the work, which is about 60 to 80 cows.
The second system has the cows brought into a “parlor” to be milked. One arrangement has twenty stations on each side. The height of the floor is adjustable to match the reaches of the workers who take care of one side as cows are brought into the other. Then they move across the aisle. Charlie noted that 95% of the workers in large farms are Hispanic, since others do not want that kind of work. Also, they are well paid. The average work load is to milk 120 cows three times every day.
The third system has come into its own as computing power has grown since the early 1990s. It uses a fully robotic system requiring no human involvement except for maintenance and follow-ups for performance variations of quantities and quality of milk obtained. The teats are cleaned, disinfected and milk is sampled robotically with much data accrued for analysis.
Being fully automated allows the farmer to operate 24/7 and handle 60 or so cows with one station and no workers. Cows are offered treats for getting into line to be milked. They can enter as many times as they wish provided they keep giving milk; some go in 5 times a day.
There are about 600 to 700 farms in the U.S. fully automated. And maybe 20 or so are in PA. Note that the average yield of milk from a cow is 85 to 90 lbs. each day.
CLOSING:
Herb hit the right note to start us singing a good rendition of “God Bless America.” This was followed by the recitation of the Pledge to the Flag of the United States and then the saying “One profits most who serves the best.”
ocus on membership for our Club. 
