Hot list of COWS 4 SALE!
COW Sire Lact Born Fresh DRY Phone 147 Grade H 21H1791 3 11/3/94 3/19/99 2/3/00 320-834-2570Leon Schultz of Douglas County wants to sell this cow before calving in May.
Robert Moerke of Grant County is also selling his herd of 52 grade Holsteins, all AI breeding. For information, contact him at 218-747-2882.
Cows For Sale is a service of Minnesota DHIA. For more information, talk to your Field Rep on sample day, see the article in the Minnesota DHIA Annual Summary, or call us at 800-827-3442.
DHIA service is as good as the person who shows up on your farm each sample day. Each year Minnesota DHIA recognizes 6 of the very best Field Reps. They represent the top 5% of the DHIA field staff.
Dave Susag is a very busy Field Rep. He is currently testing 67 herds with 6,518 cows. His herds have their results processed in 2.02 days on average.
Dave has been working in Wabasha county for 11 years now. During this time, he has been willing to take on extra herds to "help out" and just recently added a bunch more to this unit. Dave has been instrumental in getting software on many farms. He currently has 7 DC305 users and 6 Scout users. He works very closely with these herds to make sure they receive the support they need.
Dave actively promotes new options, such as MUN. At present, 33% of his cows are being tested for MUN. He has also been caught working closely with consultants that come to the farms, making sure they have all necessary information. Many times Dave has called from the farm asking for help to make a new report or to make sure the herd got processed.
He is willing to go that extra mile. Thanks for your outstanding service, Dave.
Other Outstanding Field Reps recognized this year are Mary Wander, Ellis Holl, Les Berg, John Kelzer, and Helen Smith.
Explanation of terms on the New Herd Summary have been included with most reports If you would like a copy, please call us at the number above. The Old Herd Summary is still an option, ask your Field Rep for details.
Minnesota DHIA data is now being included in the National Sire Fertility Evaluation. According to Project Director Dr. John Clay, there are significant differences in fertility from Sire to Sire.
As with most research done in the U.S., DHIA is the source of the data for this study. This really means YOU are the source. The accuracy and usefullness of this information depends on you reporting all breedings to your DHIA Field Rep or in your software. Of even more importance to you is the data on your own herd that is available for analysis and troubleshooting if you report all breedings. Thanks for your cooperation.
Look for Fertility results in your dairy magazines and in information from your AI organization.
Information on Cows Entering and Leaving the Herd can be found on the Consultant Summary page of the New Herd Summary. This table provides a summary of animals that have entered and left the herd during the past year by lactation group. It contains two rates which are closely related. These are the % Cull Rate and the Annual Turnover Rate.
% Cull Rate - When an animal begins lactation she has a chance to either survive or be culled. The Cull Rate is a measure of the percent of animals that do not survive. The rate is estimated for this report by dividing the number of animals that left the herd by the current number of animals plus the number of animals that left the herd. For example:
Annual Turnover Rate - This is the traditional measure used in DHI reports (labeled as % Cows Leaving Herd or Culling Rate). A dairy herd has a very dynamic population. The Annual Turnover Rate indicates how fast cows are moving through the herd. It is estimated for this report by dividing the number of animals that left the herd during the past year by the average number of cows in the herd for the past year. For example:
State Benchmarks - The state average Cull Rate is 25% and the average Turnover Rate is 38%.
There are currently 2 job openings at Agritech Analytics, Visalia CA:
There are also 2 jobs opening soon at Minnesota DHIA in Buffalo:
For more information on any of the above listings, contact Minnesota DHIA at 1-800-827-3442. All salaries are based on experience and performance.
Okay, you've heard of Murphy's famous Law: Everything that can go wrong will go wrong. There are many other related Laws, as well. Here are some:
After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.
--Lorenz's Law of Mechanical Repair
Identical parts aren't.
--Beach's Law
Any tool, when dropped, will roll into the least accessible corner.
--Anthony's Law of the Workshop
Nothing is as inevitable as a mistake whose time has come.
--Tussman's Law
Machines should work. People should think.
--IBM's Pollyanna Principle
It is a mistake to allow any mechanical object to realize that you are in a hurry.
--Ralph's Observation
The first rule of intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts.
--Ehrlich's Law
Did you know that the average RHA milk production for dairy producers using Dairy Comp or Scout is substantially higher than the average for producers who are not currently using these dairy herd management programs? Minnesota DHIA records indicate that the software users average 2,235 pounds more milk per cow each year than the non-software users. Using current milk prices, this translates into an additional income of $265 per cow per year.
If you would like more information on Dairy Comp 305 or Scout, contact Minnesota DHIA at 1-800-827-3442.
Australian milk production is on the rise. In 1998/99, the latest year for which statistics are available, total output jumped 7.3% to 23.1 billion pounds. There were 2.1 million cows in 7,175 herds, with an average herd size of 144 cows. Nearly half of these herds participated in the Australian Dairy Herd Improvement Scheme's (ADHIS) herd recording program.
The national per cow average for herds on test was 12,490 pounds milk, 494 pounds butterfat and 399 pounds protein.
Dairy production practices differ markedly from those in the U.S. Grazing is the standard, helping keep production costs well below the average cost here.
The testing year for recognition and awards will now end on November 30th rather than December 31st. This change was made to accommodate associations now holding annual meetings in early January and to provide the Minnesota DHIA Annual Summary a full month earlier.