College and Tech School Scholarships are available for Minnesota DHIA members, DHIA employees, and their children. Call us at 763-682-1091 for details or an application, or logon to the National DHIA web site www.dhia.org (under "Reference Documents"). Deadline for completed applications is 9/29/2000.
For the second time this year, Minnesota DHIA set a new national record for fast turn around time. Our average time from sampling to processing dropped to 1.98 days in August, even lower than June's 2.0 day record! Thanks again to the 120 Field Reps across Minnesota, to our milk labs at Sauk Centre and Zumbrota, and to our partners at Agri Tech Analytics and Valley Ag Software for making this milestone possible. Stay tuned for even more speed in the coming months!
Beginning with the August 2000 sire summaries, the USDA will release a new set of merit indexes. These will be some of the most comprehensive ever used. They will include many more traits than previous indexes, including yield traits, health traits and type traits. Profitability will be expressed on a lifefime basis rather than a per-lactation basis.
There will be three main production indexes to fit three different milk markets. Net Merit is based on standard milk component pricing. Fluid Merit is designed for markets where most milk enters the fluid channel. Cheese Merit is for markets where cheese is the primary product produced.
You can find the Net Merit $ Index on your New Herd Summary, Genetic Evaluation, Youngstock Genetic and Youngstock by Age Reports. The Net Merit Index gives value to pounds of milk, fat and protein. It also includes productive life, somatic cell scores, a size composite, an udder composite, and a feet and legs composite.
For more information, you can check out the July 2000 issue of Hoards Dairyman or visit the USDA's website at http://aipl.arsusda.gov/.
We are currently working with the University of Minnesota to create a Bulk Tank Culturing service for all Minnesota DHIA members. Our plan is to offer this service through our field reps just as we offer milk testing. Some of our reps have already started training. If you are interested in culturing your herd, please call us at 1-800-827-3442.
For a quick low-down on the reproductive performance of your herd, turn to the Consultant side of the New Herd Summary. On the righthand side you will find a Reproduction Summary table listing several statistics regarding breeding and pregnancy. This month, we will look at three of these: days to first service, heat detection index and waiting period.
Days to First Service is the average number of days since calving until the first breeding of a cow in milk. This number is based on actual breedings.
Heat Detection Index is an estimate of the percent of heats observed based on breeding and/or recorded heat intervals. This will be more accurate if you report observed heats as well as all breedings on your barn notes or in your software.
Waiting Period is an estimate of how long the producer chooses to wait before breeding a cow back after calving. Since not all cows will come back into heat at the same time or right at the producer's chosen waiting period, and not all heats will be detected, this statistic is heavily influenced by the Average Days to First Service and the Heat Detection Index.
Higher producing herds generally have fewer days to first service, higher heat detection and shorter waiting periods than lower producing herds. In May, the averages for Holstein herds with similar production levels were:
Yearly RHA 18-18,999 22-22,999 25,000+ Avg Days to 1st Service 115 100 98 Heat Detection Index 42 44 47 Waiting Period (Days) 70 56 58
If you are a dairy producer looking for an easy-to-use road-map to useful information on the web, you may want to check out the MinnLink website. Midwest weather forecasts, producer tips, mapping resources and helpful internet links are just a few of the things dairy producers can find in one convenient location. MinnLink is sponsored by the Minnesota Dairy Leaders Roundtable, Midwest Dairy Association and the Central Minnesota Dairy Advisory Program. It is located at www.minnlink.org.
EARTAGS AVAILABLE THROUGH MINNESOTA DHIA -- We offer the full line of Fearing Eartags including the "Button" tag that has a 98% retention rate. Our field reps will even tag the calves for you if you like. For more information, please contact your field rep.
Mary Wander was honored earlier this year as one of six Outstanding Field Reps. She has been testing cows for more than 22 years, and is currently responsible for testing 40 herds with approximately 5,100 cows in Stearns County. For the last year, Mary's average test interval was 33.5 days and her average turn- around time was 1.7 days, well below the state average.
Mary readily adopts and promotes new services, especially when she sees the positive impact they will have on herdowners. One example is providing an on-farm version of DairyComp 305 and Scout. She now has 6 on-farm software users, including 4 DairyComp's and 2 Scout's.
Mary has never been one to sit back and let someone else carry the load. When something needs to be done, she digs right in. Mary always has the good of the herdowner in mind. If a herdowner has a question, she makes sure she gets an answer. If a she or the herdowner didn't receive herd data when they should have, she calls the office and gets it taken care of.
We don't know how she does it all, but we hope she's with Minnesota DHIA for another 22 years providing the same outstanding service. Thank you, Mary!
On September 5, Gabe Gieske joined the Minnesota DHIA team as the new Director of Herd Advancement Services. His main responsibility is to help customers and other ag professionals better understand and use DHIA information. He will also provide follow up support for software users and new herds, develop user groups and set up educational meetings and kitchen clinics.
Gabe is a graduate of the University of Minnesota, Morris. After obtaining his degree in human relations, he worked for at a juvenile boys correction facility north of Grand Rapids. He grew up on a farm, and being a farmer at heart, it wasn't long before the call of dairying drew him back to his homeland in Sauk Centre.
In 1980, Gabe took over his parents' farm. For the last 20 years he and his family have enjoyed the rewards and challenges of milking 40 to 45 cows in a tie stall barn. His final herd averages were 30,724 Milk, 1112 Fat and 960 Protein. During his years as a dairy farmer he was a member of several local boards of directors, including Todd County DHIA board.
The strong young farmer was bragging at the coffee shop that he could outdo anyone in a feat of strength. He made a special case of making fun of one of the older farmers in the county. After several minutes, the older man had had enough. "Why don't you put your money where your mouth is," he said. "I will bet $500 I can haul something in a wheelbarrow across the parking lot that you won't be able to wheel back." The braggart accepted the challenge saying, "Let's see what you got." The old man reached out and grabbed a nearby wheelbarrow by the handles. Then, nodding to the young man, he said, "All right. Get in."
If the low price of milk has you down, please check out this offer. From now til Oct. 31, we will install SCOUT on your farm for the price of 100 lbs of milk!
In other words, for just pennies on the dollar you can get one of the premiere dairy management software programs at your fingertips. SCOUT will provide you with fast, accurate, cost effective information on individual cows and your entire herd. With more than 30 easy-to-use graphs and reports available, you can quickly see where you may need to make some changes and where you are aleady making improvements. It is a great management tool.
Both SCOUT and Dairy Comp 305 are sold and supported by your Minnesota DHIA staff. For more information, ask your field rep or call 1-800-827-3442 today!
The average Minnesota DHIA using Scout or Dairy Comp 305 software produces more than 2000 pounds more milk per cow per year than DHIA herds without the software.
Richline Dairy is selling 20 quality registered Holstein bulls. Of various ages ranging from youngstock to older breeding stock. For more information, please call Bradley or Richard at 320-382-6288.
The Bisek's of Scott County are selling their herd of Holstein cattle, including 33 milking cows and youngstock. For more info, call them at 612-758-4019.
Courtney Carlson of Clay County is selling his herd of 50 grade Holsteins. Please call Courtney or Charles at 218-483-4145 for more information.
Cows For Sale is a service of Minnesota DHIA. For a fraction of the price of newspaper advertising, you can list your dairy animals for 60 days. Members can advertise for just $2.50 per animal with a maximum of $50 per herd. For more information, talk to your Field Rep on sample day or call us at 800-827-3442.