Minnesota DHIA News
A PUBLICATION OF MINNESOTA DHIA	Volume 9, Issue  9	September 2009

2010 Scholarship Application now Available
The 2010 National DHIA Scholarship Application is now available online at www.dhia.org.
Applications must be submitted via email to jdsattler@dhia.org by October 15, 2009. Eligibility is
defined as a family member or employee of a herd on DHI test, or a family member of a DHIA
employee, or employee of a DHI affiliate. The DHI affiliate for the herd or affiliate employee must be
a member of National DHIA (we are). All scholarships are $500. Previous National DHIA or
Minnesota DHIA scholarship recipients are not eligible. By applying for the National DHIA
scholarship you are automatically applying for the Minnesota DHIA scholarship. If you have
questions, call Robyn at 1.800.827.3442, ext 19.

Who are you culling?
You don't want to have to hang on to every cow to give you milk. When feed prices are high
or when milk price is low, you need to milk a cow only while she generates income. At what
point does she cost you money? We need to consider a few factors: feed cost/head/day,
milk per cwt, and milk production. You may also need to consider cost of breeding or BST if
used. If she produces more than she expenses, you should obviously keep her until the
expenses overcome the production. If you have steady replacement heifers waiting to come
in, you are better off to cull a cow that you know you aren't going to keep for an additional
lactation. However, market values on animals that are thin and "shelly" are much lower than
animals that have some condition. If you can sell cull cows because they aren't bred at 336
days you could very easily get $500 with an average body condition score of 3.75.
However, you will only get $100 for a cow that is somewhat lame while squeezed every last
drop out of her by 150 days. With an average cull rate of 25% on a 100 cow herd, you
could make any extra $10,000 by culling those 25 animals by choice for $400 more instead
of by necessity.
 
But how do we choose?? First and foremost, to cull cows and maintain herd size and
structure, we need to make sure we have the heifers pregnant and ready to come into the
lactating herd. Heifers do not require a lot of work to get pregnant. If you watch for heat
and make sure no one falls through the cracks, you can very easily fill the gap of your
lactating herd with home grown heifers. Well grown and managed heifers can obtain a 30%
preg rate and calving in at 23 months without complications. 

Will Rogers Quotes
1. Never slap a man who's chewing tobacco. 
2. Never kick a cow chip on a hot day.
3. Always drink upstream from the herd.
4. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. 
5. There are three kinds of men: The ones that learn by reading, the few who learn by observation, 

     and the rest who have to pee on the electric fence.

Thank you for staying in dairying and for allowing Minnesota DHIA to be
a part of your dairy.

Johne’s Disease: Where should you focus your management?
 
Dr Sandra Godden in additional to Scott Wells at the University of Minnesota have developed
a few research trials on figuring out which part of the management within the calving period
is most effective in lowering incidence of Johne's Disease. Please note these results are
preliminary.
 
Pooled Colostrum vs Dam to Calf Colostrum
Calves fed pooled colostrum are 1.24 times more likely to be Johne's positive as compared
to dam to calf colostrum feeding. Calves left to suckle are 2.01 times more likely to become
Johne's positive. Raw bulk tank milk, waste milk, and high SCC milk are NOT likely to
transfer Johne's disease. Bottom line is to collect colostrom from a clean udder and given
directly to its offspring.
 
Colostrum Replacer vs Maternal Colostrum 
Colostrum Replacer prevents transmission of a variety of pathogens not just Johne's disease.
No significant difference in milk yield or longevity was found in the cows once lactating from
using Colostrum Replacer in Johne's positive herds. However, of the calves on colostrum
replacer, 8% were Johne's positive and 12% Johne's positive for maternal colostrum.
 
Pasturized Colostrum vs Fresh/Refridgerated Colostrum
Pasteurized colostrum from Johne's positive cows needed to be heated at 60°C for 60
minutes. In 7 of 8 batches of colostrum, the Johne's pathogen was removed by 60 minutes.
Pasteurizing decreases bacteria level and also increases absorption of IgG. This trial is still in
progress and intends on tracking the animals as they enter the lactating herd and test them
for Johne's at that time. 
 
Pasteurized Waste Milk vs Milk Replacer
Pasteurized waste milk was fed from 2 Johne's positive herds with at least 10% positive rate
compared to a typical 20:20 Milk Replacer. Calves on waste milk had higher average daily
gain, lower percent treated and lower death rate. Total economic value put on was +$34
per calf feeding waste milk. As adults these animals fed pasteurized milk had increased
production and decreased death rate. Johne's positive rate was 28% on Milk Replacer and
22% on pasteurized Waste Milk once in the lactating herd.
 
Off site vs Onsite heifer raising
Off Site Housing of young stock seemed to be the recommendation for Johne's positive
herds. With all the contamination of numerous employees, boots, and waste water handling
equipment, you pose a high risk of spreading Johne's pathogen to all animals. Most research
has been done in California where the majority of calves are raised off site. An additional
benefit of offsite raising allows more cows to milk on one site. Cost of off site heifer raising
can range from $.50 to $1.50/hd/day.
 
Johne's Facts to consider:
68% dairies havecows that are Johne's positive. Nearly all herds with more than 500 cows
have at least 1 cow. 65% of herds with less than 100 cows have at least 1 cow positive.
 
77% of barn alleyways test Johne's positive and 68% of manure storage facilities Johne's
positive.
 
Adult animals raised in a "Johne's free" herd that freshen in a Johne's positive herd will
become infected at a slower rate. They may not show clinical signs, but they make
eradication of Johne's impossible by only managing at birth.

How can we make more without spending more?
 
The 3 largest costs of production in order are: 
1.        Feed costs
2.        Replacement costs
3.        Labor costs
 
If you have already cut back as much as possible in your feeding program, move on to the
second largest cost of production, replacement costs. Replacement costs aren't necessarily
how much springing heifers are selling for at the local sales barn. It can be defined as the
cost of maintaining herd size and structure. 
 
How do you lower or even eliminate replacement costs? Maintain your current
herd. Shoot for a 20% preg rate and 50% bred by 3 cycles so you can maintain your
current herd size. 
 
Average preg rate is approximately 15%. There are definite economic gains by increasing
your preg rate to average (15%) or beyond average to 22%. You can gain $15 per cow for
each 1% increase per year. A 100 cow herd that goes from 14% to 18% can generate an
additional $6,000 per year just by increasing the preg rate.  Once you have reached a 25%
preg rate, you have already maximized the value from that pregnancy. Don't spend more
money to achieve a 30% preg rate when the dollars are not there.
 
Your next question may be, how can we increase our preg rate? Simply put: pay attention
to your cows sooner. If you are watching for heats, start looking for those cows at 50-60
days instead of 70. Start breeding cows earlier. If you start a synch program at that breeds
at 80 days, maybe back it up that so you are breeding at 68-70 days. Saving 10 days open
can generate an additional $11 per cow per year. On 100 cows, you generate an additional
$1,100 per year by only starting your program sooner with the same cost for the program
and labor. And if maintain a 18% preg rate as expressed in this example sooner, we have
now generated and additional $7,100 total each year.
 
If you maintain 50% of your herd should be bred by 3 cycles, you can assure that you will
have enough animals calving year round. To explain this further, the objective is to have
50% of animals confirmed pregnant by 115 days in milk. If you have a 50 day Voluntary
wait period and add three 21 day cycles, which amounts to 63 days, you end with 113
days.  So roughly 50% of your animals should be bred by 115 days in milk to maintain cow
flow. Reports can be created in on farm Dairy Comp using the BREDSUM command or
generated by your Field Rep on test day. For questions interpreting or creating this report,
please contact Minnesota DHIA support at 1.800.827.3442.

Remember that there is nothing stable in human affairs; therefore avoid undue elation in
prosperity, or undue depression in adversity. Author: Socrates

August Milk Quality Top 100  based on Raw SCC

Herd Owner	SCC	Cows	Herd Owner	SCC	Cows
NORBERT BROWN	31	32	DOUG + PENNY HAGFORS	91	45
DAN AND JOLENE SCHLANGEN	33	70	DEWEY HERBER	91	141
BRUCE AND JILL BOETTCHER	45	154	TIM & SUE HOESE	93	37
GLEN CHRISTEN	48	45	JASON SMELTER	93	68
KULINSKI*JIM	49	50	GOODVUE AYR FARMS II	94	53
DONALD + DARLENE MATROS	49	75	REUBEN AND JANICE STOMMES	94	66
JOHN WASNER DAIRY	55	28	DON-LE BROOK FARMS	94	180
SCHEFERS BROS	56	75	BRAD GLENZ	94	56
WEIDENBORNER*PAUL	61	149	MIKE HAGLUND	95	50
RICHARD & DIANA MILLER	62	24	HABERER HILL DAIRY	95	28
DEAN + ELIZABETH JOHNSON	64	74	MAAS FARMS	96	42
MARK KLEHR	69	59	BRUCE RUNDHAUG	96	53
SONNEK FARMS	69	75	SOUTHLUND DAIRY	97	45
KIMM'S DAIRY	70	83	ROBERT MILLER	97	68
FUECHTMANN*TOM	70	102	REUTER FARMS	99	54
DENNIS PLAETZ DAIRY	71	50	ROBERT KROENING	99	46
HACKLER*LORAN	72	90	CURT MAREN JEREMY HOLST	100	104
KUECHLE DAIRY	73	217	BOB AND BARB PETIT	100	59
BOB & TERRI KETCHUM	73	124	MARVIN RADEMACHER	100	60
ART AND JANE STUMPF	74	50	BREEZY WILLOWS DAIRY	100	37
DEAN FRISLE	75	71	TOM & MARY GUNNINK	101	84
ACKERMAN FARMS	75	114	DAVID SCHUUR	101	54
SMITH*DAVID	75	34	LYLE AND WANDA HONEBRINK	102	109
PRIMUS*RAYMOND	75	31	BECHTOLD BROS	103	75
JOHN & MARY C. SCHUTH	75	35	KROCAK*BOB LIZ	103	178
KCE FARM	76	100	GOLBERGS LAKEVIEW DAIRY	103	121
SCOTT HIPPEN	77	54	WAYNE & RON MATHISON	103	63
JASON + NANCY BACHMANN	78	35	SCHREIBER BROS	103	85
SC0TT AND DENISE GATHJE	78	81	GERALD+LISA BURG	104	42
HELGBERG*KARL & FRANK	78	74	RINDE FARMS LLC	104	105
BRUCE AND JODI HEIM	79	179	LARRY LEXVOLD FAMILY	105	69
ROADSIDE DAIRY	79	133	JAMES C PFEIFER	105	60
ZEPPER DAIRY	79	70	CZECH*MICKI	105	129
MATHEWS*TONY	81	53	BRAITH*STEVE	106	48
FUNKS MIDWAY DAIRY	82	574	VOGT DAIRY	106	164
AB ACRES	83	41	STELLING FARMS	106	222
ROBERT + FAWN STAUB	84	30	NATHE*JERON	106	280
EMMERT*ANDY AND RACHEL	84	42	DAVID AND DONNA ANDERSON	106	52
ZUMBRO VIEW FARMS LLC	84	48	FRANK PATRICK	106	57
GREGORY P. ZILKA	85	32	ROBERT KALLEMEYN	107	106
TERRY KOLSTAD	86	32	LENMAR FARMS	108	197
LARRY AND DIANNA BRAEM	86	41	MUSSMAN DAIRY	108	46
MIKE WELU	86	45	JOHN ROBERS	109	21
WILL TACHIBANA DAIRY	86	36	JAMES HESSE	109	94
HOLLERMANN DAIRY	88	281	AARON SCHROHT	112	93
WOLTERS*DENNIS AND WAYNE	88	110	DAVID HALLBERG&STEPH LARS	112	56
ROBERT SWYTER	89	55	PETERM&LYNN HENDRICKSON	112	69
CHRIS POPP	89	41	DONALD + PETER SETTERGREN	112	68
JAMES AND PAUL GREGORY	90	100	JASON VOLRATH M.REINKING	113	75
HOEFS' DAIRY	91	213	NATURE'S ACRE FARM	113	65

Median SCC for August dropped to 297,000.  Congratulations – that is an all time low for August !