—Lancaster Farming, Saturda
6
Helping Pair
One Morning With a DHIA Tester
I
I
“Sure, the dairyman could
perform all these tests himself.
Once a month he could weigh the
milk from each cow at 12-hour
intervals, he could take samples
from each cow and send the
samples to Penn State for
analysis. And if he were careful
and consistent, I don’t doubt that
his information would be as good
as anything he’d get from his
DHIA tester. The question is,
would your average farmer, busy
as he is, take the time to do it? I
don’t think so.”
Speaking was Wilbur Houser,
head DHIA supervisor for
Lancaster County. He was an
swering the question, “Why do
we have DHIA supervisors, and
what exactly do they do?”
The tester is a provider of a
service. His information is a tool
Right here is the focus of,
and the reason for, all DHIA
records.
June 10. 1972
men Manage
The dairy production from
each cow is weighed.
This rack of samples will be sent to Penn
State for thorough analysis. DH
dairymen receive a monthly report \r<
the college which tells them exactly h
well their herds are producing.
which dairymen use for deter
mining feed schedules, profits,
management strengths and
weaknesses, buying and selling
prices for cows.
Lancaster County, 437 herds
have their milk tested monthly by
DHIA supervisor. Nearly 360
herds are on an owner-sampler
program where the dairyman
does take his own samples.
Owner-sampler records,
however, not considered valid for
sire proofs.
There are 14 testers in Lan
caster County, and many Lan
caster Farming readers are
already familiar with their work.
But for those who aren’t, these
photos show what happens when
Houser visitis one of the farms on
his circuit.
Wilbur Houser, head DHIA Supervisor for Lancaster
County, was working Memorial Day, like most of the farming
community. Early Monday morning he was at the J. Robert
Hess farm, Strasburg, to test the 36 cow+lolstein herd there.
Houser carefully records the weight of the milk produced
by each cow. This figure, plus the butterfat content, tells the
dairyman how much of his feed dollar is being converted to
milk, and how profitable each cow is.
After the milk is weighed, a
sample from each cow is
prepared for analysis.