DHIA
(Continued from Page A 24)
through the mail. This is really a
little ways off, but we’re in the
front edge of that. I think it will be
essential certainly in a couple of
years. It’s already there for some
people.
Q. I think you’re also exploring
forage tests and soil tests into the
whole record information that you
might be supplying the dairymen.
Is that still in the works? What is
the thinking there?
At this point, there is not a high
degree of activity in that area. My
own conception of testing,
production information and
managerial use thereof is that
submission of forage samples at
the same time you submit milk
samples should bring you back
results on both sides at ap
proximately the same time at
which point your feeding decisions
are made for the coming months.
This is really based upon two
factors; one, production level;
two, what’s coming out of the home
grown forage and how do you have
to change to meet the production
level. Unfortunately within the
system we really are not in a
position to do it right now.
Q. You did redesign the regional
field districts and made some
changes in personnel. I think as an
economy move. Would you explain
that just a bit although it is a little
old by now?
When I first got to Pennsylvania,
I did take a look at the operational
regions. At the time there were six
of them around the state. I think
effective on April 14,1 did change it
to five. Not totally an economy
move. Unless one construes
economy to be coincidental with
efficiency. I think when you look at
the state of Pennsylvania in an
attempt to administer a service
program, a couple of factors have
to come to mind. One density of
cattle and herd numbers, which is
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members, that both are to be
serviced in an area or potentially
can be serviced in an area. Two
because of the geographical
terrain in the state, you have to
look to see where the roads are.
You don’t drive north or south or
east or west very easily. You curve
around the mountains. Three
cattle tend to pocket around
typographical features and also
around where the major milk
sheds are.
The six-region setup that we had
previously, while it did admit to
fewer miles driven in some of the
regions, it really didn’t reflect very
accurately the density of the cattle
population in those regions or the
difficulty in servicing them. The
major 'milk sheds, for example,
were outlined in the current
regions with one down the west
side of the state and one across the
north. Then there is the heavy
southeast and two of them moving
over toward the center to come up
with the five regions. That’s ruffly
where your milk sheds lie. So yes,
economy. But probably more so
than that an ideal efficiency.
Q. One of your concerns and in
terests is the whole educational
process for dairymen that can be
derived both from your office and
from the records that he gets from
DHIA. Would you like to give a few
things you are doing or would like
to do in the way of additional
education and service from the
association.?
Where the use of records in
education is concerned, it’s almost
a shared function between the
university Extension Service and
to some extent DHIA. I like to think
we have a good working
relationship on that. When county
agents, for example, hold record
workshops out in the counties, any
time we are aware of them or
asked to do so, we have our people
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Q. Who are the potential additional
users of DHI and DHIA and how do
we convince them to get involved
in this kind of program?
The potential users of DHIA
probably run into several general
classes. I’ll start with dairymen
who currently are not on the test.
That’s about 53 percent of the
dairymen in Pennsylvania.
Without attempting to classify all
of them, there are people who
simply have no use for it I’m sure.
Statistically I think that’s a fact of
life. I think there are probably
more of them out there who look at
the current program and say that
it really has nothing for them. That
might be telling us two things. One,
in some cases they might not have
looked at what we are offering.
Second and perhaps even more
important, in some cases we’re
probably not offering what they
need. That’s the part that I’m most
interest in. That’s the one we have
to get around. That’s where the
dairymen are concerned.
Our further use is in the
reference. I think we should
remember that when a dairyman
pays for a test, it goes into his
records. But his records go much
further than that. They go up
through USDA for genetic
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there. Correspondingly, if we set
any up, normally the Extension
Service will go with us. I guess I do
get more and more concerned
about the herds that come on test
for a while and drop off. Because
from the time they came on test,
nobody really got with them to
explain, even in very rudimentary
detail, what can be done with those
records. What does it mean if a
cow is score four, score five or
score two or three. What’s the
average annual milk loss
multiplied by milk price, which
gives you the annual dollar loss?
These things are critical if one is to
make use of the records that he is
paying for. I think we’re lacking
something here.
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evaluation. They go through the
Breed Association for pedigree,
the national Extension as well. But
wiiiiuui uoiheiing to list all of
them, the point I would make is
that while it’s true that dairyman’s
records that are returned to him
from the records processing
center, very shortly after test, the
records keep going and altimately
come back to him in cow indexes
that may prove some genetic
evaluation. This system has to be
kept in order. These are all uses of
records we have for many years.
Perhaps it will become of greater
importance very shortly to some
others currently not in that chain.
Most noteworthy there are
probably big cooperatives and
veterinarians. Veterinarians
probably head the list.
Q. So what we’re really saying, if
I’m hearing you right, is that
roughly half of the dairy cows in
Pennsylvania are in essence being
used for all the records that all the
dairymen really use, whether it be
through the breeding organizations
or wherever. So that means that
there is another half that really
aren’t factored in and could have a
great deal to do with the final
outcome it would seem.
Yes. Not only final outcome but,
without attempting to waiver
elements of injustice, first
nonofficial tests in Pennsylvania in
an area numbering about 5,000
herds I think provides (from a
Pennsylvania standpoint) basis for
genetic evaluation, which then can
be used by everyone else who is on
test or not on test. I think this has
to be a pricing consideration as
well.
Q. Where do you see DHIA, DHI,
DHIR heading or where would you
like to see them head? What
direction do you see us going five
years from now, 10 years from
now?
I think I have one general ob
servation on direction of DHIA and
records. That is perhaps in the past
we’ve been too inclined to think
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about how a new report should be
put together for the use of a
dairyman. Then we would ride
through that report and it would
come back month after month,
year after year. Maybe what we
should be doing instead is learing
to simulate the information in such
a matter that it can be sent back in
any form that the dairyman wants
it.
Maybe this is why we have 47
percent... on test as opposed to a
larger percentage. Maybe we’re
not furnishing what is necessary? I
think that’s a realistic con
sideration that we’re probably
looking for headway.
Q. To those dairymen who are not
on test or associated with any
formal testing organization, what
would you say to those people?
I would say first of all that it’s
truly their choice whether or not
they test. I think under the
economic conditions they
currently have, some kind of
record keeping system is ab
solutely imperative so that you
know where you’re at. You have
some assessment to where you’re
going with DHIA. If the current
structure of the report and of the
system is not at the most use to the
dairymen, I think that we have the
ability to change to furnish him
with what he does need.
Second point I would probably
make to such a person is we often
hear DHIA test results compared
to say independent labs and so
forth. Let’s think about that for a
minute. When is come to soil and
forage analyses, DHIA doesn’t sell
They have no invested in
terest. When it comes to milk
sample analysis, we don’t pur
chase the milks. We have no in
vested interest. Probably when it
comes to manure analysis,
hopefully we don’t sell that either.
The point I’m making here is that
DHI is in fact independent. There
is no reason built into the system to
do anything except try to be ac
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