A2O-Lancasi«r Fanning, Saturday, September 9,1989
BST Research
(Continued from Pago A 1)
They have experienced no
health related problems and no
breeding problems related to the
use of BST. In fact, the number of
cull cows leaving the herd
decreased by 33 head from 1987 to
1988. And this year looks even
better.
In addition, the cows that were
treated with BST in the last lacta
tion started out better this year, too.
But the increase is not necessarily
repeatable, either by lactation or
by genetics. No one seems to know
why sometimes it works and some
times it doesn’t work on the same
cows or in the same herd. Yet, in
most cases, you do get a 10- to
12-pound per cow per day increase
in production for the first six
weeks. Then the condition of the
cow and the amount of energy you
get into her will determine if you
hold the extra milk production.
But for all practical purposes,
you need more records, particular
ly milk weight records, to know
exactly what production you are
getting from the BST. In the Nobis
herd, they have a DHIA tester
come twice per month to give them
more current milk weight data. But
they still believe BST is one thing
that came along that has done what
people said it would do.
“We were expecting problems,”
Larry said. “We thought it would
be harder to keep condition on the
cow, thought we might have masti
tis problems, or breeding prob
lems. We just haven’t...”
■ At Nobis they think BST should
be used as another management
tool. If you have up to an
18,000-pound herd, they think you
should probably initiate other bet
ter management practices first
After you feed to get the maximum
inherent genetic production from
your cows, you could then consid
er the use of BST to go higher in
production.
The brothers think a cost of 50
cents per cow per day would make
the product very profitable in their
herd. And since four companies
will likely get the opportunity to
compete for the farmers’ business,
the competition will drive the cost
of the product down from the
beginning of sales.
Ken did express some real con
cerns about cooperatives and retail
stores who have sided with vocal
animal rights groups and refused to
handle milk produced under BST
treatment.
“We are especially disappointed
at the reaction of some farm
groups,” he said. “I think they are
research.
setting a dangerous precedent and
they give credibility to people who
don’t care about die farmer. We
need to refute the emotional input
from these groups whenever possi
ble and we need to do it at the phar
maceutical company level, the uni
versity level and the producer
level. Frankly, I don’t think the
consumer is that stupid. You just
don’t see anything in a cow treated
with BST that you don’t see in a
fresh cow,” Ken said.
Two other farmers were visited
by the editors and names, addres
ses and photographs were
recorded. But-later in the trip, offi
cials at Monsanto ask the farm
media not to identify these two
farms for security reasons. But it
can be said that the results of the
BST trials in these two herds were
identical to the experience of the
Nobis brothers.
One father and son team at
Elsie, MI, has cows on the top
DHIA list for the first time in the
history of the farm. In this herd the
cows are very tame and in excel
lent body condition. These dairy-
“BST is a natural protein that is produced
in the pituitary gland of'all cattle”—Robert
Collier
men wait until after the peak pro
duction of the lactation is past and
then BST is injected. The cows
then usually produce the same
level as their peak production
accomplished after calving. BST
holds the high production on
through the lactation. No health
problems were seen.
At the third farm located at Fow
ler, the dairymen raised the pro
duction average on this commer
cial herd by 2,000 pounds of milk.
They also had no breeding prob
lems and no side health problems
from the use of BST. No question
about it, the commercial dairy
herds visited by the Monsanto
farm editors’ tour saw evidence
that BST works. They also found
that the average expected increase
in milk production was from 10 to
12 pounds per cow per day.
Bill Thomas, farm trial inspec
tor, reported at the dinner meeting
with the trial farm families on
Tuesday evening, that 93 to 95 per
cent of the cows given BST will
respond with increased milk pro
duction. He said the response is
immediate and the drop-off in pro
duction after the last treatment is
given, is also noticable.
In addition, fanners who want to
use BST effectively will need to
Visiting on the Nobis Dairy Farm, Fowler. Ml. are (Ho
Ken Nobis, Dr. Robert Patton, product development and Larry Nobis. The Nobis herd Is on
Monsanto’s field trials for BST.
keep better records. Beside the
usual calving/breeding records,
the daily milk weights may also be
issensial so that production peaks
and drops are noticed immediate
ly. Thomas reported that in the on
farm trials, the response was better
than at the university trials.
“Farmers just take care of the
individual cow at home better than
the hired help at the universities
do.” Thomas said.
Farmers wanted to know what
Mansanto officials thought the
selling price would be when the
product is approved by the FDA.
One official responded that his
guess was that because four com-
“We were expecting problems. We thought
it would be harder to keep condition on the
cow, thought we might have mastitis or breed
ing problems. We just haven’t...”—Ken and
Larry Nobis
parties will have the BST product
right from the begining of sales,
the competition may drive the
price down to about 25 to 30 cents
per day per cow. But he said, no
one really knows what the price
will be or how it will be distri
buted. But the official speculated
that the company may have some
regions with large herds where
sales will be direct to dairymen. In
other areas, for example, Pennsyl
vania and Maryland, where the
herds are smaller, a dealer network
may be used.
On the other hand, the distribu
tion of BST may need to go
through veterinarians. This type of
distribution would necessitate
higher margins; thus, a greater cost
to the dairymen. Veterinarian dis
tribution may be necessary not for
medical reasons but to make sure
the used needles and syringes are
properly disposed.
At the dinner meeting Pete
Ondrus, Carson City, reported that
he had his herd on the trials but
dropped out, not because it didn’t
work, but because he became
afraid that he might lose his milk
market. Ondrus said he read the
negative reports in the papers
about milk companies that had
shut farmers down when they
found out they were producing
milk with BST treatment
He added that we don’t know, in
the high producing cows that are
already under stress, what will be
the outcome if we stress them more
with BST treatment. “What will if
do to the cows?” he asked.
In addition, Ondrus said he felt
you would need a computer to help
you find the peak of lactation so
you could use the product
effectively.
Ondrus said that even though he
was not on the trial anymore, the
disciplines he learned in better
management added as much to his
management practices as BST.
“BST is one of the best things to
come along since the milking
machine,” Ondrus said.
“We don *t know what the product price will
he, but competition may drive it down to 25 to
30 cents per cow per day.”—Robert Patton
Dr. Gary Hartnell, group leader
of dairy clinical research, said that
nutritionally, you need to handle a
BST treated cow just like you
handle a fresh cow. “Cows on BST
do increase dry matter intake, but it
lags behind the increase in milk
production by about 4 to 6 weeks,”
Hartnell said. “What we see with
BST is like starting the lactation
over again in the middle. There
fore, the kind of feeding program
you have followed in early lacta-
you can follow on into the
later part of the lactation as you
start to get production increases
from BST.
“But the rules of the game have
not changed,” Hartnell said. ‘The
feeding recommendations that are
now in place don’t need to be
changed. It’s just like feeding a
higher producing cow.”
In research work done with pas
tures and roughages as the main
part of the ration, Hartnell said
cows responded at the same mag
nitude as they do when fed high
concentrate rations. But just like
any other feeding program you
need to get the cows in good condi
tion before the next lactation starts.
If you don’t the subsequent lacta
tion will be poor.
Dr. Walter Hobgood, director of
marketing BST, said Monsanto is
committed to help farmers with
management imput so that their
product will work at it’s best on the
farm. And while he agrees that the
company has responsibility to edu
cate the public on the safety of
BST, he said the dairy industry
also needs to help. “If the dairy
men decide they want to use the
product because of its benefits,
then the dairy industry should help
with consumer education too,” He
said.
Larry O’Neill, manager, public
affairs, said surveys show that
when consumers only think of
BST as a hormone, they express
concern about its use. But when
they find out that BST occurs
naturally in milk, they give a more
positive response. In addition,
when the facts are presented that
BST is another efficiency tool to
help keep the cost of milk competi
tive with soft drinks, consumers
respond more favorably.
O’Neill said Monsanto has
already embarked on a consumer
education program by meeting
with national consumer groups and
New York editors of homemaker
magazines. They also have dis
cussed the issue with food marke
ters and retail food associations.
And O’Neill said he would charac
terize these consumer groups’
responses as informed and neutral.
As for animal rights’ groups,
O’Neill said he thinks it is going to
be a very tough problem to deal
with. “We will just need to fall
back on the facts that cows do not
object to the injection and we have
no health problems from its use.”
But if a person objects to giving
a cow an injection other than for
disease control, then we will just
need to disagree.”
O’Neill cited another survey
that showed 80 percent of the
respondents did not think it was
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