A2O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 18,1989
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On The Record
Dick Barth
PA DHIA
General Mgr.
Rating The Rates
By Dick Barth
General Manager,
Pennsylvania DHIA
In my last column I briefly described
what reorganization of the DHIA system in
Pennsylvania is all about and described 10
major problems that the federated system
creates for DHIA members. Let’s look at
How To Use Protein
Test Information
From Your DHIA Report
BY DAVE SWARTZ
Acting Director
Perry County Extension
Interest in protein levels in milk has increased in recent years
due to the prospect of component pricing, milk premiums based
on protein rather than fat, genetic performance indexes placing
greater weight on protein yields, and the consumers increasing
consumption of cheese.
You should closely monitor your herd’s protein levels, not
only from an economic motive, but also because protein levels
can be an early indicator of hidden problems on your farm. Most
of you pay more attention to milk and fat yield than you do pro
tein yield. All three deserve attention.
In order to interpret your DHIA protein figures, you need to
remember that generally protein content of milk is about 77 per
cent to 88 percent of die fat test. Some specific breed informa
tion'follows in Table 1.
and Fat Contents in Milk
(from PA DHIA information)
Breed
Ayrshire 3.38 .85 3.97
Guernsey 3.60 .77 4.65
Holstein 3.21 .88 3.64
Jersey 3.81 .79 4.82
B. Swiss 3.55 .87 4.08
Following are ways to analyze your herd’s protein data on the
DHIA monthly report
I. Herd average of protein to fat ratio-Divide your herd’s
protein percent by its fat percent. You should be close to the fig
ure listed above for your breed. If your protein to fat ratio, or
your percent protein yield, is lower than listed above, check your
nutritional program.
Low protein yields are often related to nutritional problems
including low protein levels in the ration and/or low energy
levels in the ration. Your ration can be balanced for total pounds
of protein, but often problems occur when too high a percentage
of the protein is fed as rumen-bypassable.
When you change forage programs or sources, you may need
to adjust protein types in the concentrate mix. Watch your herd’s
protein percentage as a gauge for balancing soluble and unsolu
ble protein sources.
Surprisingly, even if adequate protein is present in the cow's
diet, low energy levels will cause a reduction in milk protein by
0.1-0.4 percentage points. Also, check the levels of calcium,
phosphorus, magnesium and sulfur in the ration. If any of these
minerals are below levels needed by the cow, digestibility of the
ration, especially the ptotdin portion, will be reduced and could
lead to low protein levels in 'the milk.
Feeding fat can also reduce protein levels by 0.L0.3 percen
tage points. Those of you who are feeding more than 5-6 lbs/
Table 1
Average Protein
% Protein % Fat
Protein To Fat
Ratio
the first of those problems in detail, mem
ber service rates.
I am always surprised when a member
indicates that he doesn’t know that a local
board of directors or a local association
exists in his county. Many members seem
to be under the impression that the state
association alone sets all the rates for
DHIA member services in Pennsylvania.
At this point, that’s true in only four
counties that have merged with the state
association: Elk, Cameron, Clearfield and
Bucks. In all other counties the rates for
field services (i.e. DHIA supervisor ser
vices on the farm) are set by the local asso
ciation’s board of directors. The state asso-
elation’s board sets the rates for laboratory
analysis, data processing, milk sample
pickup and personnel services provided for
DHIA supervisors.
The state board adopted a policy in 1988
to set state association service rates based
on the cost to provide them plus a small
margin, which is usually between three
and 10 percent of cost On average, about
40 percent of a member’s total cost for
Your Full-Service John Deere Dealers
ADAMSTOWN BARTRON
EQUIPMENT INC. SUPPLY, INC.
Mohnten, PA
(roar Adamatown)
21S-4M-43M
BARRETT CARLYLE & DEERFIELD AG & FOSTER EQUIPMENT
EQUIPMENT MARTIN, INC. TURF CENTER, INC. SALES
Smlcktburg, PA Hagaralewn, MD Wataonlown, PA Dinar, NJ
814-257-8881 301-733-1873 717-538-3557 809-789-1535
PERFECT SIZE, SURPRISING VALUE
Your John Deere dealer is ready to deal on a 4435 Combine
The new 4435 Combine handles a 4-row wide
or 4-row narrow com head, or a 13-, 15- or 18-ft.
small grain or soybean platform. The size sounds
right, but look at the 4435’s king-sized produc
tive features:
• A 125-bushel grain tank unloads in less than
V/ 2 minutes.
• This combine will “walk right through” almost
DHIA services comes from the state asso-
ciation. The balance, or 60 percent goes to
the county associations for the field ser
vices they provide.
Many local associations have no policy
on service rates they charge and this allows
local boards to continue their historical
practice of discriminatory pricing. Exa
mine the rates in many counties and you
will find that their rates for owner sampler
and AM-PM herds are actually subsidizing
the cost of 2X programs, those that require
two supervisor trips to the farm each
month rather than one.
As a rule of thumb, if field service rates
are set to cover the actual cost of providing
2X service, then AM-PM should cost
about 70 percent of the cost for 2X and
owner-sampler should cost about 50 per
cent. We frequently find that AM-PM ser
vices cost more than 90 percent of a 2X
program and owner-sampler between 80
and 90 percent. In these situations, if AM
PM and owner-sampler ate even used they
are subsidizing the true cost of DHIA and
DHIR records services.
The practical problem created by this
type of practice is significant Currently
about 40 percent of all herds in the state are
on an AM-PM program. If that participa
tion could be doubled to 80 percent mem
bers would be able to save $1,000,000 per
year in on-farm supervisor costs. But as
long as local service rates for AM-PM
remain unjustifiably high, there will be no
financial incentive for members to switch
to AM-PM and the opportunity to reduce
costs is lost
CLUGSTOH FARM wJSSfVIc
EQUIPMENT
BA WlnWlOiUf MU
rSSTira 301-452-5252
Tunkhannock, PA
717-838-4011
About a year ago the state association
introduced a new low cost service called
Prime. This partially processed record ser
vice, which is priced at $.75 per cow per
month, was designed to provide alterna
tives for two groups of dairymen: those
who are members but must consider drop
ping testing due to financial problems, and
those who would consider joining the asso
ciation if an easy to use and understand
records service was available at a reason
able price.
Since January, we have had only about
SO farms joining this program because the
local associations have not supported it.
Some local boards have refused outright to
let these members use county owned
meters, while others have leaned toward
overpricing for the use of meters out of a
fear that these new herds will cause meter
costs to go up. These obstacles at the local
level are causing this program to languish.
What could be a very good service for
is often priced out of consideration.
Each year we lose dairy producers in
Pennsylvania. About half of those are
DHIA members. As the pool of eligible
members continues to shrink, we must be
able to provide attractive services to more
producers or membership, will shrink as
well. Discrimination resulting from the
sacred pricing practices that are the histori
cal precedent at the local level are a major
obstacle to membership growth. Many
would rate the process of setting local rates
very poorly. Ultimately, the loss of mem
bers will show how poorly.
CLUGSTON EVERGREEN . B c
IMPLEMENT, INC. TRACTOR CO., INC. *
Chambartburg, PA Labanon, PA 71 -
717-263-4103 717-272-4641
any field, driven by our 117-horsepower, 6-cylin
der, 359-cubic-inch diesel engine.
• All controls are conveniently located. For ex
ample, you can adjust the scroll-type fan from
the cab, and pubdeaner grain into the tank.
Stop in at your John Deere dealer and check
out all the surprising performance and price
advantages of die 4435 Combine.
H.R. GUTSHALL &
SONS, MC.
Carlisle, PA
717-249-2313
ROBERT G.
HAMPTON, INC
Shiloh, NJ
609-451-9520