Somatic Cell Count Limit To Drop SID BARDNARD Food Science Specialist Most dairymen have little diffi cultry meeting the maximum 1,000,000 somatic cell county (SCC) as now required. Few will have any problem meeting the new maximum of 750,000 SCC per mililiter starting July 1. 1993. This reduction was approved by the state regulatory delegates at the IMS conference in April and is expected to be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Between 10 percent and IS per cent of dairymen now produce Average Farm Feed Costs For Handy Reference To help farmers across the state to have handy reference of com modity input costs in their feeding operations for DHIA record sheets or to develop livestock feed cost data, here’s this week’s average costs of various ingredients as compiled from regional reports across the state of Pennsylvania. Remember these are averages so you will need to adjust your figures up or down according to your loca tion and the quality of your crop. Com, No. 2y - 2.74 BU. 4.90 CWT. Wheat, No. 2 - 2.75 BU. 4.59 CWT. Barley, No, 3 - 1.62 BU. 3.47 CWT. Oats, No. 2 - 1.32 BU. 4.12 CWT. Soybeans, No. 1 - 5.95 BU. 9.94 CWT. New Ear Com - 69,32 BU. 3.47 CWT. Alfalfa Hay - 102.50 BU. 5.13 CWT. Mixed Hay - 98.75 BU. 4.94 CWT. Timothy Hay - 90.50 BU. 4.53 CWT. Pennsylvania Dairy Herd Improvement Association For more information about these news items or the services of PHI A call ISOO-DHI-TEST. The milk with a SCC of 100,000 per mililiter or less. They get maxi mum potential milk production from their cows; use fewer antibio tics and dump less drug residue contaminated milk; and realize highest prices for their low SCC/ higher protein content milk. Herds with 1,000,000 or even 750,000 SCC per mililiter are deal ing with mastitis, animal stress and reduced milk production of as much as six to eight pounds of milk per animal per day. There is no public health con cern about this milk following pasteurization. The primary con cern is for dairymen who are not getting maximum production and thus have lower income from the How Does Your Herd Compare? STATE COLLEGE (Centre Co.) —This data is pulled from Pennsyl vania DHIA’s mainframe computer each week. It is a one-week summary representing approximately one-fourth of the herds on test, as they are tested monthly. These data are valuable from a business management standpoint and can be used for comparing your operations to the averages from almost 1,400 herds across the state. DHIA Averages for all herds processed between 7/29/91 and 8/05/91 Number of Herds Processed Number of Cows Processed Number of Cows Per Hod Milk Per Cow (Lbs) %-Fat Fat Per Cow (Lbs) %-Protein FOCUS Pnuuytmnlm DBIA him k rmnUteiu FOCUS mek week In emfemdm wkh Dbde L Bank, amaagtr ef aumktnUf dtMkpauaC sale of milk. Any dairyman with SCCs above 100,000 per mililiter would realize greater income by reducing it Those few with SCCs above 750,000 need to start to reduce their SCC. Contact your approved inspec tor, DHIA supervisor, county extension agent, veterinarian, milking machine serviceman and dairy laboratory. Learn about the corrective mea sures that are needed and start to take action. You, the dairy farmer will receive the greatest benefit by reducing the SCC of your milk. Three-year-old Jason Troutman found churning Ice cream tough work during the ice Cream Chum-Off Contest held at Ag Progress on August 14. But Jason’s hard work paid off. He and his parents, Connie and Scott from Mohrs villa in Berks County, captured first prize—$300—for their fresh peach ice cream. Read more about the Churn-Off in next week’s issue Of Lancaster Farming. 1,403 80,296 57.2 17,714 3.67 650 3.18 Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 17, 1991-A23 Protein Per Cow (Lbs) Average Days in Milk Per Cow •Feed Cost Per Cow Per Year(s) A: Grain B: Hay C: Silage D: Pasture •Total Feed Cost Per Cow Per Year(s) •Income Over Feed Costs Per Year(s) •Grain to Milk Ratio •Feed Cost Per CWT Milk(s) Avg Level For 1159 SCC Herds ♦Member generated figures 564 316 550 106 229 18 905 1,336 1:2.4 5.11 420,131