ClMancaster Farming, Saturday, December 12, 1992 Vol. 7 No. 2 Association Ends Fiscal Year Last September the 1992 fiscal year ended with a positive margin ol $50,000. That was considerably belter than the budget projection ol a loss for the year ol $152,000, Credit must go to the associations’ staff for an exceptional job of cost control last year that provided this positive accomplish ment. Last July the association adopted a budget for Fiscal Year 1993 which began on October 1. That budget provided for no rate increase lor the year, which is the third year in a row with no rate changes. The 1993 budget had a projected delicti ol just under $ 118,000 which was to be covered by cash reserves. Since then there have been several important developments that affect PA The Rookie ol the Year award was established to honor new technicians who have shown exceptional aptitude in learning the job of DHIA Techni cian. The individuals consideicd for the award must have worked between six and eighteen months as ol Decem ber 31. 1991. The field stall chooses one. and sometimes two. lookies who demon strate outstanding cooperation with the state and local DHIA's in conducting and efficient and accurate testing program. The award consists ol a beautiful engraved desk set. This choice is one ol the most difficult decisions the Region Managers make concerning this conference. This year there were several outstand ing rookies. The technician chosen Rookie of the Year is Chene Bonavila of Susquehanna County. Chene began testing in Apiil, 1991 and has a circuit of approximately fS herds and 2,000 cows. The following actions of interest to members and the dairy community were taken by the PA DHIA Board from July through October. 1992: 4. An addition to the association's Herd Management Awards Program for sustained production was approved The new Herd Summaiy II Rcixirt to be effective lor cow year 1992. Tins was approved lor members as a no-cost change was made to provide members option to the old Herd Summary who are at high production levels the Report which will continue to be opportunity to compete lor awards with available. Both repoiis will be those who have had exceptional provided for an extra I cent per cow increases m production during the per month July 1 - 2,1992 2 A project was approved lo unple- 5. The long anticipated conveision mcnl die use ol laptop computers, the from pre-printed lonns to laser primed PA electronic banished, and Dairy reports was approved effective Novem- Comp 105 with DHIA technicians as her 1, 1992. Primary savings will total soon as possible about 3.33,000 a ycai from this change. 3. A restructuring of the PA DHIA 6. The addition of solids-nonlal reports and their pricing was approved analysis lo the lab services available to effective January 1,1993. The new members was approved to be implc scrvices will provide much greater mented as soon as possible. December 12, 1992 /I FOCUS I Pennsylvania X Dairy Herd J . . . . \ Call 1-800-DHI-TEST for service or information. Improvement Association \ With Positive Margin DHIA's liscal situation. The primary one was the decision of Lancaster County DHIA to purchase lab and data processing services elsewhere. This decision translates to a loss ol about 12% of the association's annual income. Adjustments have been made to operations to cope with this change. Five staff members have been laid off permanently and other reductions in spending arc being implemented to balacc the lost income. These changes should leave the association with an adequate cash reserve at the end of 1993 without any rale increase during the year. Assuming business volume slays the same, a rate increase will be needed, however, during the next fiscal year Rookie Of The Year -j * Diane Mcllwain, Region 3 manager, left, pre sents Rookie of the Year Award to Cherie Bonavi ta, Susquehanna County. Chene maintained a test interval of 29 5 days and a "tested to received" ol Pennsylvania DHIA Board Action Summary choice for members :uid ;dlow diem to gel only those reports they want mid use. year. A Newsletter For Pennsylvania DHIA Members unless other ways to reduce expenses, or increase revenue can be found. One important opportunity may lie with the decisions coming up next March at the National DHIA convention. If a bylaws change lor Naiional DHIA permits the market to become competi tive. we may have a chance to develop more business for the association. In spite of the uncertainties, however, the association continues to be commit ted to improving services for members through unbundled reports and pricing, and through electronic computing capability on the farm on test day. These two capabilities add great flexibility and choices for our members that many people want. We hope you will continue to support us as we implement these changes and tackle the challenges of tomorrow. 1.2 days. Her accuracy rale for 1991 was a very impressive 99.9%. 7. The Board approved Ihe participa tion of any National DHIA director trom Pennsylvania as an ex officio member of the PA DHIA Board. 8. The Board approved the concept of cooperating with Northeast DHIA to support the funding of applied research at Penn State and Cornell. Details of the plan need to btj worked out in the” future. October 7-8,1992 1. A standardized memorandum of agreement between PA DHIA and independent county associations was adopted. The terms of the actual agreement with each individual county association will be discussed with the county board. (Turn to Pag* Cl 3) Fifth Annual Meeting And Awards Banquet Set Monroeville, all PA DHIA members and their spouse, nutritionists, and veterinarians serving the dairy industry arc invited to attend the sth Annual Meeting and Award Banquet. The Annual Meeting will begin on Friday. March 19, at 12:00 PM until 1:00 PM on March 20th. at the Radisson Hotel Pittsburgh. 101 Midi Boulevard, Monroeville, west of Pittsburgh. We hope the conference will add the importance of the time spent together sharing your experiences. We some times get the feeling that we are alone with our problems. This is a great lime to share ideas and building a commitment as an association. Your leadership is very important as this association continues to provide membership with the service you expect. I’m excited about the theme this year as we work with the committed THE HOLLINGER AWARD The Carl B. Hollingcr Memorial Award was started in 1977 in honor of Mr. Hollingcr who was a ficldman for PA DHIA from 1951-1974. The winner of this award is selected by the employees who work in the Central Milk Testing Lab, to recognize an outstanding technician fur excellence in neatness and acctlracy of samples mid bamshcets. Criteria used for selecting the winner include order and neatness of the bam sheets, neatness in sample packing, size of samples. method of ordering supplies, and cooperation with the lab. The award winner receives an engraved desk set. This year's recipient, Ron Morgan, of Mifflin County maintained a 99.9% accuracy rate, a 30.2 day test interval, and zero percent non-testable samples on 26,607 samples. Ron’s wife. Sherri, is also a certified technician and occasionally helps with the circuit of nearly forty herds. •ancaster Farming, Pages Cl 2-14. counties that have promised to host this years Filth Annual DHIA Meeting. Those counties that have been con tacted arc Fayette, Washington, and Wcsunoreland County to help with the agenda. A trade show featuring the latest will take place parallel to the annual meeting. A spouses program will also be offered and a lot of neat things that Mrs Adtun Derr will be chairing and offering her creative craft ideas to make this quite an enjoyable Spouses Program. Our banquet will be taking place on Friday, March 19 where we will honor those who have scored as one of the highest Herd Management Award in each breed. Don't miss out on the fun and great time. More information should be arriving in your mail. Please think about making this meeting for yourtissocialion needs your support. \ \ Ron Morgan, Mifflin Coun ty received the Holiinger Award.
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