How many cows are responsible for half of the somatic cells in your bulk tank?
What percentage drops do you need in your herd's SCC to qualify you for milk quality
premium payments? How many cows are responsible for you not collecting your
premium payments?
In many herds, one or two cows could be responsible for all of this, especially in a
small herd and if the rest of the herd is relatively free of mastitis. If this is the case, a few
chronic mastitis cows could be costing you big bucks.
One code 8 cow can put as many cells into the tank as 32 code 3 cows producing
the same amount of milk! This is illustrated in Chart 1.
Let's say your herd count is 400,000, and you arc aiming to get below 200,000 in
order to pick up a2O cent quality premium on your milk check. If you are shipping 30
cwt (3000 lbs.) of milk per day, the quality premium would be worth ■56.00 per day or
$2,190 per year. Let’s also say your DHIA SCC report might look something like the
illustration in Table 1
TabU I: Cowl Sorted by SCC on Teat Day
Prv Curr Lact Pry Cun DIM Per Over
Barn SCC SCC Ava TD Td on Tank 3.5
Name Str Set SCC Milk Milk U 2 ' SCC SCC
Verna 3.0 S.O 6.0 52 44 344 22 9
Jean 7.0 7 X> 73 80 32 1
Jane 5.0 50 < 5,0 44 39 221 12 2
Dellae 20 2.0 2,0 65 12 120 10
Alyce 1.0 U) 1.0 54 59 221 3
To drop the herd count down to 200,000, you have to reduce your present count by
200,000 or 50%. If you look at the "Pet Tank SCC" column in Table 1, you'll see that 2
cows, Vema and Jean, are responsible for 54% of the cells in the tank (22 + 32 = 54).
Combined, they are costing the dairymen $6.00 a day in premiums; that's $3.00 per day
GENERATORS
READY FOR THE NEXT STORM?
For Salas and Sarviea Cali Tha Paopla Who Know Qansratora
MARTIN ELECTRIC PLANTS
280 PlMsant Valley Rd., Ephrata. pa 17522-8620
Tel; 717-733-7968 Pax: 717-733-1981
GLENN'S
UDDERINGS
By
Glenn A. Shirk
Lancaster Extension
Dairy Agent
Chart I; SCC Output By Codes
(l.OOO'l)
protons u many
somatic ms (tCC)
as 93 cods 9 ewii
4QO
12 25 so >OO m
0)»94S070
AUTOMATIC a 3d
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DIESEL
LP. GAS
NAT. GAS
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addition to other mastitis costs associated with lost production due to tissue damage.
other cOws in the herd.
they've been in milk and how many times their SCC code has been over 3.S Verna has
been milking 344 days and has been high 9 times almost every test. She is chronic.
possible contageous and a good candidate for culling, especially if she has not responded
to dry treatment. If you do hang onto her until you get a better cow to fill her stall, try to
milk her last.
educational institution.
SCC Cedi
or over $l,OOO for each of these 2 cows per year.
Lost premiums makes mastitis very expensive for these two cows. This is an
treatment costs and discarded milk, not to mention the risk of them spreading infection to
The question is should you cull these cows? First of all look at how many days
Jean, on the other hand, put the highest percent cells in the tank, partly because of
her higher level of production. However, her cell count was over 3.S only once so far in
this lactation, but she has only been milking ( Bo days. She is a cow to watch closely for
the next few tests.
Penn State Cooperative Extension is an affirmative action, equal opportunity.
Census Bureau Asks For Help
WASHINGTON, D.C. The
U.S. Department of Commerce
Bureau of the Census is requesting
farmer cooperation in filling out its
forms so that federal decisions on
agriculture can be based on an
accurate understanding of
agriculture.
In a news release, the bureau
stated, “If all farmers and ranchers
are not counted in the Census of
Agriculture, decisions on farm
programs, agriculture trade, exten
sion programs, and others will suf
fer. In the long run, every farmer
and rancher will be affected.”
The data from the Census of
Agriculture are essential in allocat
ing billions in agriculture funds
every year.
Many familiar programs receive
and depend on adequate federal
funds and would be affected nega
tively by a poor census response.
Some of those decisions to be
made which depend the census
include the distribution of exten
sion program funds; the number of
acres of cropland that can be put
into the conservation reserve prog
ram in each county; the amount of
funds for farm disaster relief; and
the amount of farm loan money
available to states and counties.
In addition, negotiators for the
government rely heavily on the
information when dealing with
agricultural commodity trade.
According to the buruea, “If the
information is understated, then
American producers may not get
the best benefits possible from cur
Umcwtyr Fwntog. B>tur<t>y, llty 8, IW3-A2I
rent trade negotiations.”
According to George Pierce,
assistant chief of the Census
Bureau’s Agriculture Division,
“More than 75 percent of Ameri
ca's farmers and ranchers have
completed and returned their Cen
sus of Agriculture report Others
have requested time extensions
until they complete their tax
returns.
“But there are still quite a few
that we haven’t heard from.
Response in some states and coun
ties is better than others.”
What the discrepency in cooper
ation means is that those states and
counties with the greatest under
count may not receive their share
of the agriculture programs, fund
ing, trade considerations, educa
tional funds and consideration in
Congress.
“What we also think has hap
pened is that a lot of people who
arc no longer actively farming
pitched their forms in the trash.
That’s human nature. But we need
to know who’s not farming by
sending the form back indicating
their situation,” Pierce said.
“Meanwhile, the slow returns
from non-farmers combined with
farmers and ranchers who haven't
mailed back their forms keeps the
returns below the level we need to
publish complete and accurate
data.”
For more information, or to
request a form, call toll-free at
1-800-233-6132.