A24'Lancast*r Farming, Saturday, Daeambar 11,1993
Lancaster DHIA Looks
(Continued (ram Page A 1)
shape, even though it doesn’t
appear that way on paper.
He said the net margin shows a
deficit of $26,000, but that the fig
ure is misleading. According to
Wenger, there were two, one-time
purchases that Lancaster DHIA
made last year that totaled more
than $50,000.
According to Wenger, the
purchase of 21 laptop computers
and a main computer for $31,000,
in addition to paying Pa.DHIA
about $20,000 more than what can
be expected to be paid in the com
ing year, are both one-time costs
that won’t be part of expenses for
1994.
Further, he said that those
purchases were made out of oper
ating Costs. The organization
incurred no debt, and if costs
remain close to the level for the
past year, the organization can
expect positive net margins in
coming years.
He said that, if not for those one
time costs, the organization would
have shown a net margin of
$26,000, one of the largest in
years.
Meanwhile, Wenger, whose
term on the board of directors is to
expire, said the Lancaster DHIA
has more than $21,000 in reserves
in the bank.
‘ J. Robert Kindig, a director for
National DHIA, said the changes
of the past few yean the forma
tion of the independent Lancaster
DHIA and the implementation of
new communications and compu
ter technologies has resulted in
effectively eliminating state
boundaries.
In fact, Phil Dukas, National
DHIA manager, said during a
Wednesday telephone interview,
that all political borders are no lon
ger relevant.
“The resulting ripple effect is
bringing changes that will be felt
for some time,” Kindig said
Tuesday.
To illustrate the new era that
DHIAs are entering, Kindig said
there has been a complete restruc
turing of how National DHIA sec
ures it operational finances.
“It used to be 13 cents per cow,
per year for National DHIA,” Kin
dig said, adding that the system
was inequitable with large states
not receiving as much benefit as
small states.
According to Kindig, National
DHIA has looked at where staff
was spending time and has made
some changes that are to go into
effect Jan. 1.
He said that now, each affiliate
is to be charged an annual $l,OOO
fee; each field service operation is
to be charged $1,300; each lab is
charged $1,500; each DRPC is to
be charged $1,000; and each meter
calibration center is to be charged
$5OO as a fee for being part of
National DHIA.
Also, the cost-per-cow fee
structure has changed. According
to Kindig, all affiliates are to pay a
basic fee of 6 cents per-cow, per
year; 2 cents additional for Held
services; 2 cents additional per
cow for laboratory services; and I
cent per-cow additional for DRPC
services.
“It is a living, moving docu
ment,” Kindig said, “it’s not
poured in concrete. As we recog
nize change that needs to be made
to keep thing equitable across the
system, we’re perfectly willing to
make (those changes) from year to
year.”
Kindig also said that the new fee
structure was developed with the
knowledge that change can be
expected mergers have been
taking place and other reforma
tions within the whole organiza
tion have made it difficult to
budget for National DHIA and set
fees. However, he said that the
structure shouldn’t affect local
producers much. “Obviously, the
per cow fee won’t change much.”
In other news about the national
organization. Kindig said that
National DHIA has approved a
new rezoning of its membership
and representation across the
United States.
Effective now, instead of having
four regions, there are three reg
ions approved by the National
DHIA board: an Eastern Region, a
North-Central Region, and a West
ern Region.
According to the official dele
gate map, the National DHIA East
ern Region is to include Ohio,
Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi
and Louisiana, and all states and
territories east.
The North-Central Region is to
be comprised of Minnesota, lowa,
Missouri, Arkansas, Wisconsin,
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan.
The Western Region includes
the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas,
Oklahoma, Texas and all states
west.
The reason for rezoning was to
realign representation within the
organization.
According to Kindig, each of
the three regions represents about
1.6 million cows on test Each has
four directors to the board. “It’s
pretty equal in the number of dele
gates too,” Kindig said.
According to Dukas, the new
representation, though in effect
now, will really be used for the
first time at the national conven
tion in San Antonio, Texas, set to
be held February.
Also, Dukas said the new rep
resentational boundaries in no way
create service restrictions. In addi
tion to Lancaster, there are several
service arrangements which cur
rently cross states and regions.
In other business, Wenger said
in his annual president’s report that
Lancaster DHIA members will not
see a fee increase this year, and that
experienced technicians who
were lauded many times by diffe
rent people for their quickness to
learn to use laptop computers and
new bamsheets have helped to
keep down costs.
Wenger also said there are sev
eral new areas that are being work
ed on by Lancaster DHIA.
He said the association has
applied to the National DHIA to
become a service affiliate, which
would put them on a level with a
state affiliate, and will mean more
involvement by the association
into overall affairs. As it is, two
delegates are being sent to the
- national convention in San Anto
nio, as well as sending representa-
tion to many other meetings.
“The next goal is to reduce tur
naround time (in receiving
reports). The goal is to make it bet
ter than anyone else," he said,
adding that the overall goal is to
keep the organization moving tow
ard so that members can be more
competitive.
Jay Mylin, Lancaster DHIA
manager, said die past year has
been a “milestone year,” since the
transfer of records in October 1992
from Pa.DHIA to Raleigh.
Specifically, Mylin said that the
laboratory doing the testing.
Mideast, is shipping three days a
week and running about the same
as Pa.DHIA has been.
The Raleigh DRPC staff has
been very flexible and working
31 DELEGATES
1,564,000 COWS
National DHIA has radrawn its rSprsssntational borders and has gone from four
regions to three. Each region is representative of about 1.6 million cows. The Eastern
Region now ranges from Louisiana to the New England states to Puerto Rico.
closely with Lancaster, Mylin said.
“Many times the report was not
quite what we’re used to and they
worked on it and said, ‘Yes. We
can do that’”
He said that any member who
finds any mistakes on reports, or
isn’t getting exactly what they
want should speak up. “We’re not
looking at whose mistake it was,”
Mylin said. “It’s not important.
What’s important is that it can be
corrected.”
According to Mylin, the testing
service choices of Lancaster mem
bers has changed. There are now
ISO using 2X testing, which repre
sents 13 percent of the member
ship; 492 subscribe to AM/PM
testing, representing 45 percent of
membership; and 462 have opted
for Owner-Sampling, representing
42 percent of membership.
“The increase in AM/PM testing
is partly because the Holstein
Association has accepted AM/PM
records,” he said.
In other areas, Mylin also com
mented on the technicians’ quick
ability to become completely com
puterized in one year. “It took a
whole lot of work, and the transi
tion went well,” he said.
In discussing the staff, Mylin
said that one of the main reasons
that Lancaster has been able to
keep down costs is because it oper
ates with a third to a half of the
staff as other DHIAs.
He said the reason Lancaster
was able to do this was because of
“the quality of supervisors we
have; the geography (close pro
ximity) of herds helps keep staff
time (on the road) down; and the
cooperation of the dairymen
served.”
Mylin said most important to the
Lancaster DHIA is the
membership.
“I think it is the integrity we
Lancaster
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
SMOKETOWN (Lancaster
Co.) Lancaster DHIA held its
annual banquet Tuesday at the
Good and Plenty Restaurant in
Smoketown and elected five direc
tors to its board, in addition to pre
senting awards to its members with
herds recording outstanding
production.
Elected to the association’s
board of directors are Kenneth
Byler in District 2; Herb Graybill.
have in this organization that we
want to continue. It is something
that is hard to find in this society,”
he said.
In other areas, Mylin told mem
bers that they can expect even fas
ter service in the future as the
Raleigh DRPC switches to laser
printing, and he said there are
some low cost programs that are to
become available within the next
month for those with small herds.
“The more dairymen we can get on
test will be a benefit to all.”
Ken Butcher, manager of
Raleigh DRPC, said that the
3.7-day turnaround time the ser
vice averaged is the lowest they’ve
had.
Butcher said he attributed that to
79 percent of all the herd informa
tion the center handles now comes
in is through computer. The Lan
caster reports are 100 percent com
puter sent
Butcher said things are going to
get even better the outfit installed
a new computer this year going
with IBM technology which is to
enable Raleigh to process data
more than one time per day, in
addition to having increased speed
of operation.
He also said that the DRPC
Advisory Board also has deve
loped a long-term plan which
includes installation later this
month of Xerox color laser
printers.
The use of the multi-color print
ers would be to highlight columns,
if desired, and also to highlight, for
example, those cows whose soma
tic cell count has increased from
the previous test.
The color printers have a speed
of 2SO pages per minute, he said,
and while the cost for the printer is
significant, "it will (allow) a sig
nificant reduction in labor costs. It
DHIA Elects
Presents Awards
District S; John Groff, District 9;
Larry Aaron, District 11; and Joe
Graybill, in District 14.
The association annually pre
sents supervisor awards to those
who made the least errors. Howev
er, this year, with all supervisors
using laptop computers, and with
the added requirement that all mis
takes be corrected before being
sent to the Dairy Records Process
ing Center, in Raleigh, N.C., there
were no mistakes to be counted.
According to Bob Wenger. Lan-
28 DELEGATES
1,581,000 COWS 1 PR
will be enough to offset the cost.”
Raleigh is also involved in two
pilot projects one involving the
Vermont DHIA, the other Texas.
In the Vermont pilot program,
Raleigh is to send data from its
computer to a layser printer in Ver
mont. If successful, the arrange
ment would reduce turnaround sig
nificantly for the state's DHIA
members, circumventing the fed
eral postal system. And. it may
open the way for Raleigh to serve
other distant clients as well.
A pilot project in Texas is using
a microcomputer there to process
data.
Other goals set by the Advisory
Committee are to develop an inter
face with automatic systems that
some large producers are using;
develop a TPE interface with.exist
ing dairy management and auto
matic systems; update programs to
better reflect 2X- and 3X
milkings, and components testing;
and to create an unofficial program
to monitor the effects of BST on a
herd.
According to Butcher, there are
also some new quality standards
that are coming Bom National
DHIA that will require some adap
tation work by Raleigh.
Butcher also complimented the
Lancaster DHIA and the supervi
sors who. Butcher said, suprised
him by their ability to grasp and
use laptop computers and convert
to a new Laboratory during the past
year. “We never though anyone
could switch to laptops so
quickly.”
Butcher’s comments extended
to the Pa.DHIA as well, for help in
making the transition smooth. He
especially named Jim Boyer.
Pa.OHIA programmer, as a “pro
fessional in every way” for his help
in making the transition.
Directors,
caster DHIA president, “Since all
the supervisors worked extra hard
this year to leant a new system and
explain these new reports to the
dairymen, the board decided to
spread the bonus money around to
everyone this year.”
In other honors, Harold Linde
camp was presented a plaque and
$2OO for his 40 years of service;
Moses Martin received a plaque
and $l5O for 35 years of service;
and Lee Landis received a plaque
(Turn to Pago A 27)