Cows, Numbers And Identification LARRY W. SPECHT Professor of Dairy Science Currently there are about 9.6 million dairy cows in the U.S. How many of them contribute to the genetic improvement of our national dairy herd? DHIA records show that about 4.8 million cows are on a production testing pro gram but only 3.5 million are in programs that will qualify their records to be utilized by breed and AI sponsored progeny test pro grams. Records used by the USDA AIPL cow and sire evaluation pro grams must be sire identified. Roughly 65 percent of the produc tion records have sire information. This brings the number of usable records down to 2.3 million. A large majority of the cows on test (possibly 90%) are Holsteins. Ninety percent of 2.3 million equals 2 million Holsteins with useable production data. With such a large number of animals it only takes a portion of them to run an adequate young sire testing program. Twenty percent of the cows bred to progeny test bulls will provide good genetic pro grams for the Holstein breed. This would require that 400,000 cows be bred to young bulls. If each young sire breeds 500 cows we expect 50 to 60 tested and identi fied daughters, enough to get a good idea as to the genetic merit of the sire. This plan would enable us to test about 800 sires per year through organized sampling pro grams. Actually, the U.S. breeding industry is currently testing almost twice that number each year. Sim ilar procedures lor the other breeds would allow the testing of about 50 Jersey males, and from 10 to 12 bulls for the Guernsey, Ayrshire, and Brown Swiss breeds. Such figures are reason ably close to what the breed spon sored groups and A.I. units arc presently doing. These numbers do not include bulls under test by individuals and private breeder groups. We can conclude that 400 to 450 thousand tested cows will pro vide the daughtci information needed to carry out the piogeny test plan for the dany breeds under today’s circumstances. The pro- Lancaster Farming, Pages D 2 To D 4 December 31, 1994 Issue Vol. 9, No 2 Extension Corner duction and physical traits of the daughters will tell us which sires are the best and should be used to produce the next generation of dairy cattle. There is another group of females that is of even greater importance. It’s the animals need ed as dams of the next generation of bulls. The primary require ments in a bull dam are (1) in top 1 to 3 percent of the breed for her genetic value and (2) a reasonable classification score (82-85 points for young cows). Currently, regis tration in the breed herdbook is almost always a requirement. There are about 800,000 regis tered Holsteins on the DHIR, DHI and AM/PM test plans. The top 1 percent of the breed are designated as “Elite” cows. Lists of the 8,000 plus animals are made available to breeders and AI units. Inquiries are made to the owners of the “Elite” cows asking if the ani mal(s) are (1) alive and reproduc tively sound, (2) have a reasonable classification score and (3) would be available for a contract mating to a top sire. The intent of the con tract is to produce one or more Notes From the Pa. DAVE SLUSSER General Manager This year has been a very active and challenging year for the PA DHIA Board of Directors. The year started out with the hiring of a new General Manager, Dave Slusser, at the January 4th Board Meeting. Many changes were made by the Board and Manage ment during the year to make the Cooperative more efficient and competitive for the times. The fol lowing is a brief summary of actions taken by the Board, and the management decisions announced at Board Meetings. Feb. 17 - A lawsuit was filed against PA DHIA as well as Northeast, Vermont, Ohio and National. DHIA’s The suit con cerned anti-trust activities con ducted jointly and individually against a private dairy records provider by the above named asso ciates. PA filed a motion to dis miss the charges and prospects so far look very good for favorable A NEWSLETTER FOR MEMBERS & CUSTOMERS Dixie L Burris, Membership Development Call 1-800-DHI-TEST For Information Pennsylvania Dairy Herd Improvement Association f \ DHIA Service Center I S Orchard Road, University Park, PA 16802 sons by a specific sire mutually agreeable to the owner of the cow and the breeding unit. In some cases herdowners may get a num ber of inquiries on a single animal. It is estimated that about half of the 8,000 elite animals will meet the above qualifications. Since the industry follows the same routine every six months, many of the cur rent animals were previously on the elite list. About 1,000 new ani mals appear each time and there is intense competition within the breeding industry to contract — mate the new ones. Not every female that is con tracted will produce a healthy male calf even with the extensive use of the embryo transfer tech nique. It is estimated that 75 to 80 percent of all contract cows under go the embryo transfer procedure. For every 100 cows that are plan mated there will likely be 70-75 bulls born. Some death loss occurs and about 20 percent of the young bulls fail to pass the standard health tests required by all breed ing units. Since such losses must (Turn to Pago D 3) actions in court toward PA DHIA. Mergers were approved by the Board for Erie, and Susquehanna counties, and a conditional merger was approved for Bradford County. April 26, 27 - The Board instructed management to com plete a program necessary to track accounts receivable, and billing, and give the project top priority. Management was to develop a more uniform system of billing the membership for the next budget. A conditional merger was approved for Chester County. The 1995 Annual Meeting date was set for March 10, 1995 in State college. In order to cut expenses, a one day annual meet ing is planned starting with an Awards breakfast, followed by the business meeting. The meeting is set for the afternoon, and will not be a banquet. Dixie Burris was named Labo ratory Manager as well as Director of Member Services. Management announced the closing of the District Directors’ Meetings Planned The district meetings for local DHIA directors are planned for Janu ary and February, 1995. There are meetings scheduled around the state, corresponding to the 18 director districts. These meetings are held every year primarily for directors of local DHIA committees/boards. It is an opportunity for directors and management to get together for discussion of issues and developments affecting DHIA members statewide. Elec tion of directors to the State Board is also done at the meetings. Anyone interested in attending the meeting in their district may contact their county committee or local board. The meeting will begin at 9:30 A.M. and end after lunch. District 1 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5 District 6 District 7 District 8 District 9 District 10 District 11 District 12 District 13 District 14 District 15 District 16 District 17 District 18 Bonanza Restaurant, Franklin Bonanza Restaurant, Franklin Boss’s, Greensburg Oxyok Inn, Route 6 Best Way Restaurant, Milesburg Boss’s Greensburg Bappy Bollow Restaurant, Saxton Bappy Bollow Restaurant, Saxton Crosskeys Restaurant, Route 94/30 Crosskeys Restaurant, Route 94/30 Family Bouse Restaurant, Miffintown Family Bouse Restaurant, Mifflintown Bonanza, Wysox Bonanza, Wysox Lebanon County Extension Ofc., Lebanon Bonanza, Wysox Lebanon County Extension Ofc., Lebanon Boss’s Restaurant, Lionville DHIA Board downtown office, and the conver sion of the Lab employees from University employees to PA DHIA employees. The Board endorsed the Reso lution posted by the membership at the State Annual Meeting to Jan 31, 1995 Jan 31, 1995 Jan 30, 1995 Jan 25, 1995 Feb 3, 1995 Jan 30, 1995 Feb 2, 1995 Feb 2, 1995 Jan 24,195 Jan 24, 1995 Jan 27, 1995 Jan 27, 1995 Feb 1,1995 Feb 1,1995 Jan 23, 1995 Feb 1, 1995 Jan 23, 1995 Jan 26, 1995 Minutes change the feeding program to be more compatible with modern feeding systems on the farm. Westfalia’s Dairy Plan will be purchased from the Technicians Lap Top and marketed by PA DHIA. New Officers elected by the Board are as follows; President - Frank Orner Vice-President - William Jack- son Secretary - Lane Sollenberger Treasurer - Norman Hershey Board representative on the Employee Retirement Fund - Neal McCulloch Jun. 28, 29 - A marketing sem ina'r was conducted for Senior Technicians, Regional'Managers, and State Staff. 44 out of State Herds trans ferred to PA DHIA, and 9 Herds transferred out of State. Sept. 29, 30 - Ted Brown was introduced to the Board as new Director of Finances and Person nel. (Turn to Pago 04)
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