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)