Westfalia Certifies
Pa.DHIA
DAVID BIGELOW
Training Coordinator
UNIVERSITY PARK, (Centre
Co.) —Westfalia Systemat recent
ly held a certification seminar for
20 Pa. DHIA personnel.
The list of personnel who
received the Westfalia certifica
tion included 10 technicians, reg
ion managers, training coordina
tor, director of field operations,
and members of the processing
staff, as well as the help desk.
Receiving the Westfalia train
ing certification gives the particip
ants of the seminar the education
needed to provide advanced train
ing to the technicians and mem
bers of Pa. DHIA.
The seminar involved three
days of education on all aspects of
the Westfalia Dairy Plan. The
Westfalia Dairy Plan takes the
input from the Quick Bamsheet
program and creates a data base,
which allows the technician to
create basically any report the
dairymen may request.
Representing Westfalia Syste
mat and teaching the seminar were
Paul Bergstrom, programmer, and
Bob Turner and Rob Kolb, sales
representatives. This was a great
opportunity, to be taught from a
programmer’s point-of-view as
National DHIA
Considers Rules Change
DAVID SLUSSER
General Manager
UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre
Co.) The National DHIA Con
vention recently held in Burling
ton, Vermont was very informa
tive and well organized.
The highlight of the convention
was the passing of a resolution
supporting the development of the
Herd and Cow Profiles Program to
replace the Official Rules System.
Most of what used to be called
rules were standard operating pro
cedues effecting on-farm date col
lecting procedures.
These standard procedures are
essential and will be continued to
ensure the integrity of the national
dairy database, which includes
technician training, sample and
data collection and milk meter
calibration and operations.
Once development is finished,
the Herd and Cow Profiles will re
place the official rules.
This concept is a snapshot of in
formation pertaining to how re
cords are collected and developed.
The basic herd profile could be a
minimum for participation in
young sire sampling programs and
breed association programs. In or
der for a herd to participate in these
programs, they would have to
agree to “open disclosure” of the
information in the Herd and/or
Cow Profile. The only exception
would be “farm only” records.
The Herd Profile is designed to
present herd performance and des
criptive information. The profile
would be uniform throughout the
DHIA system.
The Herd Profile may contain
information on rolling herd aver
age, average lactation curbe, bulk
tank comparisons, number of
supervised and unsupervised tests,
number of component samplings,
PTA distribution, MJE. distribu
tions, number of cows, ID changes
in last year, percent usable
records, percent cows completing
lactation, and percent average
USDA weighting.
Personnel
well as being taught from the sales
representative’s.
Basic data, such as adding a
cow to the system, entering feed
amounts and entering monthly
milk data was covered in the
beginning of the seminar.
The proper way to enter Vet
Action Entries was covered next
on the seminar agenda. Vet Action
Entries include Cow Calving,
Heat Observation, Insemination,
Pregnancy check entries and a Vet
Checklist
The highlight of the seminar
was the participants being taught
how to design a quick report, as
well as create graphs. In this pro
cess, it was made clear how to
change report limits, sorting, col- Quality is one of the most
umns and headings. important aspects of your Pa.
At Pa. DHIA, we feel that these DHIA monthly report,
reports can give our members You’ll never see a quality score
another tool in the management of anywhere on your report, or a little
dairy records, in today’s fast sticker saying. “These samples
paced dairy industry. inspected by No. 4,” but sample
Westfalia Dairy Plan reports are testing quality affects every aspect
available on test day from your Pa. of the information you pay for.
DHIA technician. Think about it. How do you
Ask your technician or region know that the fat, protein, and
manager about Westfalia Dairy somatic cel! count results on your
Plan Reports. Also, feel free to monthly report are accurate?
contact Dean Amick at You ba * e feeding, breeding,
1-800-344-8378, if you have any tod even culling decisions on
questions. -hese results. To use this informa
tion effectively, you must have
confidence in the test results.
As Laboratory Quality Control
Specialist for Pa. DHIA I’d like to
share with you some of the steps
we take, every day, to assure that
the results you receive are of the
highest possible quality.
Pint, let me describe several
aspects of sample testing that
influence the “correctness” of test
results.
An instrument must be specific
for the component in question.
There should not be background
noise that causes elevated or
depressed readings.
An instrument must produce
repeatable results. A given sample
should have the same result each
time it is tested by the machine.
' Of ’course, each instrument
must be accurate, giving the right
answer each time a sample is
tested.
Every week, I run a battery of
quality checks on each machine in
the lab to make sure that it reads
samples specifically, repeatably
and accurately. Each machine is
calibrated to standards produced
by a nationally distributed
company.
The standards cover a wide
range of values for fat, protein,
lactose and somatic cell count,
Possible and probable outlier
cows will be identified on the PTA
and M.E distribution graphs.
These cows’ exceptional pro
duction may be due to 1) high
genetic merit, 2) unintended
environmental bias, 3) errors in
data collection, or 4) intentional
bias. The method of resolving the
reasons for the outlier cows will
depend on the users of this
information.
The following are several iden
tified users of DHIA information
and how they might use the pro
gram.
1) Members not interested in
marketing cattle or participating in
industry programs. They could use
the Herd Profile information just
for management purposes and not
want verifications of outlier infor
mation.
2) Non-marketing herds that
would like to see their herd aver
ages or cow information listed.
Other producers could rely on the
reputation of members, or could
request additional verification for
a fee.
3) Local committees or local
DHIA may choose to publish veri
fied records only, underwriting the
cost of verification.
4) Herds actively marketing cat
tle may receive extra value from
verified outlier cattle. They would
pay for the cost of verification test
and benefit from the market place.
5) AI and breed organizations
may choose to verify specific ani
mals, and develop guidelines cov
ering the ordering and payment of
verification test
Research is still in progress on
this new system.
The resolution passed at the
convention indicated support for
continued development of the
Herd and Cow Profile Program.
Implementation of the program
will occur after research and devel
opment results are finished, and
the results indicate intended pur
poses arc met.
(Continued from Pag* E 6)
choose. One was in Dauphin
County, the other in Chester. He
has lived in Chester County ever
since.
“I like it here,” he said of the
area he works in Chester County,
much changed from when he
started. “I always felt I was doing
something worthwhile,” he said.
He said that for 45 years, he
worked seven days per week,
excepting vacations.
In the early years, especially, he
Quality Assured
DIXIE BURRIS
Director Lab. Services
Dixie Burris, director of laboratory services, left, and Cathy Houghwout, laboratory
control specialist, are in the Pa. DHIA laboratory where many quality control opera
tions take place daily to ensure accuracy in reports.
Lmcaitar Farming, Saturday, Jiina'9, 199549
Together For 50 Years
would stay overnight on a lot of
farms, not only since everybody on
test needed the tester to perform at
two milkings per day, but because
fuel prices were too high, and gas
not as available.
He said there were times when
he would do testing at 11 a.m. and
again at 11 p.m., finish at 4 a.m.,
and drive to the next farm to wait
until that farm was ready to go.
“At that time, I always carried a
suitcase,” he said.
The biggest herd he’s ever
tested numbered 600 head. He
thus ensuring that the machines
are reading all samples correctly
whether, for instance, the somatic
cell count is 150,000 or 1,000,000.
Each morning, before any pro
ducer samples are tested, the
machine operators go through a
series of start-up tests to verify
machine performance: Is there any
background noise? Does the
machine produce the correct value
on a known sample? Is it giving
the same value each time the
sample is tested?
Any machine which does not
pass all of the performance checks
is not used until we can rectify the
problem, then verify machine
performance.
Every hour during the day.
“check test” samples of known
value are tested to verify that the
machines are reading accurately
and consistently. Again, any
machine not passing all quality
checks at any time is taken off line
until we feel confident that it is
functioning properly.
Throughout the course of a nor
mal working day, each work sta
tion is subjected to a minimum of
73 quality checks!
Of course, these sophisticated
machines don’t run by them
selves. A critical part of the
machine operator’s job is monitor
ing the parts of quality that any
number of machine tests can’t
control.
Things like identification,
temperature at testing, and condi
tion of samples are monitored by
the machine operator as each henl
is tested. Quality is Uic most
important aspect of the job for our
machine operators.
Although we strive for quick
turnaround time, getting the right
answer is always more important
than getting a fast answer.
Did you know that Pa. DHIA’s
laboratory scored 99 out of a pos
sible 100 on our last annual certifi
cation for National DHIA?
Gerald MHler is the most
senior technician on the staff
of the Pennsylvania Dairy
Herd Improvement
Association.
would test between 5,400 to 6,000
cows per month on his circuit
Up until eight years ago, he
served 72 herds on his circuit most
of them on DHIA.
He said that part of the reason he
was attracted to the job in the first
place was because of the benefits
package that came along with the
job. “We had a good retirement”
he said.
But there’s more to it he said.
There’s the atmosphere, the out
side work, the being able to be
home almost everyday to see and
help his children growing up.
“1 like my work,” Miller said. “I
like working with people and
working with cows. And I like
things that are farm oriented. I like
that kind of work. I can’t tolerate a
lazy person.”
He played softball regularly up
until he was 60, but now spends a
lot of his free time traveling and
camping.
He and his wife and now, some
times their eight grandchildren, go
camping and sightseeing to West
Virginia’s Smokey Mountains, or,
more frequently, to the French
Creek State Park, or to Muddy
Run.
“I guess I’m a bit of a gyspy,” he
smiled, turning to mark down the
number of a cow that just entered
the parlor.
Whenever your samples arc
tested, and whatever type of test
ing you request, you can be
assured that the test results you get
from Pa. DHIA are of die highest
possible quality.
At Pa. DHIA, we care!