A224Jlftfcs«r firming,' SiwWly,l99l * DMA TOMS SMITH Region 4 Manager STATE COLLEGE (Centre Co.) -Recently, a large herd started on the Sample Analysis Program. The herd manager was concerned about his Somatic Cell Count and wanted to identify the high SCC cows. From the results, he found several cows over three million cell count. These cows did not show any clinical signs of masti tis so he used the California Mastitis Test to confirm the cows in question. He removed these cows from the bulk tank and in a short period of time decreased his bulk tank SCC from over 250,000 to 110,000. This qualified him to receive the best quality bonuses from the dairy. With a SCC from the dairy of 250,000, many dairy producers would look at this herd and determine there is not a SCC problem. However, this producer wanted to know which cows Lancaster lf ==*p== a r =3== Poured Walls • Agriculture J • Commercial • Residential L L — Call for Prices On: • SCS approved Manure Storage Pits • Basements • Retaining Walls - Footers • Floors Customer Satisfaction is Our Goal Lancaster Poured Walls 2008 Horseshoe Rd. • Lancaster, PA • (717) 299-3974 Find out why the Patz Hay Handler Mixer is your best value on the market. Ask about a demonstration on your farm. Contact your Patz Dealer today! Consider convenient financing from Patz Credit. AS Patz' Cedar Crest Equipment 60S Evergreen Rd., Lebanon PA 17042 717-270-6600 1-800-646-6601 SAP Success were causing him to not obtain the bonuses available from the dairy. Let’s look at this herd and say the herd is producing sixty five pounds of milk per cow per day. He is shipping 22750 pounds per day at $12.00 cwt. He earns $2730.00 per day or $81900.00 per month. If the three cows removed from the tank were milking 100 pounds per day, he was removing $36.00 worth of milk. By doing this he increased the value of his milk by $.40 cwt. Now his milk is worth $12.40 cwt. and he is shipping 22450 pounds. He is now receiving $2783.80 per day ($83514.00 per month). This is $1614.00 more profit per month or an addition al $19368.00 per year! This producer's testing bill was $339.00 or $.97 per cow. By spending $.97 per cow to test for SCC he was able to obtain infor mation to increase his profitabil ity. Would you spend $339.00 to earn $1614.00? Do you believe • Stationary models, also he made a good decision to test his herd with PA DHIA? I have spoken with many dairy producers that know they can obtain quality bonuses from the dairy to which they ship milk, but feel a SCC of 250,000 to 300,000 is acceptable. These people need to understand the ease of testing their herd and the importance of producing a top quality product. Many times it is only a few cows causing the problem Somatic Cell Count quality standards are going to become stricter and we are in position to provide service to producers who need our service. Pa.DHIA Shows Wares STATE COLLEGE (Centre Co.) - The 1997 Ace Expo was held at Lancaster on December 17, 1997. the show was a great opportunity for people in agri culture to see the computer related tools available for on farm and Agri-industry use. Many PA DHIA clients and sup porters attended to learn more about how they can use comput ers on their farms. One of the breakout sessions highlighted a discussion panel with Jim Boyer and representa tives from two competing DHIA affiliates. The main discussion focused on DHIA's role in the future. Jim commented that "dairy farmer's needs are con stantly changing and DHIA's role will change with those needs". One change will be more inte grated software packages, and Jim took the opportunity to pre view and promote the Heifer CRAFT-BItJ CONSTRUCTION, INC. maWheim, PA (717) 653-4023 Pre-Engineered Buildings Lifetime Design Warranty Dairy Equine Self-Storage Commerical Management program devel oped for release in 1998. Visitors to our booth expressed interest in obtaining the Heifer Management program as well as other software being developed. Computers will become more important to the daily manage- Dairy Conference Discussion Shows PA DHIA's Leadership Role In The Future STATE COLLEGE (Centre Co.) - The 1997 Pennsylvania Dairy Futures Conference was held at State College in December. This program was developed as an informational meeting for dairy producers and allied industry. The topics dis cussed showed PA DHIA is poised to help farmers with future trends in the dairy indus try. There was a wide range of speakers like Bill Eby from the Kiplinger Agriculture Letter to Dr. John Lord, Professor and Chairman of Food Marketing Department at Saint Joseph's University. The speakers pre sented information regarding dairy industry tends to general consumer trends. Speaker, Monte Hemenover, Director of Industry Affairs, at Protiva spoke about the diary industry on a national basis and future consumer demands. He i fk W w ment of our client's farms and PA DHIA is set to offer the pro grams needed. These programs will easily integrate data collect ed and processed by PH DHIA and will take the Pennsylvania dairy industry into the next cen tury. indicated the industry is set for good times based on Ms analysis of population growth, consumer demand and new dairy product marketing techniques. It is the diary industry's responsibility to develop ways to satisfy these needs. Of major importance to the DHIA industry was his sugges tion that milk will be purchased by processors demanding low Somatic Cell Counts. He has seen instances where the dairy producer was shipping milk under 200,000 SCC not because of quality bonuses but because that gives him the right to sell the milk to that processor. With dairy industry trends like this, Pennsylvania DHIA is set for helping dairy producers meet their needs. We need to promote the PA DHIA programs in place as tools to help farmers to produce the high quality prod uct demanded in the future. Qfh m Wh