PA DHIA Board Visits
New Bolton Center
STATE COLLEGE (Centre
Co.) The PA DHIA board of
directors held a recent meeting at
Glen Mills, located near the New
Bolton Center of University of
Pennsylvania. The board toured
the facility.
Dr. Jim Ferguson and Dr. Dave
Galligan served as hosts for the
tour of the center and dairy facility.
Following dinner, Dr. Ferguson
reported on a recent impartial trial
on DMA Milk Urea Nitrogen
(MUN) testing. Feiguson said that
the PA DHIA infrared MUN test
was the most consistent and
repeatable of the three DHIA labs
providing MUN testing. Those
MUN tests checked for repeatabil
ity included infrared and wet che
mistry testing machines.
“Recent advertisements stating
that wet chemistry is more accu
rate are simply not true,” Ferguson
said.
Dr. Galligan reported on his
work ond&iry production and vet
erinary economics. He said he
wants to develop a program that
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COOPERATOR
PIONEER 34G81 1260 157 570 $25416
DEKALB OKS6S 1071 15 9 54 5 1212 26
CAMBRIDGE. MD SECOND TRIAL
DORCHESTER COUNTY PIONEER 34K77 149 7 16 0 60S $296 35
JOHN WINDSOR
DEKALB
PLANTED 4/29/96 THIRD TRIAL
HARVESTED 9/11/98 PIONEER
DEKALB
COOPERATOR
GEORQER MOFFETT PIONEER 3394 137 9 15 8 58 0 $27359
ASGROW RX77O 132 5 17 8 55 5 $25788
CHESTERTOWN, MD
KENT COUNTY
TEST INCOME/
COOPERATOR BRAND HYBRID YIELD MET. WT. ACRE
EUGENE LOWE
PIONEER 3348 131 5 12 7 59 0 $26300
HEBRON, MD CARGILL 8327 108 5 15 5 56 0 $215 85
WICOMICO COUNTY PLANTED 4/15/98 HARVESTED 9/12/98
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will help a dairyman to know when
it is economical to treat a cow.
Galligan also said he wants to be
able to measure the economic
worth of feed ingredients. He is
interested in working with PA
DHIA and its Performance Eco
nomics Program to help him with
his work.
In other business, the board
approved the 1998-99 budget PA
DMA is completing a profitable
year, and the new budget calls for a
similar sized profit
No fee adjustments are neces
sary to achieve the new budget
Th board had been spending
time reviewing the official Policy
Manual, and at the meeting the
new manual was approved.
Board policies are rules set by
the board in which the general
managers run the association.
The Planning Committee
recommended that district meet
ings be held between November
and February, depending on the
wishes of each district Because of
varying harvest times and winter
TEST INCOME/
■RAND HYBRID YIELD MST. WT. ACRE
DKSBS 1071 15 9 54 5 $212 28
33Y18 127 7 15 0 590 $255.49
DKSBS 1071 15 9 54 5 $21228
TEST INCOME/
■RAND HYBRID YIELD MAT. WT. ACRE
PLANTED 4/13/96 HARVESTED 9/9/86
S STATES SS-793 111 0 18 8 55 0 $2lB 07
Adjuited drees Inooim eeleulettd with Em price el com it $2.00 per buehel end drying ceete el $.02 per point el moliture.
Yield le repreiented In buehele/iere it 11% moliture.
weather, the board accepted the
recommendations of the
committee.
It was announced that the state
annual meeting is to be held Feb.
16, 1999.
It was also announced that
director elections are to be held in
districts 2, S, 8, and 11. District 6
also is to hold an election of a
director to fulfill the unexpired
term of Neal McCulloch.
The Eastern Caucus meeting of
National DHIA is set for Oct. 24.
Frank Omer, Ralph Gilkinson,
John Brodzina, and Dale Hoover
are to represent PA DHIA as dele
gates at the caucus meeting.
In other news, the board
approved a resolution that allows a
business other than a farmer
owned cooperative to become a
member of National DHIA, pro
vided that the organization meets
quality control requirements. The
resolution is to be presented by the
delegates at the national DHIA
meetings.
QUESTION: We think body
condition scoring can be a good
tool to track proper nutrition, but
with 300+ cows it takes too much
time. Do you have ideas for an
alternative plan?
ANSWER: Despite who is
doing the scoring, it is sometimes
hard to get the job done. One way
not just to foiget it is to make it a
mote meaningful tool and incorpo-
IORE BOTTOM UNE POWER.
TEST INCOME/
■RAND HYBRID YIELD MST. WT. ACRE
COOPERATOR
PIONEER 33G26 108 6 IBS 580 $20964
DOEBLER’S 75X 92 9 21 0 56 0 $174 66
JONATHAN REED
CHESTERTOWN, MD
KENT COUNTY
PLANTED 4/29/96 HARVESTED 9/14/96
TEST INCOME/
■RAND HYBRID YIELD M*T. WT. ACRE
COOPERATOR
CECIL GANNON 8 SONS PIONEER 33Y09 123 0 19 1 58 5 $23593
ASQROW RX77O 120 7 18 7 53 5 $232 50
EASTON, MD
TALBOT COUNTY PLANTED 4/27/98 HARVESTED 9/4/98
TEST INCOME/
■RAND HYBRID YIELD MET. WT. ACRE
COOPERATOR
PIONEER 3394 132 3 17 0 60 0 $25925
S STATES SS-742A 1031 18 7 53 5 $19860
WH COOPER
EDEN, MD
WICOMICO COUNTY PLANTED 4/15/98 HARVESTED S/11V98
Ik. «* * * «<*M « * A
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Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 3, 1998-A33
rate it in our nutrition plans.
We will discuss several ways to
make this job just a bit more
palatable.
1. The first way, ina way, makes
the most sense. What you do is, to
body score each cow at the times
that you are working one-on-one
with her.
The first time is when she
calves. By sewing cows at fresh
ing we get a feel for the correctness
of your nutrition program during
the prefresh period.
Your goal should be not to gain
or lose body score during the pre
fresh cow period. Loss of a score
here can result in cows not peaking
correctly at 55 to 6S days in milk.
Peak levels will be lower due to
body reserves not available when
production exceeds dry matter
intake.
Next you should score at breed
ing to establish nutrient adequacy
needed for cows to cycle reproduc
tively. Loss of a body score
between freshening and’ breeding
is normal but should change to a
gain, as you want to breed your
cows.
I then like to score cows at ISO
to 200 days to establish needs for
body weight gains as she nears dry
off.
One body score is about 200- to
250-pounds body weight This is
so dependent on frame size in cows
that I seldom think about it in this
way. It’s better to aim for a body
score at dry off of 3 5 to 4, on the
S-point scide.
Lastly, score cows at prefresh
time to evaluate the dry cow
period.
By using this method of body
scoring, we can evaluate cow man
agement at times when we have
special reasons to work one-on
one with them.
Com, N0.2y—2.23 bu.. Ear Com _ go46 to
3.99 cwt. 402
No. 2 2.31 Alfalft H _ n4 38
bu., 3.86 cwt. 5?2 '
8«ley, No. 3 1.32 Mixe d H ’ _ 11000
~,K ton, 530 cwt.
. °* U ’ 2 ~ 1,31 bu - Timothy Hay 112.50
m , aO7 «on. 5.63 cwt.
Soybeans, No. 1 —4.97
bu., 8.30 cwt.
. '•> 4 4** kftl k. tA4ii A b i**
2. The second method is just as
simple. It involves the ideas that
there are times during die life of
the cow that she has little change in
body condition despite the
management
During these times, we can get
very reliable information about
body condition while sampling
just part of the cows and applying
this average to those cows in that
catagory.
The first time you should score
is 0- to 60-days in milk.
This group has much variation
in weight loss so, you must score
most of the cows here. To get reli
able numbers, plan to score three
our of every four cows, or 75 per
cent of .the herd.
Sixty-one through 150-days in
shows less variability in weight
changes, so sewing SO percent of
the cows is adequate.
Since I like to use ISO days
adjusted milk weights as a perfor
mance guide, I also like to score
cows at ISO- to 180-days in milk.
Here you should score 7S percent
of the cows for accurate
information.
At 181 days through the end of
lactation is normally a period of
steady (body gain) progress in all
cows, so scoring 25- to SO permit
of the herd is all that is necessary.
Dry cows both early and
late ate so important in manag
ing the next lactation that I always
do the same percentage as the early
lactation cows.
These are two methods that can
cut down on time spent, if you
want to use body condition scoring
as an evaluation tool to feeding
management
Don’t get hung up on the num
bers, but a look at trends can lead to
positive changes in your cows.
Body condition scoring can be an
important part of modem dairy
management
Average Farm Feed Costs
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