icaster Fanning, Saturday, December 19, 1998
C4-Lan
Lancaster Farming
DAVE SLUSSER
General Manager
STATE COLLEGE (Centre
Co.) For several years you
have been hearing about the
PA DHIA Strategic Long-
Range Plan. This plan devel
oped by the Board and being
implemented by employees
and the Board is moving along
and in a positive direction. Se
veral visible accomplishments
-are MUN, Member Consultant
Services, marketing, Heifer 98,
educational meetings. Innova
tive Program, Nitrogen Man
agement Report, partnering,
etc. Other areas such as the In
ternational Market develop
ment and herd management
software development are
moving rapidly.
A year ago the management
staff began meeting every six
months to evaluate progress to
ward the plan and possible
changes in direction. Six
months ago, the management
team decided to enlarge the fu
tures groups to include a broad
section of our employees. After
each session, a progress report
is given to the Board and their
guidance is sought. The reason
for this approach is that some
where in the minds of our
employees are ideas that will
help us.
Several weeks ago our
Employee Futures Committee
met. We evaluated several of
the long-range plan’s topics.
The meeting was positive and a
report was given to the Board.
A brief summary of the report
follows.
Marketing:
Positive results are occur
ring in the member marketing
program. The Owner Sampler
Program is growiong, and cold
calls on potential new mem
bers seem to work best. Tech
nicians working with Dave
Bigelow have been having
great success in getting new
herds on test. Our goal is to in
crease cows cm test.
International Marketing is
also going well with a pilot
project planned for this winter
in partnership with the PA De
partment of Agriculture and
Penn State University. Our
goal is to get international busi-
ness in milk recording process
ing of management informa
tion, and in farm management
consultant services.
Education:
Education on how to use PA
DHIA management reports, in
cluding MUN information, is
being done in several ways.
Weekly news articles, written
by George Cudoc, are being
DIXIE BURRIS
Laboratory Manager And
Membership Development
STATE COLLEGE (Centre
Co.) As PA DHIA moves
closer to the year 2000 we con
tinue to help dairy farmers
meet the challenges with their
cows and herds. The many
challenges and questions that
members and nonmembers
progress with challenges of
new technology. The price of
milk, social issues and family
pressures along with day to day
dairying many times dictate
where we need to meet these
day to day pressures and chal
lenges.
PA DHIA has developed the
means to receive real time elec
tronic laboratory analysis by
offering the results in many
ways. We can deliver the com
ponent analysis result through
email, the Internet, diskette, or
dial-up bulletin board for bulk
tank and individual cow tests.
We provide updates for herd
testing on many dhia programs
including the Sample Analysis.
We can deliver electronically
the analysis in a variety of for
mats including Dairy Plan, De
Laval, Boumatic and Dairy
Comp 305.
The lab offers six different
component analysis through a
variety of different ways elec
tronically and in written re
ports. By being a member of
Pennsylvania DHIA and test
ing your individual cows milk
at least monthly has proven to
improve the profitability on the
farm. The written reports can
not only give dairy farmers the
management information to
make the necessary changes to
adjust or take action on each
herd or cow but data can pro
Scott Williams, Training Coordinator
Call 1-800-DHI-Test, Fax 814-865-3294
Web site: http://www.dhicupsu.edu
Pennsylvania Dairy Herd Improvement Association
PA DHIA’s Futures Planning
published in the farm press.
Other methods used include
on-farm visits, local meetings,
and seminars for farm consult
ants. Interest is running high
among members and techni
cians. Our goal is to increase
the value of DHIA to our cur
rent members and new mem
bers.
Central Milk Testing Lab Notes
vide veterinarians, mutrition
ists and consultants the in
formation they need.
The following is an report
written by Dr. Larry J.
Hutchenson, DVM, Extension
Veterinarian and Carol M.
Bums, Veterinary Science Ex
tension Assistant, on how us
ing DHIA’s SCC reports can
help with mastitis control.
Using DHIA’s SCC Reports
with Mastitis Control The
most common and most costly
disease in the dairy industry is
mastitis. Many dairy producers
do not realize how much masti
tis is actually in their herd and
what this disease is costing
them. The loss to the dairy
industry in Pennsylvania is es
timated at more than $lOO mil
lion. Most of this loss is attri
buted to subclinical mastitis.
Mastitis is an inflammation
of the mammary gland (udder)
usually caused by a bacterial
infection. There are at least 80
different species of bacteria
that can cause mastitis. Recog
nition of clinical mastitis is re
latively easy. Infected quarters
become hard and swollen, and
are often warm and sensitive
when-touched. Frequently, the
milk looks abnormal. It can be
watery and contain flakes or
clots. Unfortunately clinical
mastitis makes up only 2-3 per
cent of the cases of mastitis in
the herd at any one time.
The remaining cases of mas
titis often go undetected be
cause the udder and the milk
are visibly normal. For every
case of clinical mastitis seen,
there can be many more sub
clinical cases in the herd at the
same time. These hidden infec
tions can be the source of new
infections. Subclinical mastitis
FOCUS
A NEWSLETTER FOR MEMBERS & CUSTOMERS
DHIA Service Center
Orchard Road, University Park, PA 16802
December 19 Issue Vol 13 No. 2
Software Development:
The development of our new
software designed for Win
dows 95-98 is moving forward
at the greatest possible speed.
The herd management soft
ware will be distributed to co
operating herds and techni
cians for field trial by February
1, 1999. Heifer 98 is the first
Windows 95-98 program farm
management software we
destroys milk secreting cells
thus reducing milk production.
Therefore, it is imperative to
find some means of locating
cows with subclinical mastitis.
Somatic cell counts (SCC)
can be used to monitor udder
Conversion of SCC to Linear Score
Somatic Cell Count
Linear Score
health, The term somatic cells
is derived from the Greek word
meaning body (soma). Somatic
cells come from the cow’s
body. They are comprised of
white blood cells, mostly poly
morhonuclear leukocytes
which respond to infections.
Bacteria invading the udder
produce toxins. The toxins
cause irritating reactions to the
milk producing tissues. An in
creased number of somatic
cells are released in response to
the irritation. These cells are a
natural means for the cow to
fight infection. As the degree
of infection increases, the num
ber of somatic cells that are re
leased also increases.
The Dairy Herd Improve
ment laboratory has the means
to accurately determine num
bers of somatic cells that are
present in a sample of milk.
The automatic electronic cell
counter reports the somatic cell
as the log. To simplify report
ing, scale was modified to the
know of. Our goal is to have
the best software in Dairy Herd
Management.
Conclusion:
PA DHIA is improving the
world one cow at a time. The
efforts of each employee are
greatly appreciated.
linear score (LS) based on a
scale of 0-9. For each increase,
the number of somatic cells
double. To give a more accur
ate representation of the somat
ic cell count, the LS readings
are given in tenths.
Cell Count (Thousands)
Mid-Point Range
O-17
18-34
jL2tS
25
35-70
141-282
283-565
566-1130
1600 1131-2262
2263-4525
3200
4526-
(Using DHI Somatic Cell
Counts to Increase Production
and Profits C.W. Hcald, et al)
The linear scores are group
ed in a manner depicting the
severity of mastitis. Scores of
0-2 are the most desirable.
Scores greater than 4 indicates
a high probability of a bacterial
infection. Cows with LS of 4-6
should be considered as candi
dates few subclinical mastitis.
Some cow may even show
signs of subclinical mastitis
with a LS of 4. Although there
is no set cutoff which denotes
subclinical and clinical masti
tis, LS of 7-9 are considered to
be the most serious.
Numerous research studies
have been completed which
determine that relationship of
milk production, mastitis and
- SCC. As the SCC increases,
the infection rate increases and
milk yield decreases. With
each increase in linear score,
(Turn to Pag* D 2)