From the Department of Dairy and Animal Science This regular column from Penn State’s Department of Dairy and Animal Science features the research findings, student opportunities, and resports on other important topics generated in the Department. The back issues of the column are archived on Lancaster Farminq’s Internet www.lancasterfarming.com home page. Look for them. Induced Lactation as a Tool to Increase Dairy Farm Profitability By Ronald S. Kensinger Department of Dairy & Animal Science Pennsylvania State University Profitability on a dairy farm is defined by the simple equation: Profit = (pnce/cwt of milk - cost/cwt of milk) X volume. Reducing the cost of milk production offers the most promising opportunity for dairy producers to increase profitability, and has been the subject of recent research within Penn State’s Department of Dairy and Animal Science in the College of Agricultural Sciences. Most dairy producers realize there are a limited number of strategies to increase the price they are paid for milk. The volume of milk produced per farm has steadily increased in recent decades, and will continue to increase as limited by land mass, nutrient management regulations, and the availability of cows, facilities and labor. Therefore, controlling the cost of producing milk plays a Our Qualify SKows - We Built Our Business On Jt! took for in at the Dairy Housing ft Equipment Systems Expo at the Radisson Penn Harris Hotel, Camp Hill, PA. Feb 1-3,8000. TRIPLE H Construction 430 Spnngville Road, Ephrata, PA 17522 717-738-2142 • 1-(800)-874-7531 • 1-(800)-TRIPLE-1 Custom Builders of Dairy, Horse, Storage, Residential & Commercial Buildings significant economic role at the farm. One factor that increases cost of producing milk is the significant involuntary cull rate on the dairy farm. This often occurs when otherwise healthy cows do not conceive in a timely way, and need to be culled from the herd. Options include replacing them with heifers from the farm, or purchasing a pregnant heifer or cow that is near calving. This reduces profits on the farm, and it is our goal to reduce this cost. Dairy producers are well aware that the primary reason to rebreed a cow is to gam the resulting calf, and to prepare the cow for another lactation It is the lactation that has the greatest impact on farm profitability, as most income results from sale of milk. The goal of our research is to treat those open cows in a manner that creates a brief “artificial pregnancy”, in order to stimulate udder development and induce them to have another lactation. The basic methods in this procedure were introduced 25 years ago by research at Ohio State University, but were not Kreider Dairy farm, Manheim, PA (Lancaster Co.) Ftey Dairy Farms, Conestoga, PA (Lancaster Co.) 1100-Cow Freestall Barn & Milking Center 560-Cow Freestall Bam refined to the point of 100% success rate Furthermore, no company or organization attempted to take the method through the process of approval required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA approval is essential if a technology like this is to be widely used in the industry. Research at Penn State modified earlier methods in terms of estrogen and progesterone (the natural hormones of pregnancy) administration. In addition, we utilized bST after the cows began to produce milk. Results were very encouraging, as the induced cows produced an average of 60 pounds of milk/day for 305 days. Furthermore, most of these cows, which were problem breeders at the start of the trial, conceived during the induced lactation. Thus, they have returned to the regular herd, and continue to be profitable animals. We then compared the profitability of retaining these cows in the herd to the alternative of raising replacement heifers. Results showed that the average dairy farm could increase profit by about $520 eveiy time a cow is induced to lactate rather than replace her with a heifer. Depending upon the size of the farm, the impact could be very significant. In addition, we hope to extend our studies to determine if these technologies can be applied to young heifers to get them producing milk earlier m their lives, and improve lifetime milk production. Since this procedure is not approved by FDA, we must Milking Center Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 29, 2000-A33 ensure this technique is safe for Inarch include Drs Larry animals and people. We hope that duller *? lke 0 C ° nnor ’ and private industry will partner with Steve Ford ’ iesearch s P eciallsts us in our desire to ensure that A " n Ma g |,aro and Dawn S,lli ” dairying remains profitable and stuc * ents Adam Kauf, Emma Colleagues who have Herscher ’ Shannon Beabes and contributed significantly to this Steve Blackburn Donaldson Re-Elected To AFBF Board CAMP HILL (Cumberland Co.)-Pennsylvania Farm Bur eau president Guy Donaldson of Orrtanna has been re-elected to a two-year term on the Amer ican Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Board of Directors and appointed to its Executive Committee. He was re-elected during the nationwide farm organization’s 81st annual meet ing earlier this month in Hous ton, Texas. Donaldson attended the annual meeting as one of three Voting Delegates repre senting the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau. He has served one the American Farm Bureau board since January, 1998, Donaldson was appointed to the AFBF Board’s Executive Committee for the first time. He will represent the Northeast state farm bureaus as one of six members on the committee The Executive Committee’s responsi bilities include approval of the budget for the nearly five-mil Give Us A Call! We would be pleased to show some of our completed facilities lion member organization and handling items of concern which need action before the next scheduled board meeting. The 32-member AFBF Board of Dir ectors meets five times per year Donaldson has been presi dent of Pennsylvania Farm Bureau since April, 1996. Prior to that he had served as the organization’s vice president since 1987 He and his wife, Betty, in partnership with their three children, operate a 550- acre fruit farm in Adams County They grow apples, peaches, cherries and vegetables and operate a retail farm mar ket in season. Pennsylvania Farm Bureau is a non-governmental voluntary farm organization which repre sents over 27,300 farm and rural families. It is one of 50 state farm bureaus plus Puerto Rico which comprises the nation’s largest general farm organiza tion, the American Farm Bureau. BUY, SELL, TRADE OR RENT THROUGH THE CLASSIFIED ADS IN Lancaster Farming PHONE 717-626-1164 I OR 717-394-3047 FAX 717-733-6058 * linnr '^*gdj» Mon., Tues., Wed., Fri. 8 AM to 5 PM Thurs. 7 AM to 5 PM
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