A Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 13, 2002 Penn State Cooperative Extension Capitol Region Dairy Team ABORTIONS IN DAIRY COWS, HEIFERS Dr. Arlen Mills Extension Veterinarian Capitol Region In spite of many advancements in dairy management and prac tices, pregnancy loss continues to be a problem. Studies have shown that an abortion costs an average of $6OO. Some may only count those abortions where there is obvious expulsion of fetal tissue. Others may include those early pregnan cy losses that may occur before day 45 of gestation. These cows miss a heat after breeding only to come back in heat again at 45-60 days. The better your records and heat observation, the better your detection of a problem will be. Monitoring abortion occur rences is critical to your heard. Abortions can have many causes, and early detection of abortions may enable you to catch the problem that much sooner. Diag nostic labs get a diagnosis only 25 to 40 percent of the time when an aborted fetus is submitted. The lab may be most successful in coming to a diagnosis if an infec tious disease causes the abortion. Therefore, no diagnosis may indicate that the cause is not re lated to an infectious disease. Be cause toxic, metabolic, and he reditary causes of abortion don’t usually cause changes in the fetal tissue, diagnosis is most difficult in these cases. At what level of fetal loss is it time to become concerned? Liter ature seems to indicate that on an annual basis, 8 percent to 16 per cent of pregnant cows will loose their pregnancy. Any changes on a monthly basis may also be meaningful. It’s interesting to note that most herds going through expansion see an in crease in pregnancy loss. If a herd has a real abortion problem, the next step in solving this is to determine a cause. Ev erything that can affect the cow may be a possible cause. Let’s consider some possible causes of abortion. Infectious diseases may be ruled in or out on the basis of when fetal losses are occurring, examination of aborted tissues, and blood work. Diseases to con sider include BVD, IBR, leptospi- Lebanon County Holstein Field Night Set For Brandt - View CAMPBELLTOWN (Lebanon Co.) This year’s Lebanon County Holstein Field Night will be hosted by Brandt-View Farms on Friday, July 19. The farm is a partnership be tween David, Karl, and Daniel Brandt and consists of 102 regis tered Holsteins with a rolling herd average of 31,661 pounds of milk, 1,201 fat, and 943 protein. They recently remodeled the milking facilities, adding loop stalls and thicker mattresses. They have also constructed a bull bam and dry cow facility on their operation in the last five years. Dr. Arlen Mills rosis, Salmonella, and neosporo sis. Solving the problem may involve management changes and revision of vaccination prac tices. Often these agents are brought into a herd through lack of basic biosecurity practices. Avoid buying problems by pre purchase testing and isolating purchased stock. There are other inflammatory diseases that have definite effects on reproduction and abortion lev els. Much has been written con cerning the relationship of masti tis and fetal loss. It has been shown that cows that had clinical mastitis during the first 45 days of gestation were almost three times as likely to abort within the next three months as were cows without mastitis. Severely lame cows also have a higher rate of pregnancy loss than herd mates. Lameness is a big factor in keeping cows from getting bred in the first place but also increases the abortion risk. Nutrition should always be looked at closely when consid ering an abortion problem. Myco toxins and elevated nitrate levels can certainly lead to abortions. Acidosis is an immune suppres sor that may be involved indirect ly. With the way we feed cows it would be very rare to see nutrient deficiency related abortions. Abortions are costly and mea sures should be taken to mini mize their occurrence. Proper feeding practices, biosecurity and sanitation practices, and ade quate vaccination programs will help to reduce the incidence of abortion. Brandt-View Farms has a growing embryo transfer pro gram and has sent about 25 bulls to AJ. studs in the last five years. Once again this year, there will be a buffet style meal from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Three classes of ani mals will be judged from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tom Harkenrider, head of sire procurement at Genex, will be the judge and featured speak er for the evening. Come and enjoy an evening of door prizes, food and fellowship. Brandt-View Farms is located on Rt. 322, l/i miles east of Campbelltown and four miles west of Rt. 934. State’s Dairy Industry In Danger Of Lagging Behind UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) Pennsylvania’s dairy in dustry is at a crossroads. Accord ing to a Penn State College of Agricultural Sciences expert, the state’s farmers must increase av erage production per cow and boost average herd size to keep national market share. The state ranks fourth in do mestic milk production behind California, Wisconsin, and New York, ahead of Minnesota and Idaho. Judging by 50-year trends that have seen states such as Cal ifornia and Idaho make sharp relative gains in production, it seems clear that Pennsylvania dairy producers must get bigger and better to compete and avoid constant erosion of farm income. “Unless Pennsylvania changes the fundamental structure of its dairy businesses, the national trend towards higher production in larger herds will diminish the state’s dairy importance,” said Bill Heald, professor of dairy sci ence. “Pennsylvania needs all of its dairy herds to increase pro duction to grow its national mar ket share. If not, Pennsylvania risks losing its dairy infrastruc ture suppliers and processors.” Over the last 50 years, U.S. milk production has increased by nearly SI billion pounds national ly that equates to 62,000 more cows each year. Production promises to expand in the future to meet the nation’s growing de mand. “The question is,” said Heald, “will Pennsylvania share in this opportunity to grow, or will it stay neutral or lose more market share, as has been the case for the midwestem and eastern dairy states?” The top five dairy states pro duced just 37 percent of the na tion’s milk in 1951. Today, six states California, Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania, Minne sota, and Idaho produce about 60 percent of the nation’s milk. Farmers Union Seeks Restrictions On MFC Imports WASHINGTON, D.C. Na tional Farmers Union (NFU) is pushing for passage of H.R. 1786, which would impose tariff rate quotas on imported milk protein concentrate (MPC) from other countries. “Dairy producers are extreme ly concerned about the impact of imported MPC, casein and other milk derivatives that are displac ing the domestic milk market and depressing milk prices,” said NFU President Dave Frederick son. “Foreign exporters are cir cumventing trade regulations that have resulted in a surge of MPC imports and have rapidly increased imports of other dairy derivatives into the United States.” In a recent letter to Rep. Philip Crane, R-111., who chairs the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, Farmers Union urged his consideration of H.R. 1786. Frederickson said H.R. 1786 would regulate MPC and casein imports in the same man ner as all other dairy products. Specifically, it requires the U.S. Customs Service to establish new tariff rate quotas on non-industri al uses of milk protein concen trates and casein. However, changes in top dairy states have occurred. “Idaho was a nontraditional dairy state just 10 years ago, and now it ranks sixth nationally,’’ said Heald. “California went from fourth na tionally to number one (produc ing more milk than Pennsylva nia, New York, and Minnesota combined). The other top dairy states have faltered. Minnesota peaked in percentage of national milk produced in the ’6os, New York in the ’7os, Wisconsin in the ’Bos, and Pennsylvania more recently. “Many of the top 20 dairy states are losing their dairy in dustry while the national need for milk continues to grow,” said Heald. “The industry is consoli dating into fewer dairy states and fewer dairy herds. Pennsylvania needs to keep up with these trends.” Milk production per cow has been a strong indicator of wheth er a state will grow or fade on the national scene. States in the top six that fell below the national average for milk production per cow also lost in percentage of na tional market share of milk in about the same decade. By con trast, states that were above the national average per cow grew dramatically, including nontradi tional dairy states. California grew from five per cent of the national milk produc tion in 1951 to 20 percent in 2001, and Idaho grew from under two percent to about five percent in just the last decade. “Pennsylvania grew slowly in percentage of national market share of milk until recently,” Heald said. “Our state has dropped below the national aver age production per cow, and now its percentage of national market share of milk has started to fall.” Production has continued to grow in western states such as Washington, California, Arizona, Idaho and New Mexico. All of MPC imports into the United States have dramatically in creased and are displacing close to 400 million pounds of non-fat dry milk, or approximately 4.6 billion pounds of U.S. domestic milk production. According to a 2001 General Accounting Office report, MPC imports have surged by more than 600 percent in six years. The report also cites for eign exporters that deliberately blend previously processed dairy proteins to circumvent statutory U.S. import regulations on nonfat dry milk powder. Milk protein concentrates are powdered milk products con taining between 40 and 90 per cent complete milk protein. Im ported powdered milk products with less than 40 percent com plete milk protein would be class ified as nonfat dry milk and would be subject to a tariff-rate quota. MPC with lower protein levels are used as starter cultures in certain types of cheese, frozen desserts and bakery goods. High er protein concentrates are used in sports drinks and other prod ucts. these states have above-average milk production per cow and herd size. “Pennsylvania was below the national average production per cow and is down 0.5 percent in total production,” said Heald. “Pennsylvania was only slightly below the national average in 2001. Strong increases in milk production per cow for 2002 are needed to reverse this trend.” Change in average herd size also can indicate where a dairy state is heading. About 60 per cent of the nation’s milk is pro duced in herds larger than 200 cows. Nationally, herds' of all sizes have declined in the last decade except those 200 or more. The herds capturing the greatest increase in national mar ket share of milk were herds greater than 200 cows (predomi nantly in the 2,000-cow and larger herd sizes), while those with the greatest decline were herds with 50 to 99 cows. “Only 17 percent of Pennsylva nia milk is produced in herds greater than 200 cows,” said Heald. “That’s well below the na tional average, but changed quickly from eight percent to 17 percent in the last decade. Like the national trends, only Pennsyl vania’s herds with greater than 200 cows are increasing market share of milk. All other herd sizes are declining.” Gains in percentage of market share of milk with herds greater than 200 cows is not simply due to more cows, and is likely caused by a variety of factors. “Large herds tend to have higher production per cow, receive high er income, pay less for inputs and services, have better-quality feeds, and attract the best em ployees and service providers,” Heald said. However, there are successful and profitable herds with fewer than 200 cows, points out Heald. “Anyone working with the Penn sylvania dairy industry knows of highly profitable herds in each size classification. However, large, high-producing herds do enjoy favored business status and are becoming the norm. To stay competitive, owners of herds with less than 200 cows need to devel op strong business strategies that help them to compete success fully.” Dauphin County Holstein Club To Meet ELIZABETHTOWN (Lancas ter Co.) The Dauphin County Holstein Club will conduct a twi light meeting July 18 at 7 p.m. at the Mahlon Lehman Farm, Eliza bethtown. This is a change from the first date advertised as July 19. There will be a warm meal served from 7 to 8 p.m., provided by Cargill Feeds. Allen Hostetter will talk about his family’s farming operation and the type of cows they are try ing to breed. He will also be offi cial judge for the judging contest. Directions to the Lehman Farm: From 283, take the Tollhouse Rd. exit, go to Rt. 230, turn left, and go two miles to Deodate Rd. Turn left at the first crossroad, then right on Beagle Rd. and go to the first farm on the right. All dairymen and families are in-
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