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-