Arkansas - Agricultural Communication Services - University of ...

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2000 Dairy Herd Improvement Herds in Arkansas J. A. Pennington 1 Story in Brief In December, 2000, 82 of the 403 dairy cattle herds in Arkansas were enrolled in the Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) program. Seventy-two herds completed at least six DHI tests with a rolling herd average of 15,971 lb milk, 3.6% fat, and 3.1% protein; mature equivalent averages were 18,233 lb milk, 3.5% fat, and 3.1 protein. The Arkansas average for milk/cow was 12,476 lb/year on all cows. Herds not on DHI records averaged less than 12,000 lb/year compared to the 15,971 lb for herds on DHI. This difference of over 4,000 lb/cow/year affected income per cow by almost $600/cow or approximately $60,000/herd/year. The quartile data of milk production for the Holsteins with DHI records also reinforced that income over feed costs increased as milk production increased. Other records for health, reproduction, genetics, and inventory as well as production contributed to this difference in income/cow. It was surprising that 34.8% of the Holsteins left the herd, and over half of those cows leaving left because of disease or breeding problems. Since less than 25% of the state’s herds are enrolled in the DHI record-keeping program, opportunities exist for raising the level of milk production and profitability in the state by encouraging more producers to use DHI records. Introduction Successful dairy producers must have accurate and reliable records to make sound management decisions. The Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) program provides a comprehensive herd analysis and management report that includes information concerning production, reproduction, genetics, herd health, animal and feed inventory, and finances. The data can be used to improve efficiency of milk production by (1) identifying least profitable cows for culling, (2) feeding for more efficient production, (3) selecting animals with the greatest genetic potential for production as replacements, and (4) utilizing summaries of the data to make precise management decisions that improve net income. Typically, herds on DHI produce 3,500 to 4,500 lb more milk per year nationally than herds not on DHI. This difference in production has a significant effect on net income for the dairies. Income over feed costs is associated with greater milk production per cow. The dairy herd summaries also allow a dairy producer to compare production, health, reproduction, and financial aspects of his dairy to other dairies, so that areas of management that need improvement can be detected. Experimental Procedures Dairy cattle herds on test (n = 82) were used to report production and management data for DHI herds. The test milking (or day) for each cow included weighing milk, taking a sample of milk to be analyzed for percentage of fat, protein and somatic cell count (SCC), plus recording of other management parameters as indicated in Table 1. Milk samples were analyzed at the Heart of America DHI Lab in Manhattan, KS. Records were processed at Dairy Records Management Services (DRMS), Raleigh, NC. Results and Discussion Rolling herd averages for breeds of DHI herds with the ten tests to be considered official herds are in Table 1. Few non-Holstein herds were on DHI, but those results showed a similar trend in yields for breeds to the 1999 Heart of America DHIA Summary. In the United States, over 95% of the cows on test were Holsteins and almost 4% of cows on test were Jerseys. The average milk/cow for the 72 herds in Arkansas with at least six test periods during the year was 15,971 lb/year with 3.6% fat and 3.1% protein; the mature equivalent averages were 18,233 lb milk, 3.5% fat, and 3.1% protein. Table 2 shows the Holstein DHI averages for herds with six tests by quartile of milk production. The quartile data for the 39 Holstein herds illustrate the relationship of higher milk production to higher income over feed costs. The high quartile of herds also had lower somatic cell scores than other herds. Table 3 shows that higher producing herds also had superior genetics as indicated by the higher predicted transmitting abilities for dollars (PTA$) of the cows and sires, fewer days dry, less days open, lower calving intervals and reported a greater percentage of heats detected than lower producing herds. However, herds in quartiles 3 and 4 had fewer services per pregnancy than herds in quartiles 1 and 2. In larger data sets, lower producing herds have superior reproduction traits compared to higher producing herds. 1 Animal Science Section, Cooperative Extension Service, Little Rock. 150
AAES Research Series 488 Table 4 shows that 34.8% of Holstein cows left the herd last year. Only 4.2% of the Holstein cows leaving the herd left because of low production. This compares to 17.2% of the cows leaving because they died and another 19.7% of cows left because of reproduction. This data is similar to results from all states included in the Heart of America DHIA Summary for 1999. The 72 dairy cattle herds reported here are less than the 82 or more dairy herds that have been reported on DHI through other summaries. The primary reason for the difference in numbers is that herds reported here have at least six test periods. For quartile data, all herds were official herds with 10 tests during the year. There also were four goat herds on DHI, plus the list included any herd on DHI in 2000, including herds no longer on the DHI program. Still, less than 25% of the 403 herds in 2000 were involved in the DHI program. Herds on DHI averaged 15,971 lb milk/cow/year compared to the Arkansas average of 12,476 lb milk/cow/year, according to the Arkansas Agricultural Statistics Service. Omitting DHI herds from the state average indicates that the non-DHI herds averaged less than 12,000 lb milk/year. The difference of over 4,000 lb milk/cow/year affects income by almost $600/cow/year. This difference in milk income is $60,000 per year in a 100-cow herd. Implications DHI program participation affords dairy producers an opportunity to maintain milk production records on individual cows for milk production and other management practices. Herds utilizing DHI records averaged 15,971 lb milk/cow/year versus less than 12,000 lb/cow for herds not on DHI test. We should continue to encourage producers to enroll in the DHI Testing program. Table 1. 2000 Arkansas DHIA breed averages on selected traits. Breeds Brown Trait Ayrshire Swiss Guernsey Holstein Jersey Number of herds 1 2 2 39 2 Rolling herd average Milk, lb 16,538 13,836 12,147 15,866 12,178 Peak milk, lbs 71.0 65.5 54.5 70.7 55.0 SCC 1 average (x 1000) 438 247 548 523 196 Days to 1st service, total 97.0 – 104.5 76.6 65.0 Days open 228.0 – 252.0 191.3 104.0 Projected calving interval (mon) 16.7 – 17.4 15.5 12.7 Income minus feed costs ($) $970 $739 $548 $1,184 $1,083 1 SCC = somatic cell count. 151
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Arkansas Animal Science Department
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spine copy ARKANSAS ANIMAL SCIENCE
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INTRODUCTION The faculty and staff
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The Effects of Nitrogen Fertilizati
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Efficacy of Mannan Oligosaccharide
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Supplementation of Beef Cows and He
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Economics of Production Systems Inv
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