730 Warren Road • Ithaca, New York 14850 • Ph: 800-496-3344 • Fax: 607-257-6808 • www.dairyone.com730 Warren Road • Ithaca, New York 14850 • Ph: 800-496-3344 • Fax: 607-257-6808 • www.dairyone.com 14

In This Issue

Pregnancy Results from a DHIA Milk Sample.....................2

2012 National Dairy Quality Award Winners..........................3

5 Cropping Strategies ............4

Copyright 2013 © Dairy One. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form or distributed by any means without permission from Dairy One. Layout/design: Jennifer Molnar

From the Desk of Jamie Zimmerman, General Manager

Brian Boerman, Tom Eaton and Patty Ristow are 3 members of the ACS agron-omy team who recently put together this list to help farms of all types and sizes focus on the specific actions that bring the most benefit to the crop side of a farm business. If you have questions or would like a free crop consultation (in NY), please call 800-344-2697.

1. Manure InjectionInjecting manure directly into corn or sod will allow nutrients to work more efficient-ly, conserve Nitrogen, prevent run-off and increase yields.

2. Tile DrainageEver increasing competition for land has led to higher and higher prices, so con-sider making the most of the land you do have. Other drainage benefits include ear-lier and later access to fields, deeper root systems leading to reduced sensitivity to extreme wet or dry conditions, increased crop yield , improved forage quality, and a reduction in overland flow which leads to a loss of soil and soil nutrients.

3. Plant the right seedTake the time to look at varieties that will

perform best in your farm’s soils and in your growing season. Advances in seed genetics are being made every year so do your homework to maximize yields. NY grain yields from 2002-2006 were 119 bushels/acre while 2007-2011 they rose to 138 bushels/acre.

While some seeds may perform better in test plots, keep in mind soil type varies widely throughout the region. If you don’t know your soil type, you can contact your local NRCS, or use the NRCS Web Soil Survey site: http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/HomePage.htm.

4. Data-Driven Nutrient Management

“Data driven” means using tools and in-formation at your disposal to make bet-ter decisions. It starts with taking soil and manure samples. Once you begin collect-ing data then, like other facets of your farm business, good record keeping be-comes the key to continued progress.

Soil testing will help in structuring starter fertilizer decisions: for example, which fields may not need additional phospho-rous? pH testing can help narrow down the fields that would benefit most from ad-ditional lime. Low pH results in reduced root growth, reduced Nutrient Availabil-ity, reduced Crop Protectant Activity (her-bicides, insecticides), and reduced yield.

5. Harvest High Quality ForageThe number one factor affecting forage quality is the maturity or growth stage at harvest.

Harvest corn silage between 30-35% dry matter. Too wet means low starch, low en-ergy and low protein. Too dry and you risk poor fermentation. Agricultural Consulting Services, Inc. helps farms to grow better crops and to maintain a strong environmental compli-ance position. We do this through inde-pendent, professional agronomy consult-ing, science based decisions, technological innovation, and a staff dedicated to the success of our clients.

Nitrogen Management Toolbox

Pre-Sidedress Nitrogen Test: PSNT• Measures plant available soil

Nitrate from manure at the time of sampling

Illinois Soil Nitrogen Test: ISNT• Estimate of soils ability to pro-

duce Nitrate during the grow-ing season good for 4 years.

Corn Stalk Nitrogen Test: CSNT• Measure plant Nitrate prior to

harvest.Manure spreading record keeping

New Forage Lab NIR ServicesDairy One has recently introduced an updated and expanded offering of NIR services to help customers measure and manage their feed ingredients for optimum performance. The Dairy One Forage Lab is committed to providing analytical services that allow you and your nutritionist to make informed decisions.

Visit our web site for additional information on our updated services, including our new specialized services for liquid, animal byproduct or mineral mix samples, sample informa-tion sheets and pricing: http://www.dairyone.com/Forage/Newsletters/201301.pdf

Dairy One is excited to be bringing a new measurement tool to dairy producers that extends the value of the monthly DHIA sample! Inside you will read about a new test that measures cow pregnancy status us-ing a milk sample. The innovative, conve-nient use of the DHIA sample for measur-ing something as important as pregnancy status is great news for the dairy commu-nity. Please read carefully the article on pages 2 & 3 to understand the advantages and limitations of using this test in your specific situation. Your DHIA technician is prepared to help you with this too.

In addition to providing a milk pregnancy test, Dairy One will be introducing a blood pregnancy test this spring. While taking a blood sample is less convenient than taking a milk sample, the blood-based test works

well for non-lactating animals and can be used at a shorter time post breeding. The test can also be used with goats and sheep. More infor-mation will be coming to you shortly.

For most farmers, pro-ducing high quality milk is a top priority that aids their individual business and the industry. For the industry, high qual-ity milk improves dairy product taste, yield, and boosts consumer confidence. At the farm, it improves returns through higher milk production, reduced treatments, and increased premiums. Dairy One is honored to have two of its mem-bers who were among a group of six farms from across the U.S. that received Plati-num Awards through the National Dairy Quality Awards program. The stories about Tollgate Farm and True Farms are on page 3. Tollgate Farm has been one of Dairy One’s top quality award winner for 6 years straight. Both farms make producing top quality milk a priority that is met every day. They also use their DHIA records intensely to aid in managing udder health.

Growing top-yielding, high quality crops continues to grow in importance in prof-itable dairy production. Members of the

ACS staff have highlighted their top 5 strategies to improve crop production on dairy farms. If you are interested in know-ing more about how these strategies (and others) could benefit your operation, please contact one of the ACS team members.

Are there portions of your operation that you would like to manage better? Chances are that Dairy One has a tool or service to help you measure that activity that will lead to making changes to your production activities.

Have a safe and productive spring season.

Dairy One Services

• DHIA Testing

• Feed and forage testing

• Software

• Soil testing

• Software and networking

• Camera systems

• Crop and nutrient

management services

Top 5 Cropping Strategies to Help Your Bottom Line from Agricultural Consulting Services

Dairy One NEWSMEASUREMENT TO MANAGEMENT

SPRING 2013

Figure 1. Manure injection

Figure 2. Tile drainage can make poorly drained fileds more valuable.

730 Warren Road • Ithaca, New York 14850 • Ph: 800-496-3344 • Fax: 607-257-6808 • www.dairyone.com730 Warren Road • Ithaca, New York 14850 • Ph: 800-496-3344 • Fax: 607-257-6808 • www.dairyone.com2 3

Pregnancy Results from a DHIA Milk Sample

A DHIA milk sample can now give you an easy, accurate, and economical method for detecting open cows. We can do this on test day with no disruption to routine milking procedures or to the cows.

Rectal palpation, ultrasound, and blood pregnancy testing have been the tools used to detect “open” cows in dairy herds. Yes, I said open cows because while we often refer to them as pregnancy diagnosis mea-sures, what we are ultimately managing are the cows that are still open and may need additional intervention if they are to become pregnant. Pregnant cows require no additional work, and our management plan has succeeded, at least for the mo-ment. Failure or delays in detecting these open cows have consequences. Increased calving intervals, higher culling rates, lower production, lost genetics and fewer potential replacements are some of those consequences all leading the way toward less profitability.

Milk pregnancy testing has now joined the family of ELISA (enzyme-linked im-munoassay) tests that we have been using for years to help us manage diseases like Johnes and Leucosis. We are specifically

looking for PAGS (pregnancy associated glycoproteins) released by the placenta after a cow becomes pregnant. These PAGS rapidly increase during pregnancy and reach levels where we can determine with more than 98% accuracy that a cow is pregnant after she has been bred for 35 days or more. One restriction we need to observe is that PAGS leave the cow’s circu-latory system after 60 days in milk follow-ing full term pregnancy. Opportunities for Milk pregnancy testing can be cus-tomized to a dairy. Figure 1 summarizes the boundaries set for this new technology as we follow the measured PAGS indicated by the data points.

Milk Pregnancy testing will be most use-ful in verifying that a cow has maintained a pregnancy in later lactation although we can detect pregnancy as soon as 35 days following breeding. Validation done by the manufacturer of the assay, IDEXX, was done on cows 35 days or more after breeding with overall accuracy exceeding 98%. Dairies may choose to use this tool as a first time pregnancy diagnosis when other means of pregnancy detection are not readily available or when very few cows warrant the cost of other services.

Pregnancy verification on the other hand will be valuable in finding those open cows on a routine basis by submitting samples on monthly test days. Normal pregnancy losses (abortions) have been estimated as high as 25% from day 28 until full length gestation and calving. Most of these abor-tions occur in the first month or so fol-lowing the early diagnosis of pregnancy. Figure 2 is work published in the late 90’s showing pregnancy loss estimates.

After analysis, reports are either e-mailed or mailed to the dairy with results reported as Pregnant, Open, or Pregnant-Recheck. The Pregnant-Recheck happens due to in-dividual cow differences where the level of PAGS is in that grey area where we cannot say with certainty that a cow is pregnant or open and of course we prefer to error on the side of pregnant. Other cases where the Pregnant-Recheck occurs are Early Embryonic Deaths or abortions discussed earlier. PAGS will remain in the cow’s sys-tem for 8-12 days following that loss. We recommend allowing 14 days before we do a recheck on another milk sample from that cow due to the fact we do not know when the loss occurred.

Milk Pregnancy with a DHIA milk sample has some very obvious advantages:

• Help with proper selec-tion of animals to test

• No additional animal handling

• No additional sampling needed

• No additional supplies to buy or inventory

• No additional cost in shipping samples

• Getting more herd man-agement information from one milk sample

As with any good program with lots of advantages, we have to ask about the disadvantages, and there are a couple that come to mind. First is the fact that we get no additional information con-cerning the reproductive tract of the cow other than the pregnant or open result. Second, we also do not get the added feedback from a vet or ultra-sound technician to solve problems ob-served. That being said, focusing on the known “opens” that need intervention can actually be more efficient at solving reproduction challenges on the dairy.

There are key steps to take in using Milk Pregnancy testing successfully as part of managing reproduction on a dairy.• Accurate, easy to read, and complete identification of cows• Accurate sampling matched with animal ID• Complete and accurate reproduction records • Training for and understanding the program • Know your expectations• Pregnancy testing criteria developed with the aid of the

DHIA Field technician • Proper lists of cows eligible for pregnancy testing

• Selecting the cows to test from the potential list• Tracking and recording results after lab analysis

New technology can be fun, interesting, and exciting. Using it properly and customizing it to fit your own situation can have a tremendous impact on the success and profitability of your dairy. Milk Pregnancy testing will find a way on to many farms in the future. The best advice we can offer is to get to know it, talk with Dairy One personnel about it, and customize it to fit your dairy.

National Dairy Quality Awards Platinum Winners: Tollgate Farm and True FarmsThe National Dairy Quality Awards, co-sponsored by Hoard’s Dairyman and the National Mastitis Council, recognize farms with both outstanding milk quality records and operations that strive for healthy and comfortable milking and dry cows at all times. Dairy One mem-bers Tollgate Farm and True Farms were honored as National Dairy Quality Award Platinum winners in 2012.

Figure 1. The Milk Pregnancy Test Cycle

Figure 2. Pregnancy loss in lactating cows

Tollgate Farm is owned by Jim and Karen Davenport, of Ancramdale, N.Y. The Davenports currently own 64 Holsteins and Ayrshires, along with 14 dry cows and young stock. Their Holsteins average 24,000 pounds of milk, with the Ayrshires at nearly 15,000 pounds per year. In 2011-2012, their somatic cell count reached only 67,000 in its worst month, averaging 46,750 for the year. The cows are in a tie stall barn bedded with kiln-dried pine sawdust. Nominator Ruth McCuin of Agri-Mark Cooperative said, “This farm has been Agri-Mark’s top-quality producer for the last six years. Jim and Karen know that producing quality milk adds value to their milk check, benefits cow health and makes them better producers.” Pictured are Jim and Karen (center), with daughters Laura (left) and Kristen (right).

Reprinted by permission from the January 10, 2013, issue of Hoard’s Dairyman magazine. Copyright 2012 by the W.D. Hoard and Sons Company.

The site called “Farm 2” at True Farms, Perry, N.Y., is owned by Jeff, Brian and Glenn True, and it houses 380 Holstein and Brown Swiss cows which averages nearly 26,000 M and a 78,000 SCC. Pictured are (Front, L to R) Trenten and Taryn True. (Back) Andrea, Brad, Stacia, Tucker, Jeff, Chris; Noemi and Zeferina Garcia; Diane and Brian True. They milk in a double-10 parallel parlor, and cows lie on sand-bedded free stalls with bedding added twice each week. Farm 2 has rubber belting in the entire feed alley and pushes up feed 12 times per day. Donna Walker, nominator from Dairylea Cooperative, says that, “True Farms does an exceptional job balancing the production of high-quality milk. They thoughtfully create protocols and follow them for consistent results.”