National DHIA 58th Annual Meeting and Leadership Sessions

Delegates reelect officers, adopt resolutions, hear industry and research updates

Gathering in Sacramento, California, from March 6 – 9 were 100 delegates and guests from across the U.S. and three countries who heard a range of speakers on the topic of “Sustainability in Dairy: What is it?” At the NDHIA 58^th annual meeting, representatives from the 14 member organizations reelected officers: President – Allen Chester, Lisbon, N.Y.; Vice-President – Kevin Haase, Lansing, Mich. The treasurer is Dave Scapanski, Sauk Rapids, Minn. and secretary is Susan Lee, Twin Falls, Id. Bob McKaig, Indiana, was reelected director.

Resolutions were adopted that reaffirmed dairy producers themselves own their DHI records, requested additional support from USDA to implement electronic ID for all cattle and supported additional investment in new technology for a universal milk sampler. Another resolution offered support for USDA, software companies, manufacturers and dairy producers themselves to ensure that ear tag numbers reported are valid so that only accurate data enters the DHI system.

DHI System Leadership Session

Opening the first session on March 7, NDHIA CEO Jay Mattison tag teamed with Steve Sievert, technical director, with a discussion of sustainability from a DHI perspective. Opening with a quote from a 1987 U N Commission, the Brundtland Report, Mattison defined sustainability as  “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” He asked what’s the value of dairy protein to feed future generations and what’s the cost of production and food affordability. He answered his questions saying the future will see more milk from fewer cows, consuming less feed, with fewer emissions, less land and water utilization and fewer non-producing – replacement – animals. All these management innovations are data driven with a more nutrient dense product delivered. He said dairy sustainability means optimal balance. He said data are the business, information is the delivery and management is the result. He reminded the audience of the “V’s” of data – volume, velocity, variation and validity.

Next up, Steve Sievert who also heads the Quality Certification Services division for DHI, spoke about the huge amount of information being measured on today’s dairy cow, with only a small fraction being captured in the DHI system. He said that situation provides a lot of opportunities for DHI.

Mattison said dairy data are the foundation for sustainability and for creating the dairy message. He spoke about two groups NDHIA is part of… the International Dairy Data Exchange (iDDEN) and the Greener Cattle initiative.  Seven countries make up the membership in iDDEN bringing together equipment manufacturers and multi-national herd recording organizations to build a network that enables effective data exchange, respecting data security and data access along with data usage policies. Farmers will own this software through their farmer-controlled organizations.

The Greener Cattle Initiative is a consortium of multi-national, domestic and government organizations to address greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon footprint of dairy production from the cow to the consumer. NDHIA believes that farmers should be at the table for these discussions and will have early access to research results and licensing opportunities for intellectual property developed.

Four speakers rounded out the program for the first morning. Martin Burke, CEO of the International Committee on Animal Recording (ICAR), led off with an update from his organization, based in Utrecht, Netherlands.  He said membership includes 36 breed associations, DHI organizations and some which are combinations. He said the associate members are manufacturers of milk meters, ID tags, and software. ICAR is also the parent of the INTERBULL group which oversees international dairy genetic evaluations. Burke is retiring from his position after nine years of service and was given a recognition plaque by NDHIA later in the meeting.

The ICAR conversation continued with a look at its Sustainability Task Force, chaired by Robert Fourdraine who is assistant director at Dairy Records Management Systems (DRMS),  headquartered in Raleigh, N.C.  The 11 member committee approved a definition as developed by the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative which follows: “Sustainable agriculture is the efficient, long term production of safe, high-quality agricultural product, in a way that protects and improves the natural environment, the social and economic conditions of the farmers, their employees and local communities and safeguards the health and welfare of all farmed species.”

Fourdraine went on the say his group wants to develop a genetic index for sustainability using the 35 to 40 traits that are currently part of animal recording. It will take into account the ease of collection and the impact of the trait and allow different emphasis by different countries. The goal is to have such a formula in final draft form by the time of the ICAR annual meeting to be held in Toledo, Spain, in May of this year.

Next up was Malia Caputo, UW Madison grad student whose PhD research is on feed efficiency, particularly regarding the metabolism of individual animals. She’ll be continuing this work in post-doctoral studies with CDCB, NDHIA and USDA’s AGIL (Animal Genetics Improvement Laboratory).

The popular Uffe Lauritsen from Denmark spoke next about international efforts to develop a universal sampling device that can be used across DHI systems in many countries with a variety of milking systems. Representing VikingDanmark, the combination AI and DHI organization in that Scandinavian country, he’s a regular attendee at NDHIA meetings welcomed for his always positive attitude and generous sense of humor. Over the years as he’s come to these sessions, he has regularly taken time to see all parts of the U.S., meeting farmers and his countrymen  across the country. In an email message to the industry and friends, he announced his retirement effective the end of March, 2023.

Regarding the sampling device, Lauritsen explained that a consortium of international DHI groups had been working with the Dutch technology firm, NEDAP. But a corporate strategy review caused NEDAP to end their work because the market was not large enough. However, NEDAP did turn over the entire project, its technology and the rights to the DHI group. The goal is a device that can collect milk weights and samples in a practical manner with  accommodations for cleaning, transportation, work routines and dairy farm milking systems. As pointed out, with no milk samples there can be no DHI system.

On Tuesday afternoon, DMI’s Stan Erwin led off with a comprehensive look at Dairy Management, Inc., the checkoff dairy promotion organization. He reviewed its current strategies and accomplishments. Even with the decline in fluid milk consumption, American consumers are purchasing more pounds of dairy product per capita than ever before. He emphasized that just as the dairy industry and American consumers are changing, so is DMI.

Three speakers from the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding (CDCB) rounded out the afternoon program. Katie Schmidt is the new Outreach Specialist. She introduced herself has a Minnesota dairy farm girl who had helped out with milking at her home dairy, Ralma Registered Holsteins,  just that previous weekend. A University of Minnesota animal science graduate and a finalist in the Princess Kay of the Milky Way contest at the Minnesota State Fair, she had worked at World Dairy Expo as communications manager before joining CDCB in her new position.

CEO Joao Durr reviewed a wide range of activities currently on the agenda at CDCB, including work with DMI to put the improved genetics of the U.S. dairy cow into sustainability messaging for consumers. Research includes work on the DHI lactation projection factors now being finalized, lameness and hoof health, milking speed and methane emissions among other topics. He emphasized the essential importance of working with DHI data… “without data, nothing is possible.” He said the industry must embrace change with “new solutions” for beef on dairy, inbreeding, non-additive inheritance, customized genomics, and much more.

Kent Buttars, Utah dairyman and former president of NDHIA, currently serves as one of six dairymen on the CDCB dairy advisory panel, providing a producer perspective to the organization’s performance and research. Other members are Spencer Hackett (MN), Lloyd Holterman (WI), Tom Kestell (WI), Sean Tollenaar (CA) and current chair, Bill Peck, Jr. (NY).

The afternoon program concluded with a report from NDHIA director Dan Nodolph, Wisconsin dairy producer with Ag Source as chair of the resolutions committee. He previewed several drafts and invited input from the attendees.

In the evening, attendees enjoyed a reception hosted by Datamars held on the hotel’s top floor overlooking the Sacramento River and the landmark Tower Bridge.

Wednesday, March 8, opened with a detailed update from Dr. Randy Baldwin, research leader at USDA’s AGIL. He and his colleagues are completing the five-year work plan which will include new tools in the genomic era. He spoke about staffing matters and the 100-cow research herd that is currently averaging 96 lbs. a day with a rolling herd average of 31,500 lbs. His personal research is on genomic and metabolic aspects of feed efficiency. Next, his colleague, Dr. Asha Miles, AGIL research geneticist, spoke in some detail about her work on the new factors for DHI projections, milking speed and embryo transfer statistics to improve the accuracy of fertility evaluations.

Concluding this session was Dino D. Holmquist of the Eurofins DQCI firm, an international network of 900 laboratories in 61 countries testing a wide range of substances, including milk and dairy products.

Jay Weiker gave an update on the National Association of Animal Breeders (NAAB) as the CEO based in Madison, Wis. This is the trade association for the AI industry tracking frozen semen usage domestically and internationally and insuring the quality of product. (Editor’s note: for a brief review of his comments, see an interview conducted by DairyBusiness online at https://dairybusiness.com/naabs-jay-weiker-beef-semen-on-dairy/)

From Canada, Daniel LeVebvre reported on the nationwide testing organization, Lactanet, today serving 7300 dairy farms with 250 DHI technicians in six time zones. This organization works in partnership with the Canadian Dairy Network, the Canadian version of  CDCB. Coming in 2023 will be genetic evaluations for methane efficiency, among other new programs.

The final speaker of the Leadership Session was Fiona Guinan, a PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin who continues work with CDCB and NDHIA. Her focus is genetic analysis of lactation consistency using a dataset of 450 million individual daily milk weights from 311 herds in 37 states.

NDHIA 58^th Annual Meeting

President Allen Chester called to order the annual meeting at 1:09 p.m. and after the award presentation to Martin Burke, noted above, Secretary Susan Lee called the role with 34 delegates present and voting. President Chester presented his annual address concluding with the thought that he and his fellow board members “are becoming comfortable being uncomfortable” in the face of industry changes. He said they continue to put farmers first, using their funds carefully and protecting their data.

Treasurer Dave Scapanski presented financial reports and budgets for the three organizations under the DHI umbrella – National DHIA, Quality Certification Services and DHIA Services. Each entity breaks even on annual revenues of slightly over $500,000.

As chair of the nominating committee, Scapanski invited nominations from the floor for the two officer and one director positions. President Chester, Vice President Haase and Director Bob McKaig, each was eligible for another term. With no further nominations, the motion was passed for the secretary to cast a unanimous ballot for the slate.

Director Nodolf presented the five resolutions referenced in the lead of this article and all were passed with little discussion and no dissent. The full text can be found here.

A final report from allied industry was presented by Daren Sheffield, director of performance programs at Holstein Association USA. He provided results from 2022 Holstein registrations, ID and classification programs, along with other updates from the Brattleboro headquarters.

Awards Banquet and Scholarship Auction

The popular awards banquet concluded this year’s event. It featured the presentation of the Martin A. Wilson / H. Victor Joachim Leadership Award to prominent Idaho dairy couple Jim and Doris Pearson. Susan Lee did the honors presenting to her friends and colleagues, longtime leaders in the state, not only in DHI but also in a variety of other dairy and farm organizations.

After the meal, the live auction of 35 donated items and a silent auction of another dozen along with individual cash donations resulted in $15,600 being raised for the NDHIA scholarship program. Liz Straw and her committee took care of all the details. Local livestock auctioneer Justin Trick from nearby Galt, Calif., cried the sale, providing lots of entertainment along the way. Joel Hastings was the banquet MC thanking the sponsoring organizations, Datamars Livestock, Bentley Instruments, Y-Tex, VMRD and DairyGuard.