National DHIA 61st Annual Meeting & Leadership Session

National Dairy Herd Information Association (NDHIA) held its 61^st annual meeting and the DHI system leadership session March 3 – 5 in Savannah, GA. Attending were nearly 100 leaders of organizations doing milk recording, records processing, animal identification and genetic research and evaluations for the U.S. and global dairy industry.

The NDHIA delegates representing the 14 member organizations approved a resolution urging the continuation of USDA efforts to support farmers in the implementation of electronic identification. Resolutions were also adopted directing NDHIA management work with the industry to ensure that new sources of data be validated before being included in the National Cooperator Database and supporting the continued investment in the international effort to develop a new DHI milk sampling tool compatible with modern milking systems.

The delegates also reelected three members of the board of directors – Allen Chester, DairyOne; Robert McKaig, Indiana State Dairy Association; and Kevin Haase, Central Star Cooperative. The board reelected officers with Chester as president, Haase as vice-president and Susan Lee, Idaho DHIA, secretary. Selected as treasurer was John Gloss, DairyOne, succeeding longtime officer Dave Scapanski, Minnesota DHIA, who stepped down.

During his annual report, CEO Jay Mattison reported 3.8 million U.S. dairy cows on some form of DHI milk recording across all herd sizes but with over 60 percent in herds of 1000 cows or more. He said the DHI system collects 5.81 million samples monthly, evaluated in 34 laboratories and with lactation records processed by four data centers. He said that the NDHIA subsidiary, Quality Certification Services, continues to assist DHI organizations, laboratories and processing centers with continuous quality improvements. He said providing information for herd management remains DHI’s centerpiece.

Detailed information was presented about the new milk sampling device termed iCOW which will be produced for collecting milk samples on test day in the variety of milking systems used on today’s dairies. It is being

developed by milk recording organizations in an equal partnership in Denmark, Germany and Ireland as well as NDHIA at a total investment of 5.2 million Euros or more than 6 million U.S. dollars. A variety of patents have been secured and the devices will be submitted for ICAR certification. A 3D printed version was available for inspection to demonstrate the progress over the last 24 months.

A new look for EarTagCentral.com was introduced, a more functional and user-friendly website providing ear tags to the industry from five manufacturers. A newly developed ear tag from the German company, Caisley, printed in the U.S. by Premier 1 in Iowa is being sold in partnership with EarTagCentral and Premier 1.

Attendees heard updates from a variety of industry organizations including the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding, National Association of Animal Breeders, Animal Genetics Improvement Laboratory of USDA, National Milk Producers Federation and Dairy Management Inc. Also, messages were provided from Lactanet, which provides milk recording and genetic evaluations in Canada and ICAR, the International Center for Animal Recording based in Europe.

At the annual banquet, Elizabeth Straw, Indiana State Dairy Association, received the H. Victor Joachim Distinguished Leadership/Martin A. Wilson Memorial Award. She also chaired the Scholarship Auction which raised nearly $18,000.

Meeting sponsors were companies that provide services to the DHI system – Bentley Instruments, Brolis, Caisley, Eurofins DQCI, Foss, Paramount Group and Y-Tex.