Consider Trying A New DHI Report This Summer

Dairy Pipeline: June 2008

Bennet Cassell, Extension Dairy Scientist, Genetics & Management
(540) 231-4762; bcassell@vt.edu

DHI records can become a little too familiar. DHI members may quickly check a few choice numbers and set the reports aside. The habits of quickly reviewing familiar formats also make it easy to miss important information. I would like to challenge DHI members to do something really radical this summer: subscribe to a new DHI report for one month and resolve to study the thing until you understand what it tells you. If you like it, keep taking it. If you don’t like it, try another, or at least know that you gave a new report an honest try. DRMS Raleigh has expanded service to some new areas of the country recently, including Minnesota and parts of the west coast. Producers in those areas ask for some of their familiar reports to be preserved, a request that was honored in the tradition of service that makes DRMS a really good processing center. There are some really good features of these reports, and they are certainly new to Virginia producers. Consider one of reports below – a selection from an even dozen I saw at the recent DRMS Spring Workshop.

• DHI-360 Reproduction report: this list pulls together reproductive facts on individual cows in an easy to read format. Cost - 1^¢/cow/month
• DHI-217 Herd Progress Report: this list compares key herd performance data for up to two years in a single report. It makes it easy to spot trends in production, reproduction, days in milk and so forth. Cost - $2/herd/month
• DHI-231 Persistency Analysis: this report groups cows by month of calving and lactation number, and tracks performance through the months of lactation. It’s a different way to look at test day milk weights – different from any report I have seen in the past. Cost - $3/herd/month
• DHI-219 Basic Herd Summary: this report extracts production data from the DHI 202 for the last eleven test dates as well as ME lactation records and reproductive summaries by lactation for the current test. It is straightforward information in a simple format. Cost - 1 ^¢/cow/month.
• DHI-365 Condensed Herd Summary: this one includes selected data from the DHI 202 plus basic information on individual cows from the DHI 210. This report may appeal to consultants who want herd summary data as well as specifics about cows, but with less detail than other reports. I like the brevity and the format. Cost - $2/herd/month plus 1^¢/cow/month

I have no intention of suggesting you can’t make it in the dairy business without these reports. However, you might like them, and you will be more familiar with your DHI records if you give one or more of these reports a try for even one month.

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