“I don’t have time to keep records”
Jeffrey Bewley, Dairy Tech Services Manager, PerforMix Nutrition Systems
Recently, during a discussion
about the value of dairy
management software, a dairyman
told me, “I don’t have time to keep
records on a computer.” This
statement caught me a little offguard. In fact, I was so surprised
that it took me a few minutes to
come up with a rebuttal. How
could a dairyman maintain
relatively high production on 500
cows without a computerized
record system (i.e. Dairy Comp
305, PC Dart, Dairy Quest,
Dairy Plan, DHI Plus, etc.)? How
could any small business owner
manage without detailed data on
performance of its production
units (for a dairy, its cows)?
I had spent so much time
thinking about how to maintain
and utilize computerized dairy
records, living under the false
assumption that most large dairies
had them, that I had overlooked
why we keep them in the first
place. During our conversation,
the dairyman presented some
valid points for why he has not
adopted this technology.
He indicated that he did
not have the time to dedicate to
maintaining a dairy management
software program, without
reducing his quality of life and
spending less time with his family.
I applaud him for keeping his
priorities in line; in today’s world,
this is an admirable quality.
Further, he didn’t think that
any of his current employees
had the technical competency
to handle this type of system, or
that it would pay to hire someone
with these skills. Besides, the
cows are healthy, comfortable,
well-fed, and producing adequate
quantities of milk. To his credit,
he does test cows for milk volume
and somatic cell counts through
a DHI program, keeps a breeding
wheel to manage his reproductive
program, and maintains basic
animal identification, birth dates,
etc.
I would venture to guess
that there are many dairies,
particularly smaller herds, that
have a much-less-developed
records system than this. And,
there are countless other dairies
that are already using a dairy
management program, but are not
fully capitalizing on its diagnostic
and analytical capability.
So, why should dairymen
who are not utilizing a dairy
management program consider
using one? Why should dairymen
who already have one in place take
a harder look at the information
available within their program?
Following are my “Top twenty
reasons to open your mind
to the infinite world of dairy
management software.”
1. If you can’t measure it,
you can’t manage it. Every
PROGRESSIVE
DAIRYMAN
dairy producer makes dozens
of decisions each day. But, was
the decision a good one? Do you
stop to look back at the impact
a decision has? In any industry,
businesses need to evaluate the
financial impact of decisions.
Dairy management
software is designed to make this
process easier for you. Did the
new synchronization protocol
work? How about the new feed
additive that is costing you
$0.10 per cow per day? Without
evaluating decisions after they
are implemented, you are simply
continually spinning your wheels,
searching for new ways to improve
your business.
2. If you’re not moving
forward, you’re falling behind. As
the dairy business continues to
consolidate, remaining profitable
is increasingly difficult and
challenging. In order to stay
competitive, it is essential that
dairymen continue to search for
new ways to increase the efficiency
of their operations. Having the
detailed information available
through dairy management
software facilitates continuous
improvement.
3. Saving time. Although
there is a considerable amount
of time involved in initial set-up
of the program, once the system
is in place, it saves considerable
time, particularly compared
with maintaining multiple
paper systems. Of course, there
is additional time involved in
entering data into the computer
program, but most dairyman
already do this, to some degree,
in a paper form. The advantage of
a computer program is that you
only need to enter the information
once, while it is simultaneously
made available to countless
potential reports.
4. Analytics. Computerized
records simplify the process of
evaluating and analyzing large
quantities of information with
simple commands. Graphs and
charts provide a fast, visual
examination of trends and
information that can be used
in decision-making. How long
would it take to obtain these same
analytics from paper records?
5. The rest of the story.
Production is five pounds lower
than it was six months ago. Is it
because of the new ration the cows
are on, or some other change that
was made? Or, is it simply because
the average stage of lactation or
average age of animals changed?
With a dairy management
software package, it is easier to
identify confounding affecting
performance.
6. Setting goals. Perhaps you
recognize that reproductive
performance or milk quality are
opportunities for improvement in
your operation. Without records,
how do you know where you are
today, where you want to go, and
whether or not you are making
progress? A good records program
can be used to set and monitor
goals for continual improvement.
7. Milk production. Lactation
curves, peak milk, management
level milk (MLM), and fatcorrected milk (FCM) are just
a few criteria that can be used
to examine milk production. It
may also be useful to examine
trends in production by parity,
pen, season of calving, test date,
or management strategy (3X vs.
4X, rBST vs. no rBST, dry period
length, etc.).
8. Reproductive performance.
Pregnancy rates, conception
rates, heat detection rates, calving
interval, abortion rates, and
days in milk at first service are
all numbers that can be easily
obtained to measure reproductive
performance. As fertility within
our current cow population
continues to decline, we can use
all the help we can find to identify
bottlenecks in reproductive
management.
9. Milk quality. What are
Continued on back page
PO Box 585 • Jerome, ID 83338-0585 • 208.324.7513 or 800.320.1424 • Fax 208.324.1133
I don’t have time, cont’d from front
trends in somatic cell counts over
time or for various groups of cows?
Are you taking advantage of the
milk quality bonus your processor
is offering? Tracking somatic cell
counts provides the opportunity to
determine which cows are creating
problems, where the problems
are starting, and the economic
impact of elevated somatic cell
counts within your operation. The
software program won’t fix the
problem for you, but it will provide
you with a more clear picture of
where the problem is.
10. Monitoring disease
incidence. Do you have a problem
in your herd with milk fever,
ketosis, displaced abomasums,
retained placentas, ovarian cysts,
clinical mastitis, or lameness?
The only way to truly answer
this question is to record this
information, review incidence
rates, and take appropriate
preventative and corrective
actions. Often, dairy producers
will say that they do not have a
problem in these areas when, in
reality, they only think they don’t
have a problem – because they
aren’t keeping track of it.
11. Identification of outliers.
Most software packages have the
capability of creating lists of cows
that deviate significantly from the
average or fall outside of accepted,
pre-established ranges for various
criteria. For example, you could
have reports automatically
generated for tracking cows
with low production, long days
in milk without being bred, or
high somatic cell counts, to
be proactive in handling these
animals.
12. List creation. From a dayto-day management perspective,
one of the most useful features of
dairy management software is the
creation of activity lists for drying
off cows, sorting cows, vet checks,
rBST injections, and other routine
tasks performed on selected
animals.
13. Culling decisions. Dairy
management software is a great
tool to help a dairyman make
decisions about which cows
PROGRESSIVE
DAIRYMAN
to cull. Many programs even
provide a “cow value”, estimating
the animal’s future revenue
earning potential – factoring in
age, days in milk, reproductive
status, production potential, and
genetics. This is particularly useful
when a dairyman has the luxury
of selecting marginal cows for
voluntary culling.
14. Evaluating nutrition. While
there are a plethora of hands-on
tools available to evaluate
nutrition, such as the Penn State
Shaker Box, there are analytics
that can be performed with
regard to nutrition, utilizing dairy
management software. Percent of
cows with a high fat test in early
lactation can be used to identify
risk of ketosis. Similarly, the
percent of cows with a fat/protein
inversion may be considered
as a factor for SARA (subacute
ruminal acidosis). This type of
information may also be used to
evaluate energy and/or protein
status.
15. Transition program.
Exploring milk production at first
test, peak milk, days to peak milk,
percent of cows culled in early
lactation, and disease incidence
can prove useful in evaluating
how well cows are transitioning
into a new lactation. It is quite
possible that identifying some of
these “hidden” problems could
ultimately lead to management
solutions that increase total milk
production and profitability.
16. Heifer raising. How well
are you doing at raising heifers?
Or, how well is your heifer raiser
doing? Examining criteria like
age at first calving, calf mortality,
primiparous lactation curves,
and percent of first lactation
peaks compared to second and
later lactation peaks, can provide
valuable insight into a heifer
raising program.
17. Genetics. Dairy
management software can be
used to minimize inbreeding,
handle mating choices, evaluate
performance of cows sired by
natural service bulls versus
A.I. bulls, and as supplemental
information for culling. This is
a commonly overlooked benefit
of implementing a computerized
records system.
18. Benchmarking. How do you
stack up against your neighbor
for pregnancy rate, milk fever
incidence, peak milk, or average
somatic cell count? By working
with a qualified consultant,
you can answer this question
and determine if you are ahead
of or behind the curve. While
this information is valuable, it
is important to view this data
with caution, as it is difficult to
compare many standards (because
of confounding factors).
19. Being proactive. Having all
this information at your fingertips
provides an opportunity to be
proactive (rather than reactive)
in managing your herd. You have
the chance to catch an issue in its
early stages, rather than waiting
until you have a complete “train
wreck”.
20. Using your imagination.
As long as this list is, it is far
from all-inclusive. What else
can you measure? Well, that
list is only limited by your
imagination. Where else could
you find potential uses for a dairy
management software program?
How does it fit your needs? Sit
down with your dairy team, with
the goal of striving for improved
performance in every aspect of
your herd management. You’ll
find a dairy management software
program to be a valuable asset
in this process. The potential
return on investment for this
type of system, although almost
impossible to quantify, is nearly
as immeasurable as the number of
things you can do with it.
Returning to the dairyman I
referred to earlier, will he decide
to invest in a more advanced
dairy records system? I’m not
sure, no matter how compelling
an argument others and myself
present him, that this will ever
happen.
From all appearances, both
his finances and cows seem to
be doing pretty well without
one. Would his production and
profitability be even better with a
computerized records system? I
think so. Could he pay the salary
of someone who could manage
this system and take on a few
other responsibilities?
Again, it would only take
a few management decisions
utilizing this newly available
information to justify this
investment. Consider the impact
of reducing average days open
by 15, reducing SCC by 100,000,
increasing peak milk by five
pounds, or reducing incidence of
retained placentas by 25 percent.
While the management software
won’t do this alone, it does help
in identifying these problems
and quantifying the returns on
the time and money invested in
making the changes necessary to
reap these types of rewards.
Ultimately, for me, this
challenging question may be one
of those valuable lessons that we
all get to learn in life from grizzled
veterans who are successful
because of how they think “outside
the box.” Maybe, just maybe,
this dairyman is successful
because he focuses on “the basics”
(cow comfort, good genetics, a
sound nutrition program, happy
employees, and a balanced
life), rather than spending time
micromanaging the details needed
to get a few extra pounds of milk.
For him, the personal
return on investment may not
be worth it. But, even if he is
the exception to the rule, most
dairymen will benefit considerably
from investing in taking their
management to the next level by
implementing a more effective,
computerized record keeping
system. And, he’ll still have
to listen to me promote the
advantages of computerized dairy
management programs, as long
as I have the pleasure of working
with him! PD
PROGRESSIVE
DAIRYMAN
Reprinted from November 2004
PO Box 585 • Jerome, ID 83338-0585 • 208.324.7513 or 800.320.1424 • Fax 208.324.1133