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Thank you for your trust and confidence
“As one of 13 members of the NorthStar board of directors, I would like to say thank you for your trust and confidence,” noted Mike Heckaman, NorthStar Cooperative Board of Directors President. “As board members it is our responsibility to protect your interest in the Cooperative and help NorthStar succeed. We take this responsibility seriously and appreciate the faith you have placed in us.” Read on to learn about developments within the Cooperative and the goals of the board of directors for the current year.
Producers site benefits of SELECT DETECT
In nearly 100 herds with over 32,000 cows, producers using SELECT DETECT report it’s one of the best investments they’ve made to improve their herd’s reproductive program. In a recent survey, producers using SELECT DETECT reported a wide-range of benefits including: decreased hormone costs, decreased labor, increased conception rates, more pregnant cows, reduced breeding cycles, and increased pregnancy rates. Read more about how two Michigan dairy farms, Country Folk Dairy and Sturgis Dairy, are using this revolutionary activity monitoring system to help improve the reproductive performance on their farms.
DHI offers new mastitis diagnostic to reduce SCC
For DHI members, controlling contagious mastitis is now easier than ever. In response to the dairy industry’s focus on milk quality and the reduction of SCC, NorthStar DHI and AntelBio are launching next generation tools to aid producers in detecting contagious mastitis pathogens. Applied to existing DHI-collected milk samples, the new testing procedure simultaneously detects Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus agalactiae, and Mycoplasma spp. with greater accuracy and quicker turnaround than traditional culture. Read on.
Lameness in dairy cattle – could cow conditioning play a role?
New research points to a correlation between Body Condition Score and dairy cattle lameness. Lameness is one of the most visual aspects of cattle welfare and represents major economic losses, therefore it is important to explore opportunities to decrease its incidence. Read on as Julie Ainsworth, Dairy Production Analyst, summarizes information that was recently presented at the Western Dairy Management Conference.
TPI formula revised
A new TPI formula put in place with April sire summaries places more emphasis on type traits. This change was made based on a resolution brought forth at the 2010 Holstein Association USA Annual Meeting, which asked the board of directors to re-evaluate the TPI formula and raise the type contribution to a level that more accurately reflects what breeders desire for a balance of type and production.
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