DH-121
Dec. 1970
Increase Dairy Profits through Use of Production Records
S.	M. Gregory, Extension Dairyman
To realize a profit from the dairy herd today, a successful dairyman cannot operate on a short-term planning basis. He must be continually raising the production levels of the herd. This can be done through a long-range breeding, feeding, and management plan based on accurate production records.

High year-to-year production pays the dairy expenses and gives the dairyman profit. Knowing only the average production of the dairy herd from the milk check at the plant is of little value, since this information does not indicate which cows are "freeloading" on the good producers in the herd.

The average production of all dairy cows in Indiana is only 9,200 pounds of milk per year, but the average cow on DHI test produces 12, 350 pounds of milk, a difference of 3,150 pounds. With milk at $5.00 per cwt., the DHI cow produces $158.00 more gross income per year than the average cow, but requires only $50.00 more in feed than the 9,200 pound producer. The high producer does not require any more labor, housing, and other expenses than the low producer.

Why do the herds of a DHI testing program produce more milk and make more money? Simply because these dairymen have and make use of records to do a better job of feeding, breeding, culling and management.
RECORDS AS A BASIS FOR FEEDING
It is not possible to feed the individual cow effectively without some production
record-keeping plan. For example, a dairy cow can be fed concentrates in three ways: overfed, underfed, and fed correctly according to production. If production is guessed at, then the amount of feed needed will also be a guess. When feeding concentrates,
butterfat percentage needs to be known because the requirements go up with the per cent of fat in the milk. Overfeeding increases the feed bill unnecessarily and underfeeding lowers production. Recordkeeping can be used to feed more efficiently, and, in many cases, feed saving alone more than pays for recordkeeping.

RECORDS AS A BASIS FOR CULLING
There is no other way to determine the production of the individual cow, and to find which are low, unprofitable producers than to keep production records.
Some dairymen who do not test their herds measure a cow's production by the amount she produces at the peak of lactation. This is worth very little, because some cows have a tendency to "drop-off" very fast after the peak and then to "dry-up” early. Such cows are unprofitable and this trait should not be tolerated. The cow that produces well from freshening to about 60 days before calving is the kind of cow with which to build a herd. Production records on each cow will reveal these "hot-shot, short-time” milkers.
Milk is sold on the basis of butterfat percentage, and there is a difference in in come from cows that produce 8,000 pounds
Dairy Section • Animal Sciences Department
Cooperative Extension Service, PURDUE UNIVERSITY, Lafayette, Indiana