Association’s annual meeting features sustainability, data-driven decisions

BOISE, Idaho — With a theme of “Sustainability Through Data-Driven Decisions,” National Dairy Herd Information Association held its 44th annual meeting March 4-5 in Boise, Idaho.

Topics

Session topics included milk recording, management and analysis, animal identification systems, genomics, dairy beef quality assurance, worldwide dairy update and new economic realities.

For five consecutive years, the number of U.S. dairy cows on DHI programs has increased — from 4.071 million cows in 2003 to 4.478 million cows in 2008.

National Dairy Herd Information Association President Dan Sheldon shared this news with delegates, managers and guests during the meeting.

Services and products offered by field service providers, labs and dairy records processing organizations drove this growth.

In addition, Steven Sievert, Dairy Herd Information Association Services technical director, demonstrated some key features of EarTagCentral.com, a Web site that offers a wide variety of animal identification ear tags and identification accessories.

Delegates

Delegates re-elected Kent Buttars, Rocky Mountain Dairy Herd Information Association, Lewiston, Utah; Bob McKaig, Indiana State Dairy Association, Logansport, Ind., and James Zimmerman, Dairy One Cooperative Inc., Ithaca, N.Y. to serve as National Dairy Herd Information Association board members.

Board members

Other board members include Dan Sheldon, Dairy One Cooperative Inc., Salem, N.Y.; Lee Maassen, Dairy Lab Services, Maurice, Iowa; Steve Hershey, Lancaster Dairy Herd Information Association, Manheim, Pa.; Richard Kimball, Vermont Dairy Herd Information Association, Spencer, Mass.; Susan Lee, Idaho Dairy Herd Information Association, Twin Falls, Idaho; Bruce Dokkebakken, Minnesota Dairy Herd Information Association, Buffalo, Minn.; Jon Tollenaar, San Joaquin Dairy Herd Information Association, Elk Grove, Calif., and Steven Smith, DHI-Provo, Provo, Utah, as the Dairy Records Processing Center ex-officio board member.

Officers

At the board reorganization meeting, all officers were re-elected as follows: Sheldon, president; Lee Maassen, vice president; Steve Hershey, secretary and James Zimmerman, treasurer.

Next year’s National Dairy Herd Information Association annual meeting is set for March 11-12 in St. Pete Beach, Fla.