Brattleboro, Vt. (November 28, 2016)…The Holstein Association USA, Inc. (HAUSA) board of directors conducted its fall meeting November 16-17 in Minneapolis, Minn. President Gordie Cook chaired the day-and-a-half session.
The board approved the 2017 Management-by-Objective Business Plan and associated budget, as presented by management. The Business Plan forecasts growth of Holstein Association USA’s core products and services.
Update on 2016 Business Plan
Registrations through October totaled 303,310, which represents a two percent decrease over the same time period in 2015. Reporting through October, 328,648 cows in 1,801 herds were enrolled in Holstein COMPLETE®. This represents an increase of 17,584 cows, or six percent, and a slight decrease in the number of herds when compared to October 2015.
Staff reported on early progress on the multi-year initiative to restructure and retool the Association’s information technology systems. This is needed to gain operational efficiencies and ensure the best service possible to our members.
Bill VerBoort, AgriTech Analytics general manager, reported 968,655 cows in 571 herds were processed in October. This represents an increase of 18,464 cows or two percent over the last six months.
Other Business
The board approved “The Great Holstein Roundup,” a limited time promotion, offering all transfers at the discount price of $5.00. This special pricing applies to transfer applications received at 1 Holstein Place by day’s end December 28, 2016.
The board adopted a position statement on the Margin Protection Program – Dairy (MPP) advocating for monthly regional calculations of producers’ “NET All-Milk Prices” that factor in marketing costs, combined with regional calculations of feed costs. These regional calculations of milk prices and feed costs would result in a much more accurate determination of net margins and ensure that the MPP accomplishes its intended purpose — a safety net for U.S. dairy farms. For more information, contact Peter Cole at [email protected] or 802.451.4127.
The board also expressed strong support for lowering the maximum allowable Somatic Cell Count (SCC) for interstate shipment of raw milk from 750,000/ml to 400,000/ml. This would improve milk quality and dairy cow health, as well as increase the amount of U.S. milk products eligible for export.
The board approved the release of 2,158 prefixes, effective December 31, 2016. Since its inception in 2009, board policy allows the release for reuse of a prefix after 20 years of non-use and makes it easier for members to acquire prefixes for their herds. The list will be posted on the Holstein Association’s website to give notice to membership. If someone wants to retire his or her prefix prior to the release date, they may contact Customer Service and request to do so for a $100 fee.
The board approved a policy updating publication rules as they pertain to polled Holsteins. Effective December 2016, in order for an animal to appear on any list published by HAUSA that is meant to be comprised of polled animals, an animal must be coded as PC or PP. Animals coded as PO are not eligible for publication on any HAUSA list meant to be comprised solely of polled animals.
The intent of the policy is to encourage genetic testing and ensure accurate representation of genetically polled animals on official lists produced by Holstein Association USA. Animals coded as PO (“Observed Polled”) will continue to have that designation printed on registration certificates, pedigrees and similar lineage statements in the same location as other genetic codes.
Beginning in 2017, members will receive a free duplicate certificate for all individual transfers submitted online. In other action, the board approved a $5 service fee for each individual phoned-in transfer. This is similar to the fee charged for registration applications which are phoned in.
Upcoming Meetings
The next board meetings are:
- Spring board meeting March 30-31, 2017, Brattleboro, Vt.
- Summer board meeting June 27-28, 2017. This will be in Bellevue, Wash., held in conjunction with the 132nd Annual Meeting.