Local Dairy Day is Jan. 30 at the Dordt University Ag Stewardship Center near Sioux Center
There are new web-based products that are available to all dairy herds that process records through DRMS. Two of those products will be reviewed and demonstrated at the 2024 Dairy Days across Iowa in January.
Local producers can hear about this topic and more on Jan. 30 at the Northwest Iowa Dairy Day.
“Greg Palas, manager of DRMS support services at Iowa State University, will lead this discussion,” said Fred Hall, dairy specialist with Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. “He will demonstrate how these two programs can be accessed and used by dairy producers.”
The two products Hall is referring to are HeiferHub and KeeporBeef.
HeiferHub projects future replacement heifer inventory using past breeding and culling performance and computes potential income from surplus animals given current market prices and semen usage and costs.
KeeporBeef assists in making culling and breeding decisions by providing future economic return or “Keep Value” on each cow and heifer. It also provides guidelines based on greatest economic return for breeding to dairy sexed, conventional or beef semen.
“Greg has been with the DHI [Dairy Herd Improvement] processing center for over 40 years and works with dairy producers and consultants all over the country,” Hall said. “DRMS is the largest DHI processing center in the country and provides service to over 11,000 herds and over 2 million cows. You won’t want to miss this opportunity to learn from Greg Palas.”
Dairy Days will be offered Jan. 16 in Elma at Innovative Ag Service; Jan. 18 in Elkader at Johnson’s Restaurant; Jan. 23 in Kalona at the Kalona Chamber of Commerce; Jan. 25 in New Vienna at the New Vienna Community Center; and Jan. 30 at the Dordt University Ag Stewardship Center located at 3648 US-75, Sioux Center. Check-in for all events starts at 9:45 a.m. and the program will conclude by 2:30 p.m.
The day-long event has been developed to help dairy producers learn about current best practices supported by the latest research. All the topics will help producers make sound heifer management decisions.
“With nearly 25 percent of a dairy’s production costs associated with raising heifer replacements, optimizing growth and health is important to every dairy operation,” Hall said. “We anticipate great discussion and learning during this year’s Dairy Days.”
In addition to Palas, Dairy Days 2024 topics and presenters include:
“Dairy Best Heifer: Lessons Learned and Path Forward” – Dr. Gail Carpenter, ISU
“Starting Your Calves on the Right Hoof” – Dr. Jardon/Jennifer Bentley, ISU
“What Does it Cost to Raise Your Dairy Best Heifer?” – Larry Tranel, ISU
There is no cost to attend any of the Dairy Days. However, registration is encouraged to plan for noon meal and proceedings. Local sponsors will be recognized at each event.
Pre-registration is requested by the Friday before each event to reserve a meal. Register online at https://go.iastate.edu/2024DAIRYDAYS.
For more information, contact the ISU Extension and Outreach Dairy Field Specialist in your area: in Northwest Iowa, Fred M. Hall, 712-737-4230 or fredhall@iastate.edu; in Northeast Iowa, Jennifer Bentley, 563-382-2949 or jbentley@iastate.edu; in East Central Iowa, Larry Tranel, 563-583-6496 or tranel@iastate.edu; in Ames, Dr. Gail Carpenter, 515-294-9085 or ajcarpen@iastate.edu.