Quality Premiums

[DaletheDairyFarmer]

The other day my tanker driver and I were solving the problems of the world as usual when we got on the topic of quality premiums. We both agree that if the premium offered was big enough it would pay to get rid of problem cows rather than monkeying around with them. One would think better quality milk would be of importance especially here in the northeast where class 1 utilization is between 42 and 52% depending on the season. My creamery offers a 2 tier program of $.10 and $.25. I have heard that DFA/Dairylea offers 3 tier at .15, .25, .35. What I was wondering is what are quality incentives around the country? Oh yeah, for us to get .10 we need to be under 250,000 scc and 10,000 plate count, for .25 we need to be under 150,000 and 5,000.

 

[GMN]

We get paid last month .51 cents cwt for being rbst free, and I think its .25 cwt for SCC under 250,000. Above 750,000 you get docked, .25 cwt I think, not sure on that. My SCC is is the range of 250,000 to 400,000 right now. They use to pay for low bacteria levels, they don't anymore, but they might dock for it, not sure on that either.

GMN

 

[DaletheDairyFarmer]

forgot about rBST free we get a whopping .10 DFA/whoever gets .18 east of I-81 and .32 west of 81. of course we are east but they keep telling us it will go up soon.(yeah right) Because our milk goes into nyc the families which are referred to as the milk mafia won't give a dime more than they have to until they have to. Only good thing is the ny ppd.Amazingly our scc runs between 225,000 and 350,000. but when we drop low enough on scc our bacteria spikes. I think we've gotten .10 about 4 times in last 2 yrs. How can you fight it when they do the samples?

 

[GMN]

forgot about rBST free we get a whopping .10 DFA/whoever gets .18 east of I-81 and .32 west of 81. of course we are east but they keep telling us it will go up soon.(yeah right) Because our milk goes into nyc the families which are referred to as the milk mafia won't give a dime more than they have to until they have to. Only good thing is the ny ppd.Amazingly our scc runs between 225,000 and 350,000. but when we drop low enough on scc our bacteria spikes. I think we've gotten .10 about 4 times in last 2 yrs. How can you fight it when they do the samples?

You know they have a tester now for SCC you can do right at your farm. I heard about it a few months ago, its kind of pricey though, I thought about $250 or more, but I imagine, you could test your own tank every once in awhile to see if it matches theirs. What is the nyppd?

GMN

 

[DaletheDairyFarmer]

have seen the tester but don't recall price I know it was more than I wanted to spend on 60 cows. ny ppd is the nycity producer price differential which is Boston price minus .10 . Fed Order price is set at Boston delivery point then drops the further you get away, Buffalo is somewhere around $1.10 less than Boston. Syracuse is .55, Albany is .45 etc.

 

[bigbull338]

gail if i was milking cows.id sure buy that tester.it would sure save you from alot of headaches.an it would allow you to find high scc cows.an get them out of the tank.an treat or cull them.an you could also keep track of your tank scc.

 

[GMN]

gail if i was milking cows.id sure buy that tester.it would sure save you from alot of headaches.an it would allow you to find high scc cows.an get them out of the tank.an treat or cull them.an you could also keep track of your tank scc.

I'll patiently be waiting on your check to me for purchasing that item ;-) ;-)

Gail

 

[bigbull338]

gail if i was milking cows.id sure buy that tester.it would sure save you from alot of headaches.an it would allow you to find high scc cows.an get them out of the tank.an treat or cull them.an you could also keep track of your tank scc.

I'll patiently be waiting on your check to me for purchasing that item ;-) ;-)

Gail

hehehe guess you want to trade jobs.ive been working out in the heat the last few days.putting in 3 to 5hrs a day or more when i work.an i need to start getting some fencing done.but mom is gripping because its getting to hot.an she doesnt want me or my hired hand overheating.because she knows ill work till i passout.but i mostly just supervise an make sure he does things right.

 

[GMN]

gail if i was milking cows.id sure buy that tester.it would sure save you from alot of headaches.an it would allow you to find high scc cows.an get them out of the tank.an treat or cull them.an you could also keep track of your tank scc.

I'll patiently be waiting on your check to me for purchasing that item ;-) ;-)

Gail

hehehe guess you want to trade jobs.ive been working out in the heat the last few days.putting in 3 to 5hrs a day or more when i work.an i need to start getting some fencing done.but mom is gripping because its getting to hot.an she doesnt want me or my hired hand overheating.because she knows ill work till i passout.but i mostly just supervise an make sure he does things right.

Fencing, got alot of that to do too, don't suppose you travel? LOL

Gail

 

[TexasBred]

Gail when I dairied I was always on the DHIA program and felt like it paid for itself with the information made available. Don't know if you use it but they will sample and weigh your milk, download all the results right into the program that you get from DHIA. Then they follow up with hardcopy of everything. SSC alone is worth the money but the PCDART (program name unless they've changed it) contains all milking records, health records, breeding records, the whole nine yards. I understand it can all now be downloaded into a PDA carried in your pocket.