Results
General Information and Farm Characteristics
Of the 479 eligible producers in the nine counties, 186 (39%) participated. The mean age of those completing questionnaires was 41 + 10.5 years (range, 21 to 80 years). Those herds represented and responding to the survey had been in operation for a mean period of 33.4 + 19.6 years (range 0.1 to 115 years). Most producers (112/147; 76%), perceived that their enterprises were going to be operational in ten years = time. Producers responding (104), were equally divided as to whether they would encourage their children to go into dairy farming. Sixty percent of farms employed non-family workers to assist in the farming operations.
The reported percent contribution of the dairy enterprise to total farm income was 88 + 16% (range, 25 to 100%). Fifty-eight percent of the producers gained their family livelihood entirely from farming while 39% reported off-farm employment. The mean number of households involved in ownership of each of the dairies responding was 1.8 + 1.1 (range, 1 to 7). The mean total acreage of farms was 372 + 390 (range, 13 to 3,500 acres). The mean percentage of farm acreage that was used to produce dairy cattle feed was 82 + 24% (range, 0 to 100%).
From DHIA records, the mean number of "cows in milk" in respondent herds was 97 + 66 (range, 14 to 360; median 78), and 66 % of the operations milked fewer than 100 cows. The majority of these farms, 181/186 (97.3%), were milking cows twice a day, while 5/186 (2.7 %) farms milked three times a day. The mean number of "cows in milk" of the herds enrolled on official DHIA in the nine counties that did not respond to our survey was 49 + 12 (range, 3 to 78; median, 50). Descriptive statistics of herds that participated in the study and those that did not, were obtained using available data (DHIA records only; table 1).
| Herd Characteristic | Participating herds | Non-participating herds |
| # cows in milk* | 97 ± 66 | 49 ± 12 |
| BTSCC | 319,000 ± 159,000 | 325,000 ± 169,000 |
| % low SCC (linear score, 0 - 4) | 77 ± 8% | 77 ± 11% |
| % high SCC | 8 ± 5% | 8 ± 5% |
| RHA milk (lb) | 19,221 ± 2,741 | 17,756 ± 3,709 |
| 1SCC = somatic cell count, BTSCC = bulk tank
somatic cell count, and RHA = rolling herd average.
*If the investigators are going to justify their objectives from a nutrient management perspective, more proof is needed than that provided in this proposal. < 0.05 |
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