2012 WORLD HOLSTEIN CONFERENCE - Dansk Holstein

SESSION 6: GETTING MORE OUT OF MILKUsing Milk Analysis to Improve Herd Management:New Opportunities on-farm as well as in-lab emerge continuouslyTOVE ASMUSSEN (DENMARK)Tove graduated from the Royal Veterinarian and AgriculturalUniversity of Copenhagen with a Master’s Degree in milk production.She worked for seven years advising Danish dairy farmers in ruminantnutrition and general herd management. She worked during twoperiods as an International Product Manager for FOSS, beingresponsible for equipment analyzing somatic cells, total bacteriaand latest components analyzed with infrared equipment. They alsoanalyzed fat and protein, as well as new parameters such as acetone,BHB and fatty acids. In-between, Tove worked for seven years asBusiness Development Manager in Lattec, a company owned byDelaval and FOSS. This company developed and produced theHerd Navigator— an on-farm herd management solution which isnow installed on several farms in Canada. In April of 2011, Tove resigned as an employee at FOSS to starther own company, Raw Milk Connect, together with a former colleague, Berte Asmussen. She is now doingconsultancy work for FOSS as well as for other customers in the crossfire between milk analyses, ruminantphysiology and dairy herd management. In addition to this, she is continuing to build the network of RawMilk Connect—where inter-professional laboratories and the customers and suppliers of solutions to theselaboratories, can update themselves and each other on the latest news within milk analyses.With increasing herd sizes and more people involved in the management of a herd it is obviously advantageous itobase herd management on objective, uniform and standardized criteria over time.Milk samples, on herd, group or even better, at cow level, can be analyzed for various parameters which fulfil theabove criteria and offer important information about the herd and individual cows. It is, however, crucial that theinformation is communicated timely and in a useful way, and condensed by computer software from data to realuseable information.Examples will be presented on new parameters analyzed on-farm as well as in the central milk laboratory, which canassist the herd manager to improve management during the very important cow transition and breeding periods.The presentation will focus on communication of the results as well as proper actions on the farm, based on theinformation provided.31More analyses are expected to be carried out on the farm level in the future. However, for many years to come, today’sparameters as well as future parameters measured in milk will also be analyzed in the central laboratories. The balancebetween on-farm analyses and analyses carried out in the laboratories will - among other things, depend on how wellthe DHI’s and the laboratories make developments in offering analytical solutions and analyses of milk from the rightcows at the right time!