ABSTRACT
Expansion of Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA)-related services has increased the overall usefulness of DHIA to participating dairy farmers. The DHIA testing program best suited to an individual farm depends on the size of the herd, the labor available on-farm at milking time, cost, objectives for herd performance testing, and traditions of the area or region. The primary reason a dairyman should pay for DHIA service is to receive computerized management information reports and summaries that depict what is happening in the herd and what can be expected to happen in the future. DHIA computer-management information systems available to dairy farmers through nine regional DHIA computer centers have improved remarkably. Milk samples are analyzed subsequently by a DHIA lab; barn information goes to DHIA computing center for analyses and print-out; management information report is mailed directly to the farm.
