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Dairy Herd Improvement Association Herd Averages. III. Characteristics of Herds at Different Production Levels

Animal Husbandry Research Division, USDA, Beltsville, Maryland

ABSTRACT

A total of 8,048 yearly herd average reports from Holstein Dairy Herd Improvement Association herds in 23 states was studied to evaluate the characteristics of herds at various levels of milk production. Separate intra-county least-squares analyses were made for the years 1960–64. Herd average per cent days in milk, grain feeding, silage feeding, feed cost per hundred pounds of milk produced, fat yield, income over feed cost, grain cost, and total feed cost differed significantly among production levels. There were marked positive trends in per cent days in milk, grain feeding, and income over feed cost. It was concluded that estimates of grain feeding are useful but that forage estimates are of little value, due to the large errors in their measurement. Results indicated that gross means of herd averages provide a reasonably accurate assessment of the characteristics of herds at different levels of production.