We are delighted to introduce our new Milk Recording Lifetime summary and Annual Milk Recording & Lifetime Report. The new Progressive Genetics Annual Milk Recording & Lifetime Report, aim is to indicate the performance and profitability of individual cows within your herd clearly, and in doing so, making the reports a better decision support tool for you and your herd.

By providing milk recorded lifetime information for the cow after each test, cows are now ranked within your herd based on their milk recorded lifetime margin per day. This new approach should assist you in making the best management decisions for your herd.

In the production section of the 2020 Annual Milk Recording & Lifetime Report, the top 20% of cows, based on their lifetime milk recording margin per day are coloured green and the bottom 20% are coloured red. Lactation 1 and Lactation 2 are ranked within their own lactation group and the remaining cows (Lactation 3+) are ranked as a group. The aim should be to breed your replacements from the highest genetic merit cows and the highest-ranking cows in each group. The bottom 20% in each group need further analysis to determine the reason for their lower performance relative to the top 20% e.g. Lameness, Low EBI, shorter lactation, disease or scc issues.

For the first time the animal’s lifetime and current lactation performance combined with its current and previous lactation’s SCC is displayed on one page. Each of these parameters are colour coded for your convenience. This allows you to make management decisions on which animals should be retained and which animals to breed future replacements from, therefore improving the performance and efficiency of your herd.

Please see below, for more detailed explanations of the parameters and calculations used within the report. We hope you find this report beneficial and if you should have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact our Progressive Genetics milk recording office on 04695 40606 or email milkrecording@progressivegenetics.ie

On behalf of Progressive Genetics, we thank you for milk recording with us in 2020 and look forward to working with you in the years ahead.

2020 Annual Milk Recording & Lifetime Report Notes

Only cows that have a valid lactation are included in this summary pages.

A valid lactation is defined as follows:(i) was completed in 2020 on your farm (ii) is closed (has dry off date in 2020) with over 150 days in milk or is still in milk and had a test on or after 305 days.

Production Summary The production summary is the average of your herd for each parameter compared to the top 20% of milk recording herds receiving an annual report.

Milk Recording Margin per day: Cows in their 2nd and subsequent lactation are ranked based on their milk recorded lifetime margin per day into top 20%, average and bottom 20%. All previous valid lactations where animals are milk recorded are used for these calculations in addition to the current lactation. The churn level for the average and bottom 20% are filled relative to the top 20%

Milk Value by Month of Calving:

The annual milk value by month of calving is shown with the number of cows, € milk value, Kg milk solids produced and days in milk.

Margin Per Lactation:

The average lifetime margin for each completed lactation to date is shown with the number of cows, top 20%, average and bottom 20%.

Calculations for Performance Report

Lifetime margin per day = Value of milk recorded lifetime production less cost of production divided by the total days (Milk recorded days).

Milk Recorded Lifetime Production: is the sum of all the previous valid lactation(s) (minimum of 3 tests in a lactation and a dry off date) and current lactation year to date. Value is based on the A+B-C system at 30.5c/l; Protein (6.18) + Fat (3.64)- Milk volume (0.04).

Cost of Production: is the sum of all the costs for each day of previous valid lactation(s), dry period(s) and current lactation year to date. The cost per day is based on the cow’s month of calving for each lactation and the herd production group. The four production groups are; less than 5700Kg, between 5700Kg and 7000Kg, between 7000Kg and 9000Kg, greater than 9000Kg (based on herd actual up to 305day). There is a cost associated with every dry day.

Total days (Milk recorded days): is thesum of all the previous valid milk recording lactation(s) days, dry period(s) days and current lactation days in milk.

Cows are divided into the top 20%, bottom 20% and middle 60%. Animals are ranked on lifetime margin per day. The 1st & 2nd lactation animals are ranked within their own lactation group.

Average Days Dry: is the total days dry divided by the number valid lactations (excluding current lactation).

Animals highlighted in red within the completed lactation /extended lactation section are in the bottom 20% based on YTD margin per day. YTD margin per day is calculated as current YTD milk value less costs divided by days in milk in current lactation.

SCC Current and Previous Lactations: Cows are divided into four separate groups based on their current and previous lactation;

• Healthy (green)
• Recently cured (blue)
• Recently infected (orange)
• Persistently infected (red).

Healthy Cows: These are cows that have no test in the lactation exceeding 200,000 SCC.

Recently Cured Cows: These cows have been cured in the lactation.

Recently Infected Cows: These cows exceeded 200,000 SCC in the lactation and were less than that at the previous test.

Persistently Infected Cows: These cows have two consecutive tests over 200,000 SCC in the lactation.