Relationship Between Herd Management Practices in the Midwest on Milk and Fat Yield

A dairy management survey was conducted in fall 1985 and spring 1986 in the nine-state area served by the Midstates Dairy Records Processing Center in Ames, IA. The questionnaire, consisting of 57 questions with 254 possible choices, was used to survey dairy producers on DHI testing in Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and South Dakota. The questions covered housing pactices, milking equipment and practices, feeding regimens, calf rearing and feeding, feed additives, various management categories, and artificial insemination usage. The survey responses were merged with the 1985 year end rolling herd production averages from the processing center. A completely fixed model was fit for all 254 potential responses. The greatest differences among solutions were found in the feeding categories with some of the major differences associated with type of grain and forage fed. Feed additives showed the next largest difference among categories with feed ingredients, such as distillers grain, whole cottonseed, and buffers being associated with higher herd averages. There was a positive association between the length of time a producer had been on DHI and herd averages. Herds using a total AI program had herd averages 506 kg higher than those using only a beef bull