Benefits of Testing Milk

Last night we attended the annual Dairy Herd Improvement Association's {DHIA} annual dinner and award presentation.  DHIA tests the milk from our entire milking herd on a monthly basis.

This is not a mandatory test, this is a management tool that some dairies choose to use. The testing tells us how many pounds of milk each cow produces, the percentage of butter fat and the percentage of protein in the milk and also provides information on somatic cell counts on each cow.

{This is not to be confused with the mandatory testing that occurs with each and every truck load of milk on a daily basis that tests for antibiotics}.

You can view how the milk is tested and read more about the benefits and why we test our milk on a previously written post, Milk Testing, Why We Do It, if you'd like.

Sixty-four dairy farms in the North Bay area of California participate in this milk testing program.  Within our North Bay area, out of the 64 herds, awards are given to the 'Top Ten Herds Milking'.

And you can't have an award ceremony without some good food.  Appetizers were delicious!  Bryce was all over the fruit platter.

And when he finished with the fruit, he went for the garnish - kale- surrounding the fruit.

And then he went back for seconds and thirds of kale.....no kidding.

Jimmy's Catering provided the food for the event and it was so good.

And after dinner, a little juke box dance party happened.

A late night for the kids, being a school night and all.  I guess once in a while it doesn't hurt.

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