The Holstein Association USA board of directors met July 7-8, 2013 in Indianapolis, Ind.
The board honored retiring President Chuck Worden of New York and Director Leroy Eggink of Iowa and recognized their contributions and service to the Association during a dinner on July 8th.
During the meeting, staff presented updates on the 2013 Management-by-Objective Business Plan and year-to-date financials. Reporting on year-to-date Holstein COMPLETE® activity, 279,434 cows were enrolled. Compared to June, 2012, this is a gain of 1,739 cows.
The board heard a report on the feed efficiency research project for which the Association is providing Type Evaluation Services. The Classification team will be scoring herds participating in the project at Iowa State University, the University of Florida, and Virginia Tech during July and August. The study is being conducted by several universities and the USDA with support from the Holstein Association.
Staff reported enthusiastic feedback on an Association-funded and directed research project that is intended to find haplotypes of elite Holstein females that are associated with their valuable and unique phenotypes. The first significant outcome of this research is that genome samples from 620 phenotypically elite cows, owned by 354 Holstein Association members, will be contributing to the August genetic evaluations.
Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer Barbara Casna presented the Association’s consolidated financial statements through the end of May, 2013 and reviewed the reserve fund report for the same period. The Association and its subsidiaries show year-to-date net consolidated revenues of $452,000.
AgriTech Analytics (ATA) General Manager Bill VerBoort reported June 2013 enrollment of 872,144 cows. ATA continues to expand the number of states it is doing business in.
The board approved a new fee schedule for the family and non-family whole herd transfer of animals in a single account or herd to a single ownership. Significant savings will be realized in herds larger than 200 animals.
Source: Holstein Association USA