DHIA course page template

Bradley J. Hilty
Senior Extension Associate

Department of Dairy and Animal Sciences
342 ASI Building
University Park, PA 16802

PHONE: (814) 863-3917
CELL: (717) 948-6612
FAX: (717) 948-6611
E-MAIL: bhilty@psu.edu

My name is Brad Hilty and I will be one of three instructors for this course. I have been involved in agriculture all my life. I grew up on a small dairy farm in western Pennsylvania. I graduated from Penn State University in 1976 and began my career as a livestock herdsman for a small two-year agriculture college in New York. I later moved to Nebraska to manage a large hog farm. I began my career in Extension with the University of Maryland in 1982 as a livestock and farm management agent. I received my Masters degree from the University of Maryland in 1984 and was chosen to develop a pilot program for regional farm management programming in 1987. I left the University in 1989 to work as a Territorial Sales Manager for Cargill.

In 1991, I saw the need for an independent consulting service that integrated the financial and production aspects of agriculture and began PLS Agri-Management Associates. Over the next nine years, I consulted with over 400 farming operations and agri-businesses to help them improve profitability. During this time I developed a systematic approach to converting data to information. Applying this approach to production records enabled producers and their advisors to develop a deeper understanding of how their dairy herd was performing and where possible bottlenecks in the operation might exist. Since joining Penn State in March of 2000, I have applied these techniques to developing programs in business and information management for Penn State Cooperative Extension Dairy Alliance Program. I strongly believe that dairy producers can improve profitability through better information analysis. Participating in this course will enable you to help your clients gain a better understanding of their DHIA reports and improve herd performance, which will in turn improve the profitability of their dairy businesses.

If you have any questions I can be reached by email, bhilty@psu.edu at anytime. I usually am able to respond within 24 hours. Although e-mail correspondence is preferred, you may also contact me by telephone, (717)-948-6612. I travel extensively, so you should call my cell phone between 10:00 am and 8:00 pm US Eastern time.

Michael L. O'Connor
Professor of Dairy Science

Department of Dairy and Animal Sciences
315 ASI Building
University Park, PA 16802

PHONE: (814) 863-3913
FAX: (814) 865-7442
E-MAIL: moconnor@psu.edu

My name is Mike O’Connor and I will be one of three instructors for this course. For the past 24 years I have been an Extension Specialist in the Department of Dairy and Animal Science at Penn State. I grew up in Rhode Island and spent most of my summers working on livestock and grain farms in western Illinois. I received my B.S. degree in Animal Science at the University of Rhode Island in 1969. Following my graduation from there I spent two year in the US Army. I then received my M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Virginia Tech.

I have conducted workshops and seminars on topics related to reproductive management for dairy producers, veterinarians, and artificial insemination personnel. Many of my articles have appeared in the farm press as well as conference proceedings and national symposia. My field studies have included projects on integrated reproductive management and evaluation of the accuracy of artificial insemination technique. I have also assisted in several undergraduate courses.

Herd performance information as provided by DHIA is an important but often underutilized tool for managing a dairy operation. If this information is routinely analyzed in a systematic manner major weaknesses can be identified early before significant losses occur. I feel this course will provide a format to learn how to critically evaluate the key performance indicators and focus corrective action.

If you have questions, I can be contacted by email at moconnor@psu.edu. In most instances, I will be able to respond to your inquiries within 24 hours.

Robert J. Van Saun
Extension Veterinarian

Department of Veterinary & Biomedical Sciences
111 Henning Building
University Park, PA 16802

PHONE: (814)-865-6995
FAX: (814) 863-6140
E-MAIL: rjv10@psu.edu

My name is Robert Van Saun and I will be one of three instructors for this course. I work as an extension veterinarian at Penn State University. I have been involved with teaching on many levels, undergraduate, veterinary students, producers and veterinarians.

As a practicing veterinarian, I observed how much mastitis problems were reducing production and income to my dairy clientele. Mastitis is still considered the most costly disease to the dairy industry. In my current position, mastitis problems within dairy herds are a large percent of the problematic cases addressed by our field investigation team. A large portion of mastitis problems on today’s dairies are those of subclinical nature where signs are not seen with the cow or milk, but within somatic cell records. For one to stay ahead of mastitis problems in their dairy herd, they must become familiar with interpreting their DHIA somatic cell count data.

I am excited about being a part of this web-based learning program. My goal is to provide a challenging educational program where veterinarians, producers, ag-service representatives and students can learn how to use DHIA records in evaluating presence and severity of mastitis within a dairy herd. With this knowledge, the participant, along with their herd veterinarian, can then best determine the appropriate plan of action in addressing the herd mastitis problems identified. If we are going to lower mastitis prevalence in our dairy herds and improve the quality of our milk product, one truly needs to understand “ the beast” and DHIA records is a good place to start this process.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me by email at rjv10@psu.edu. I usually am able to respond within 48 hours. Although e-mail correspondence is preferred, students may also contact me by telephone at (814)-865-4684. I am usually in my office between about 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

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