Minutes of the

Field Service Advisory Committee Meeting

 

The fifth meeting of the Field Service Advisory Committee was held at the Crowne Plaza in Madision, WI.

 

Dan Webb and Michael Rector co-chaired the meeting and at least 62 persons attended as participants or observers.  An attendance list is included with these Minutes.

 

Michael Rector, QCS President, reviewed the purpose of the FSAC meeting and led the attendees through introductions.

 

Bill VerBoort reviewed the creation of a Statistical Analysis spreadsheet and demonstrated how it was used to verify electronic meter accuracy.  He also recommended that the frequency requirement be changed from quarterly to two times per year and that the wording of the CDCB document be revised to allow its use for any manufacturer providing the necessary data.

 

Ken Butcher demonstrated the electronic meter analysis capabilities and reports generated by PCDART version 7.5 and noted that it was presently interfacing with nine electronic metering systems.

 

Cathy Dei demonstrated the DHI-Plus module used to verify electronic meter accuracy and noted that it was interfacing with five systems.

 

Steve Eicker reviewed the statistical theories related to bell curves and provided a demonstration of the Dairy Comp 305 meter analysis program.  He noted that the program currently interfaces with more than nine systems.

 

John Kennedy presented a report from the Electronic Herd Committee.  He stated that the Committee was recommending that software analysis reports be accepted as verification of meter accuracy providing the following conditions are met:

 

1. The reports include the comparison of actual milk yield to expected milk yield,

 

2. The reports include the number of observations,

 

3. The reports include the average percent deviation,

 

4. The reports include items 1-3 for all stalls, and

 

5. That at least one report generated during the auditing period be on file at the field service provider office.

 

A motion to accept manufacturer-approved calibration methods in addition to any listed in the CDCB guidelines was tabled.

 

Don Lazenby reviewed the Ontario DHIA experience with 39 robotic milking herds and made the following observations:

 

1. The Lely, DeLaval, and Bou-Matic systems maintain 7, 10, and 14-day milk weight averages,

 

2. The average cow provides 2.5 samples per day,

 

3. The best milk yield estimates are generated by using data from the last 12 milkings or the last four days,

 

4. The best time to collect samples is 6:00 AM to 10:00 PM, and

 

5. The challenges presented with robotic systems include shuttle maintenance, sample quality, sample quantity, file formats, merging of milk weight and sample data, and determining 24-hour milk yields.

 

The FSAC discussed the handling of robotic milking systems and approved a recommendation that samples be analyzed individually and combined mathematically with their corresponding milk weights to provide a weighted average.

 

Matt Crawford reviewed the distribution of Fast-Flow water test rigs for wide bore Tru-Test meters and answered questions regarding other Tru-Test matters.  He recommended the continued use of the original water test rigs for standard bore meters.

 

Bill VerBoort presented a report from Waikato describing the test results of a Rapid Calibration Method for Waikato Mark V meters.  The FSAC approved a recommendation to add this to the CDCB manual as another option for checking the calibration of Waikato meters.

 

Michael Rector presented several proposals for revision of the CDCB manuals.  The FSAC discussed all of the proposals and approved the following recommendations for revision:

 

1.     CDCB Auditing Procedures for Field Services.................................................... Page 2

To eliminate the on-site requirement for annual audits and stipulate that on-site audits can be called by the auditor when organizational changes occur or deficiencies are prevalent.

 

2.     CDCB Auditing Procedures for Field Services.................................................... Page 4

To eliminate the Auditing of the Continuous Education of Field Service Managers page.

 

3.     CDCB Auditing Procedures for Field Services.................................................... Page 7

To eliminate the Auditing of the Performance of Field Technicians page.

 

4.     CDCB Auditing Procedures for Field Services................................................... Page 10

To reword the Calibration Check Documentation section to provide a better description of the requirements necessary for using statistical analysis of electronic meters for accuracy verification.

 

5.     CDCB Auditing Procedures for Field Services................................................... Page 10

To add the option of using manufacturer-approved methods of calibration to the Auditing of Electronic Meter Calibration Checks page.

 

6.     CDCB Auditing Procedures for Field Services................................................... Page 11

To eliminate the Auditing of the Electronic Identification Compliance page.

 

7.     CDCB Auditing Procedures for Field Services................................................... Page 12

To change the frequency requirement for bulk tank comparison programs from quarterly to once per auditing period.

 

8.     CDCB Auditing Procedures for Meter Centers and Technicians............................. Page 6

To delete the Initial Training of Meter Technicians section from the page.

 

9.     CDCB Auditing Procedures for Meter Centers and Technicians............................ Page 22

To change the list of eligible meters and spreadsheet instructions to allow use of the Statistical Test Method with any meter capable of providing the required data.

 

10.  CDCB Auditing Procedures for Meter Centers and Technicians............................ Page 22

To change the frequency requirement for using the Statistical Test Method from four times per year to one time per year.

 

Dan Webb asked for nominations for FSAC chairman and Mark Witherspoon was elected as the next Chairman.

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Michael Rector

QCS

 

 

Attendance List

Field Service Advisory Committee Meeting

 

AgSource Cooperative / CRI....... Joel Amdall, Dan Andrews, Paul Jandrin, Ken Short, Rodney Davis, Tom DeMuth, Nicole Bernarde, Jim Froehlich, Jim Garafalo, Ron Curran, John Johnson

 

Bou-Matic............................ Tim Blair

 

California DHIA..................... Bill VerBoort

 

Central Valley Dairy Lab........... Rick Baie

 

Colorado DHIA..................... John Kennedy

 

Dairy Lab Services.................. Jackie Avery, Barry Koelker, Terry Hopper

 

Dairy One............................ Jamie Zimmerman

 

DHI Cooperative.................... Brian Winters, Julee O’Reilly

 

DHI-Provo........................... Cathy Dei

 

DRMS................................ Ken Butcher

 

Eastern Wiconsin DHIC............ Glenn Schmahl, Chuck Reineking

 

Fox Valley DHIA................... Joe Drexler

 

Great Lakes Dairy Records........ John Mikel

 

Heart of America DHIA............ Dave Sukup

 

Holstein USA........................ Dan Meihak

 

Idaho DHIA.......................... Laurie Lancaster

 

Indiana SDA......................... Bob Albrecht

 

Lancaster DHIA..................... Jere High, Jay Mylin

 

Mid-South Dairy Records......... Mark Witherspoon

 

Minnesota DHIA................... Jeff Lerum, Gabe Gieske, Bruce Dokkebakken, Val Schumann, Greg Frieberg

 

National DHIA...................... Susan Lee, Dave Selner, Greg Marrs, Diane Ross, Jay Mattison

 

NorthStar Cooperative............. Doug Brook, Mike Bills, Mark Adam

 

NuPulse............................... Ken Sissom

 

Ontario DHIA....................... Don Lazenby, Nick Groot, Neil Petreny

 

Quality Certification Services..... David Youngman, Michael Rector

 

Rocky Mountain DHIA............ Brent Clark

 

San Joaquin DHIA.................. Skip Pringle

 

Southeast DHIA..................... Dan Webb, Don Shaw

 

Southern Counties DHIA.......... Rick Bealer

 

Texas DHIA......................... Michael Tomaszewski

 

Tru-Test, Inc......................... Matt Crawford

 

Tulare DHIA......................... Dave Brown, Tony Nunes

 

United DHIA........................ Sam Chafin

 

Valley Agricultural Software....... Steve Eicker

 

Washington DHIA.................. Tim Thomas