Beginnings

Lancaster DHIA originated as an outgrowth of Red Rose DHIA. Red Rose DHIA was a county organization of Pennsylvania DHIA. In the changing DHIA environment of the early 90's, the board looked closely at whether there was an advantage in being an independent organization, with the power to make their own decisions and determine their own future. After intense research and travel that included visiting the major processing centers, the decision was made in late 1992 to form Lancaster DHIA. Lancaster DHIA was admitted as a member of DRMS (at that time the Raleigh Processing center), contracted lab services and DHIA certification to the former Mid-East DHIA, and hired former lead technician Jay Mylin as manager. The technicians had to make the decision to quit their former employer, and hire on with the new organization, which was done by almost all of the technicians. The organization began with 58,000 cows in about 1,065 herds.

The Labs

Lancaster DHIA was approved as an independent organization by National DHIA in 1994. The same year, the board decided to research the possibility of building their own sample lab in Lancaster county. After researching, and touring labs in Vermont, Maryland, Tennessee and Ohio, the decision was made to proceed with the project, and the days of Lancaster DHIA as a truly independent organization had begun. The lab was built in what had been a chicken house on the property of Jay Mylin in Manheim, PA. After researching equipment, and placing it on bids, the decision was made to purchase a Bentley 500 combi. In 1996, the growing interest in milk urea nitrogen analysis prompted the organization to purchase one of the first Bentley wet-chemistry MUN machines. Growing volume made necessary the purchase of a second component machine, a Bentley 300 combi in late 2000. The lab is currently processing over 160,000 component samples per month, and 20,000 MUN samples. With the new addition of our Microbiology Lab, we continue to strive to meet the needs of the dairy farmers and the industry as a whole. The Microbiology Lab will be operational in November of 2005.

Growth

When the organization was founded in 1992, it was based on a membership almost entirely in Lancaster county Pennsylvania. Within two years, it began to grow into other counties. By steady growth, it has grown to service a territory that encompasses much of Pennsylvania, with a concentration in the central, southern and eastern parts of the state as well as northern Maryland and New Jersey. We also provide service to northwest Pennsylvania through Crawford DHIA. Crawford DHIA retained the services of Lancaster DHIA in 1999 to provide lab, accreditation and technical support for their members. Through the ten years of growth, the number of cows serviced has climbed from 58,000 in 1992 to 200,000 in 2005.

The Future

We have no goals to grow to any particular size, or to cover any particular territory. Our goal is to be able to have the flexibility to provide whatever services are needed by our producers. The majority of our dairymen are small farmers with little technology, who are looking to have low-cost flexible reports to manage their herds. On the other end are our many large herds whose managers would not start the day without synching their handheld computer and clipping it to their belt to have Pocketdairy at hand to manage their herds. Lancaster DHIA has earned the industry respect to the point that we now have a voice in the workings of National DHIA and the largest processing center in the nation...DRMS. As we look to the future, we look to it confident that there will always be a place in it for any organization willing to keep a finger to the wind, looking to the needs of the industry.