NorthStar Cooperative sees record growth in 2011

"Enhancing producer profitability through integrated services." That's the goal of NorthStar Cooperative, Inc., headquartered at 4200 Forest Rd., Lansing, MI, according to Gary Smith, NorthStar Cooperative executive vice president and general manager.

Speaking Wednesday evening, Jan. 18, at one of several district meetings, Smith told NorthStar patrons they accomplished their goal in 2011 as the cooperative reached record sales levels of nearly $22 million.

"Profitability creates opportunity and financial stability," he stated.

As a cooperative, NorthStar distributes earnings to its owners. Common stockowners have voting privileges and have the opportunity to receive patronage based on the cooperative's performance; while preferred stockowners receive annual dividends as declared by the board of directors.

In 2011, NorthStar declared $586,000 in common stock patronage, as well as $26,400 in the form of a preferred dividend.

Owned by dairy and beef producers, at the core of the cooperative's product lines are A.I. products and services through Select Sires, as well as DHI services and herd management products.

"It's a team effort here," Smith said of the over 225 employees at the cooperative, adding, "we have some of the most passionate people in the business."

The company primarily covers a three-state area, which includes northern Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana (north of U.S. 50), and is governed by a 13-member board.

Smith acknowledged genetics are a big part of the pie for the organization, with 880,000 units of semen sold.

"This year, we've sold enough semen to breed every cow in our territory once," he quipped.

One of the company's focuses is adding new technology like Select Detect, an advanced estrus detection system. This new tool uses remote radio transmission and Bluetooth technology to help producers monitor cow activity around the clock, reducing the need for timed A.I.

Smith noted producers using Select Detect said it makes finding cows in heat easier and it helps gets cows bred with less labor, resulting in increased breeding performance.

For the 11th straight year, NorthStar's DHI Services experienced growth. Smith noted, This growth is not a trend that the rest of the industry is seeing."

NorthStar's DHI field specialists provide on-farm milk sample collection and data entry of production and reproduction information. Sample analysis is conducted at one of two laboratories: Universal Lab Services and Wisconsin DHI Lab. Additionally, field specialists provide on-farm support for the dairy management software, PCDART and PocketDairy.

Dairy Records Management Systems (DRMS) of Raleigh, NC, is the primary source for NorthStar's DHI records processing.

Smith mentioned NorthStar has also experienced tremendous growth in the sales of herd management products such as teat dips, calf products and identification tags, noting the convenience of on-farm delivery as being a key reason.

In addition to the patronage-based business units, NorthStar also owns Antel BioSystems Inc. (AntelBio), an animal disease-testing center. AntelBio provides Johne's, Leukosis, BVD, progesterone and contagious mastitis testing services worldwide and pioneered the commercial utilization of the AntelBio Milk ELISA.

Smith stated, "Through our investment in AntelBio, dairy producers across the U.S. can easily and affordably have routine DHI milk samples tested for various diseases."

"These businesses have helped us become more diversified," Smith stated.



Genomic testing increasing

Keynoting the district meeting was Charlie Will, Holstein program sire manager for Select Sires.

When selecting bulls for their sire program, Will said, "We look for bulls that will make the kind of cows dairymen want. These are the bulls that have made a difference throughout the world."

He indicated that Sire Conception Rate (SCR) is a very important trait to many dairymen and Select has the highest average SCR among all AI studs, for all Holstein bulls on the current USDA sire evaluations.

He also told the patron members that based on the first 2,000 bull calves Select Sires genomically tested on farm, about 50 percent of the calves came within +/-5 percent of their original parent average. Genomics help distinguish what bulls are more likely to turn out better or worse than the pedigree had predicted.

Will explained that with genomics, marker genes have been identified that identify the inheritance of certain genes that control production traits, type conformation traits, as well as fitness traits such as calving ease.

These marker affects can be plotted across all 30 chromosomes in the form of chromosomal maps to show the strengths and weaknesses of a bull.

Will stressed one of the true advantages of genomic testing is it identifies the very best bulls that will make more profitable cows for all dairymen, and also eliminate those bulls whose daughters are likely to perform far less than the average sire.

This will also help the AI industry reduce the costs of progeny testing bulls that have no future.

The Holstein program sire manager continued, "Genomics helps us identify what we can't see on the outside."

He added that 26,525 cows and 58,000 heifers have been genomic tested, along with over 50,000 bulls to bring the grand total to date to over 136,044 Holsteins genomically tested through USDA.

Will stated, "We need to use all new technologies to improve our breeding programs, such as genomic testing, but we must not forget everything we have learned about breeding cattle in the last 30 years."

He continued, "We still need the right balance of genotypes and phenotypes when developing these top bulls."

In conclusion, Will summarized, "We are proud of the great bulls we have had in the past, but even more excited about the new young bulls we have coming in the future."

Those attending the district meeting were invited to NorthStar's Annual Business Conference, March 8-9, at the Hilton Garden Inn, Merrillville, IN.

NorthStar Cooperative was created in 1944 through the efforts of Michigan dairymen and Michigan State University Cooperative Extension Service. Since that time, NorthStar became a member of the nationally renowned Select Sires federation, and has successfully completed mergers with Michigan DHIA and Fox Valley DHI.