The lab is a 6000 square foot facility located on two acres of I-94 frontage property in the City of Sauk Centre. The lab, located on the I-94 corridor offers convenient access to the facility. Current facilities house a milk lab, forage lab, wet chemistry lab and microbiology lab. Transportation of samples to our facility is contracted through Speede Delivery Service, US Postal Service and our own sample vans. We are owned by the Stearns County Dairy Herd Improvement Association (DHIA). The lab provides milk testing for the DHIA program to herds in North and Central Minnesota and North Dakota. Feed and forage analysis are provided for clients in Minnesota, 8 other states and 2 Canadian Provinces’.

Stearns DHIA Laboratories located in Sauk Centre started testing milk samples in 1968. We analyses an average of over 110,000 milk samples per month for protein, fat and somatic cell count. The lab has always received 90 to 100 points on the national DHIA Laboratory Certification. The NIR (Near Infra Red) feed and forage lab was added in 1988. The NIR Spectrophotometer analyzes an average of over 20,000 samples per year. With non NIR samples on the increase and a better quality control program needed, the Wet Chemistry Lab was implemented in 1992. Sample numbers have been on the rise ever since.

Equipment

The milk lab currently has three lines of 605/360 Combi-Foss Milk Analyzers to analyze samples for fat, protein and somatic cell. The Skalar Analyzer provides the primary method for the determination of Milk Urea Nitrogen (MUN).

The NIR Spectrophotometer is the main piece of equipment in the forage lab. It was purchased in 1991 and has continued to be upgraded periodically since then. Four microwave ovens serve as drying ovens for this department. Two UDY Grinders are used to prep samples for the NIR Spectrophotometer.

Major equipment used in the chemistry lab includes: a Techator Kjeltec Auto analyzer, which is used for Protein and Organic N; a Techator Fiber Tec, which is used for fiber detection; a Techator Sox Tec Fat Extractor, which is used for the analysis of fat; a Perkin-Elmer Atomic Absorption Unit, which is used for minerals; a Perkin-Elmer UV-VIS Spectrophotometer, which is used to detect Phosphorus; a Leco Combustion Analyzer, which is used for proteins; a Isotemp Muffle Furnace, used to determine ash content; an Accumet pH meter, Nitrate reader and two drying ovens.

Each laboratory and lab support staff are linked to a Novell Ether Network by a Gateway workstation. These 12 workstations range anywhere from a 386 to a E3110. They have been purchased periodically over the years as the need arises. The file server for this system is a Gateway PS100 with two 2 gig hard drive and 128 megabytes of RAM.

Staff

The lab employs a Manager, Lab Services Specialist, Chemist, part time Salesperson, two full time and eight part time lab technicians, five part time route drivers and an office manager.

Management Level staff have a 4 year college degree, vocational training or beyond. The Lab Services Specialist and Chemist have Chemistry and or Animal Science Degrees. Most employees have additional education or additional work experience.

Memberships and Professional Affiliations