Dairy farm profit according to the herd size, milk yield, and number of cows per worker

Lenka Krpalkova, Victor E. Cabrera, Jindřich Kvapilik and Jiri Burdych
Additional contact information
Lenka Krpalkova: Department of Cattle Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Prague, Czech Republic
Victor E. Cabrera: Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
Jindřich Kvapilik: Department of Cattle Breeding, Institute of Animal Science, Prague, Czech Republic
Jiri Burdych: Department of Nutrition and feeding of farm animals, Institute of Animal Science, Prague, Czech Republic

Agricultural Economics, 2016, vol. 62, issue 5, 225-234

Abstract: The study evaluates the associations of the farm herd size (HERD), the milk yield (MY, kg/cow per year), and cows per worker (CW) with the production, reproduction, and economic traits in 60 commercial dairy herds (34 633 cows) in the Czech Republic. Each parameter was split into 3 groups. The largest herds (≥ 750 cows) had the highest profitability of costs without subsidies (-3.8 ± 4.3%), the lowest cost for roughages (1.2 CZK/L milk), and the lowest cost for breeding operations (0.17 CZK/L milk), but the highest costs for the cereal grains and concentrates (2.4 CZK/L milk). Herds with the lowest MY (≤ 7 499) had the lowest profitability of costs without subsidies (-15.8 ± 3.93%), the highest total costs (9.27 CZK/L milk), the highest labour costs (1.6 CZK/L milk), and the highest cow depreciation costs (0.97 CZK/L milk). Herds with the lowest CW (≤ 39) had the highest mean labour costs (1.51 CZK/L milk) and the highest costs for breeding operations (0.22 CZK/L milk). Herds with the highest CW (≥ 60) and the lowest CW (≤ 39) also differed in the total feed costs (4.1 vs. 3.73 CZK/L milk) and the costs of cereals and concentrates (2.34 vs. 1.96 CZK/L milk). The increasing herd size tended to be accompanied by higher milk yields and the overall efficiency.

Keywords: cows; profit; production; reproduction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlage:v:62:y:2016:i:5:id:126-2015-agricecon

DOI: 10.17221/126/2015-AGRICECON

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