Animal health indicators and technical efficiency in milk production: A stochastic frontier analysis for Spanish dairy farms

Jose Antonio Pérez, David Roibás () and Alan Wall

No 2016/05, Efficiency Series Papers from University of Oviedo, Department of Economics, Oviedo Efficiency Group (OEG)

Abstract: Health and reproductive disorders have been found to reduce milk yields in dairy cows. We combine information from two different sources to create an unbalanced panel data set of 214 dairy farms in northern Spain observed over the period 2006-2014 which includes data on production variables and health and reproduction indicators. We use this data to estimate a stochastic production frontier where the somatic cell count and the calving interval are included as determinants of technical efficiency. Higher somatic cell counts and longer calving intervals are found to decrease technical efficiency, translating into significant losses in revenue. In a simulation exercise, we find that a representative farm which reduced the values of these indicators from their median sample values to their first quartile values would increase its revenue by 13%.

Pages: 14
Date: 2016
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr and nep-eff
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