Library

Factors Impacting Dairy Profitability:An Analysis of Kansas Farm Management AssociationDairy Enterprise Data

Kevin Dhuyvetter (August, 2011)

Summary

Net income per cow or per cwt of milk produced is a key measure for determining how successful a dairy operation has been historically as well as an indicator of the financial success the dairy might have in the future. What causes net returns to vary from year to year at the industry level, and more importantly, returns to vary between operations is important information for dairy producers to identify so they can make good management decisions. For example, do direct economic factors like milk price received, feed cost, labor, and other costs have a greater effect on net return variability or is it indirect factors like milk production or size of herd?