Economic assessment of small-scale mountain dairy farms in South Tyrol depending on feed intake and breed

Abstract

Dairy mountain farms are economically disadvantaged due to small farm size and high production costs. However, these farms are of importance for the preservation of traditional landscapes and biodiversity, especially when they are managed extensively. The present study compares the economic situation of mountain dairy farms in South Tyrol that differ with respect to the amount of concentrates fed (low-input vs. high-input) and the breed used (Tyrolean Grey vs. Brown Swiss). The calculations show that low-input farms have lower variable costs but similar fixed costs and lower revenues compared to high-input farms. As a result, high-input farms are economically superior to low-input farms in terms of income per farm, per ha and per kg energy-corrected milk. Regarding the breeds, farms using the local breed Tyrolean Grey can compete with farms using the high-yielding breed Brown Swiss when subsidies are considered because of special payments for an endangered breed. The dominance of high-input farms can be explained with economies of scale and the milk to feed price ratio of about 1.8. Thus, the currently paid high milk price makes it economically worthwhile to produce as much milk as possible. The results thus point to the risk of intensification or abandonment of small mountain farms. In order to improve their economic situation and thus maintain small and low-input mountain dairy farms, it might be an option to connect subsidies with the feeding strategy and farm structure, pay premiums for value-added milk products or use taxes for concentrated feed to support extensive farms. HIGHLIGHTS Low-input farms achieve lower farm income Only small differences in farm income between breeds Herd size and milk yield per cow are decisive for farm income ARTICLE HISTORY

Sustainability of Four Dairy Farming Scenarios in an Alpine Environment: The Case Study of Toma di Lanzo Cheese

“…Moreover, the Toma di Lanzo cheese-strongly dependent on the resources provided by the Alpine ecosystemhas a positive impact on the survival of these areas, as well as the maintenance of production traditions, evidently providing relevant eco-system services (81). This symbiotic relationship between product-animal-environment, in addition to the positive impact on environmental and social sustainability, proves to play an important role in economic aspects for farm survival (82,85).…”

Bulk milk quality as affected by cattle breed composition of the herd in mountain area

“…In general, the main factors associated to an excess of urea in milk are the excessive protein in the ration and an improperly balanced ration or dehydration (Aguilar et al, 2012). In our case, the relatively high MUN could be the result of the combination of high amount of concentrates in the ration (Kühl et al, 2020) and ground fodder of low quality produced in South Tyrol (Perathoner et al, 2010). Moreover, nutritional and botanical composition of alpine pastures is highly variable and therefore it is difficult for farmers to make standard ration to meet the energy and nutritional demand of their animals (Gorlier et al, 2012).…”

“…From the economic point of view, in fact, dual-purpose breeds like SI could be as convenient in alpine conditions as specialized dairy breeds, since the lower milk production is, at least partly, compensated by less udder issues (Litwińczuk et al, 2011), higher adaptability to alpine environmental and housing conditions (Mattiello et al, 2011), and moderate to high price for both calves and culled cows (Dal Zotto et al, 2009). Nevertheless, the inclusion of greater amount of concentrates in the ration is currently economically worthwhile considering the relatively high farm-gate milk price of South Tyrol and allows to produce more milk with specialized dairy breeds (Kühl et al, 2020).…”

“…In mountain area, several local breeds are kept for biodiversity reason but also for their adaptive ability to harsh topographic conditions and local housing systems, and for their efficiency of grassland use (Mattiello et al, 2011;Sturaro et al, 2013;Koczura et al, 2019Koczura et al, , 2020. However, local breeds are less productive than cosmopolitan Holstein Friesian (HF) and Brown Swiss (BS) cows (Kühl et al, 2020). In 2018, BS (31.7%), Simmental (SI; 29.0%), HF (19.9%), Alpine Grey (13.2%), Pinzgauer (1.8%), Jersey (1%), and other breeds (3.4%) were present in South Tyrol (Breeders Association of Bolzano province, 2018), with average herd size of 15 lactating cows (South Tyrolean Dairy Association, 2018).…”

Effect of Feed Concentrate Intake on the Environmental Impact of Dairy Cows in an Alpine Mountain Region Including Soil Carbon Sequestration and Effect on Biodiversity

“…In the Alpine region of the autonomous province of Bolzano, the indigenous breeds Alpine Grey and Brown Swiss are commonly used. Both abandonment of traditional farms or their transformation into intensive enterprises leads to a loss of open areas and forest re-growth [17], a damage of biodiversity [18][19][20], and a rural area undergoing radical socio-economic changes [21][22][23]. Only a few studies took soil carbon sequestration from grassland into account [24][25][26].…”