Profits, Costs, and the Changing Structure of Dairy Farming

MacDonald, James M.; O’Donoghue, Erik J.; McBride, William D.; Nehring, Richard F.; Sandretto, Carmen L.; Mosheim, Robert

doi:10.2139/ssrn.1084458

Cited by 136 publications

(123 citation statements)

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“…For example, in New Zealand, the world's largest exporter of dairy products, the number of herds has decreased by 25%, whereas the average herd size has increased by 60% over the past decade (New Zealand Dairy Statistics, 2009). Similar trends have been observed in the US dairy industry (MacDonald et al, 2007). Reform of the EU common agricultural policy, leading to the removal of milk quotas in 2015, is expected to -E-mail: jenny.jago@dairynz.co.nz increase the rate of expansion within EU countries as production moves to areas of competitive advantage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Associations between herd size, rate of expansion and production, breeding policy and reproduction in spring-calving dairy herds

Jago

Berry

2011

Animal

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Dairy herd size is expected to increase in many European countries, given the recent policy changes within the European Union. Managing more cows may have implications for herd performance in the post-quota era. The objective of this study was to characterise spring-calving herds according to size and rate of expansion, and to determine trends in breeding policy, reproduction and production performance, which will inform industry of the likely implications of herd expansion. Performance data from milk recording herds comprising 775 795 lactations from 2555 herds for the years 2004 to 2008 inclusive were available from the Irish Cattle Breeding Federation. Herds were classified into Small (average of 37 cows), Medium (average of 54 cows) and Large (average of 87 cows) and separately into herds that were not expanding (Nil expansion), herds expanding on average by three cows per year (Slow expansion) and herds expanding on average by eight cows per year (Rapid expansion). There was no association between rate of expansion and 305-day fat and protein yield. However, 305-day milk yield decreased and milk protein and fat percentage increased with increasing rate of expansion. There were no associations between herd size and milk production except for protein and fat percentage, which increased with increasing herd size. Average parity number of the cows decreased as rate of expansion increased and tended to decrease as herd size increased. In rapidly expanding herds, cow numbers were increased by purchasing more cattle. The proportion of dairy sires relative to beef sires used in the breeding programme of expanding herds increased and there was more dairy crossbreeding, albeit at a low rate. Similarly, large herds were using more dairy sires and fewer beef sires. Expanding herds and large herds had superior reproductive performance relative to non-expanding and small herds. Animals in expanding herds calved for the first time at a younger age, had a shorter calving interval and were submitted for breeding by artificial insemination at a higher rate. The results give confidence to dairy producers likely to undergo significant expansion post-quota such that, despite managing more cows, production and reproductive performance need not decline. The management skills required to achieve these performance levels need investigation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Associations between herd size, rate of expansion and production, breeding policy and reproduction in spring-calving dairy herds

Jago

Berry

2011

Animal

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“…In the Northeast, dairy production was dominated by small dairies, which disappeared rapidly because of increasing mechanization and industry competition [76]. Therefore, decreasing dairy production led to pasture's natural conversion to shrub.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis and Prediction of Land Use Changes Related to Invasive Species and Major Driving Forces in the State of Connecticut

Wang

Zhang

Allen

et al. 2016

Land

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Land use and land cover (LULC) patterns play an important role in the establishment and spread of invasive plants. Understanding LULC changes is useful for early detection and management of land-use change to reduce the spread of invasive species. The primary objective of this study is to analyze and predict LULC changes in Connecticut. LULC maps for 1996, 2001 and 2006 were selected to analyze past land cover changes, and then potential LULC distribution in 2018 was predicted using the Multi-Layer Perceptron Markov Chain (MLP_MC) model. This study shows that the total area of forest has been decreasing, mainly caused by urban development and other human activity in Connecticut. The model predicts that the study area will lose 5535 ha of deciduous forest and gain 3502 ha of built-up area from 2006 to 2018. Moreover, forests near built-up areas and agriculture lands appear to be more vulnerable to conversion. Changes in LULC may result in subtle spatial shifts in invasion risk by an abundant invasive shrub, Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii). The gain of developed areas at the landscape scale was most closely linked to increased future invasion risk. Our findings suggest that the forest conversion needs to be controlled and well managed to help mitigate future invasion risk.

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“…There are clear trends of traditional farm businesses exiting agricultural production, and/or merging with other farms, resulting in fewer and larger businesses (e.g. Statistics Sweden 2002Sweden , 2006Sweden , 2008Tauer and Mishra 2006;MacDonald et al 2007). In this business climate, continued farm business survival may depend largely on the strategic choice of either focusing on a specialized line of production, to increase margins and/or scale, or diversifying into new ventures, to supplement business income.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding the diversification and specialization of farm businesses

Hansson

Ferguson²,

Olofsson³

2008

AFSci

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This paper addresses the development of farm businesses in Sweden, 2000Sweden, -2007, with regard to their specialization in single farm enterprises, diversified agricultural production and diversification with new income-generating ventures. Furthermore, regression analysis is used to study the impact of farm characteristics on the observed specialization and diversification. The study is based a panel data set of about 900 farms participating in the Swedish Agricultural Economics Survey. Results show that farms are increasingly engaging in diversified activities, though in most firms these activities make only minor contributions to total revenue. Results also show that the degrees of specialization and diversification are influenced by characteristics of firms' business structure, financial and demographic conditions. These results contribute to the understanding of farm business development, as well as show the need for policy makers and farm advisors to consider the differences between farms pursuing different development strategies in their efforts to influence behavior.

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Profits, Costs, and the Changing Structure of Dairy Farming

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Cited by 136 publications

References 10 publications

Associations between herd size, rate of expansion and production, breeding policy and reproduction in spring-calving dairy herds

Associations between herd size, rate of expansion and production, breeding policy and reproduction in spring-calving dairy herds

Analysis and Prediction of Land Use Changes Related to Invasive Species and Major Driving Forces in the State of Connecticut

Understanding the diversification and specialization of farm businesses

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