Production costs, economic viability, and risks associated with compost bedded pack, free stall, and drylot systems in tropical dairy farms

• Ano de defesa: 2020
• Autor(a) principal: Pinheiro, Jardeson de Souza
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: eng
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal de Viçosa; Zootecnia
• Palavras-chave em Português: Leite - Produção - Custo; Eficiência industrial; Lucros - Índices; Análise de regressão; Produção animal
• Link de acesso: https://locus.ufv.br//handle/123456789/29397

We aimed to compare production costs, economic outcomes, and risk of dairy operations in CB, FS, and DL systems. We collected data from 2,181 Brazilian farms over 120 consecutive months; 960 farms met our selection criteria. All costs were modeled for two animal production categories: milking cows and non-milking animals. We used a regression model that included linear and quadratic parameters, and we added the production system as a fixed variable for all parameters tested with this model. Consultant, year, herd, and herd × system interaction were included in the model as random variables. Further, we simulated annual technical and economic indexes per farm. In addition, we developed a risk analysis to measure the probability of negative profit of the farms based on a 14-year historical series of milk prices. All production costs were affected by the system. Feeding, medicines, sundry, and labor costs per farm per year were greater in DL compared to CB and FS in farms with greater milk yield (MY). Milk yield (MY/cow and MY/ha), assets per liter ($/L), asset turnover rate (%), return on assets (%), operational profit (%), and profit per cow ($/yr) and per liter of milk ($/L) were greater in CB and FS with a higher MY (> 3,000 L/d) when compared to DL. Nonetheless, DL had greatest economic indexes with a lower MY (< 3,000 L/d), with lower operating costs and greater economic outcomes. The risk analysis indicated that the probability of negative profit (risk) was reduced for CB and FS as MY increased, but DL had the lowest risk (35.5%) with low MY levels. In conclusion, we suggest DL as the most attractive system for tropical farms with a MY between 150 and 3,000 L/d, once the DL had lowest risk and greatest profit in this production scale. Despite similar outcomes for CB and FS in most of the farms, the profit per cow ($/yr), assets turnover rate (%), risk (%) and expected profit ($/L) analysis indicated that CB can be recommended for farms with MY greater than 3,200 L/d, whereas based on risk (%) and expected profit ($/L) FS would be the most profitable system in dairies producing more than 8,000 L/d of milk. Keywords: Dairy operations. Indexes. Efficiency. Milk yield. Profitability.