Better net profit per cow in survey
In 2008, the average net profit per cow in the dairy profit monitor group was €707.
The stocking rate averaged 2.03 livestock units per hectare, compared with 1.88 for the farmers in the NFS. The average herd size of the farms in the DPM group was 92 cows (47 in NFS), indicating that it was very much the larger farmers use the profit monitor. There was no significant difference in herd size between the average performing, top 10%, and lowest 10% herds.
Average milk yield per cow was 4,828 litres per cow (5,137 in 2008).
The top 10% had average herd yields of 5,029 litres, compared with the lowest 10% at 4,458. The largest difference between the average, the top and lowest 10% was in costs per litre – 18.6 cent per litre on average, but 13.66 cent for the top 10%, and 25.25 cent for the lowest 10%.
Translated into net profit per litre, the average was 5.19 cent, 11.82 cent for the top 10%, and minus 2.95 cent for the lowest 10%. Once again, these figure show a huge difference between the top and lowest groups in profitability, almost 15 cent per litre. Due to higher yields per cow, the top 10% had a net profit of €594, and the lowest 10% showed a loss of €131 per cow. The average net profit per cow was €251.
The normal trend of huge differences between the top and lowest performing groups continued in 2009. Some of the differences can be explained by soil type, etc, but general overall management and efficiencies show up under all circumstances.
