Implications of Cow Nutrition on Whole-Farm Profitability of Minnesota Dairy Farms

Abstract

With the current pressure of fluctuating market conditions, dairy farmers are finding it difficult to remain profitable. A dairy farm’s long-term profitability can be rapidly affected by cow nutrition and herd management. This research analyzes cow nutrition’s impact on whole-farm profitability using cow-level production data along with herd-level financial and feed data. Herd-level feed data was converted to the cow-level using three methods for feed allocation. A two-step approach was utilized to analyze the feeding decision’s impact on whole-farm profitability. First, fixed-effects models were run to determine nutrition factors that have a significant impact on energy corrected milk. These factors were then used as explanatory variables in between-effects models to determine the nutrition factors and other characteristics that have a significant impact on dairy farm resiliency, or long-term profitability. Results suggest that balancing milk revenue with feed costs is essential to financial resiliency.