EDF Reports UK and Ireland Have Lower Yield Per Cow
EU - Based on analyses of real farm figures, the European Dairy Farmers Report aims to provide a snapshot of dairy businesses across Europe. (EDF)Karolina Klaskova, Milkbench+ Dairy Systems Analyst at DairyCo talks about the main points of this years publication.
22 November 2012
1 minute read
The EDF Report, portraits the UK as a highly competitive producer of milk in Europe with one of the lowest production costs. The cost of production has been identified as the main determinant of profitability, especially labour, machinery and building costs for the EDF farms in the 2012 sample.
The UK and Ireland achieved on average a lower yield per cow. However on average they had lower costs and were therefore more competitive and more profitable than other Western European countries with high input-high output systems.
These results are very similar to those from the IFCN report 2012 and confirm results from DairyCo's Milkbench+ analysis that milk yield is not a determinant of profitability but the total cost of production is. Both reports strongly suggest that there is a real danger in chasing yield and as a result ending up with inherently high production cost systems which are not sustainable.
Any investment in a dairy enterprise should be aimed at increasing efficiency of production and lowering the unit cost of production to improve profitability and economical sustainability.
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