A comparison of profitability between farms that milk once or twice a day

Abstract

To attract and retain quality staff, dairy farming must be competitive with industries offering conventional hours of work. Full lactation once-a-day (OAD) milking is one option that could help achieve this goal. The present study analysed the profitability of milking OAD, using data from commercial farms for the production seasons 2005–2006 to 2015–2016. Once-a-day herds were matched with herds milking twice-a-day (TAD) by district and herd size to create 927 OAD–TAD pairs. Milksolids (MS; kg fat + kg protein) per hectare decreased by an average of 13% after adopting OAD; however, farm working expenses (FWE) per hectare did not decrease, resulting in an increase in FWE per kilogram MS and a decrease in profitability per hectare. Labour efficiency (cows/full time equivalent (FTE)) increased in the OAD herds by an average of only 6%. To investigate this result further, a subset of 33 OAD herds, with at least one season of pre-OAD data, were grouped into quartiles on the basis of their pre-OAD labour efficiency. The operating profit/ha of quartile one (lowest pre-OAD cows/FTE; least efficient) increased by 23% after adopting OAD, with quartile two, three and four decreasing by –1%, –10% and –32%. Quartile one herds had the largest increase in cows/FTE, highlighting the importance of labour efficiency and cost reduction to profit when milking OAD. Some herds in the top quartiles were able to increase cows/FTE. These results indicated that profitability can be maintained or increased after adopting OAD. Whether the lifestyle benefits of OAD are retained when increasing labour efficiency warrants further investigation.