High and low production systems: the importance and cost of resources

Abstract

The quality, quantity and relative costs of all resources are important when combining stock, feed and economics into a profitable system. As quality declines, stock intakes also decline and less production is possible. If those stock are bred to produce milk at the expense of body condition, higher quality feeds must be supplemented at an increasing cost to minimise excessive body condition loss. This in turn comes at an increasing cost. So just where do the antagonistic demands that different production levels, feed costs and product prices balance out to provide an ideal integration?