Analysis of milk production, age at first calving, calving interval and economic parameters in dairy cattle management

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate main indicators of milk production on total 60 commercial dairy herds from the Czech Republic during a 9-yr period (2006-2014). Breakeven points and sensitivity analysis were used and associations of age at first calving (AFC), milk yield (MY) and calving interval (CI) were analyzed. Lowest AFC≤749 d showed the highest fertility, the lowest death rate of calves and lowest profitability without subsidies -2.49 %. Highest MY≥9,000 kg showed the highest fertility, lowest AFC, lowest feed costs and total costs 8.58 CZK (0.32 EUR) per L of milk and subsequent highest profitability 2.37 %. The analysis of fertility showed that herds with the lowest CI (≤389 d) achieved lowest cow depreciation costs 0.71 CZK (0.03 EUR) per L of milk, highest total costs 9.72 CZK (0.36 EUR) per L of milk and highest profitability 1.29 %. Breakeven points for the price of milk ranged between 7.81 and 8.75 CZK (0.29 and 0.32 EUR) per L in yr 2007 and 2014. Increase in input prices should adversely affect the increase the price of milk. The increase of price of milk by 1 % in 2014 will cause an increase in profit of CZK 745 (27.6 EUR) per cow per year.