Entrepreneurship in Dairy Cattle Sector: Key Features of Successful Administration and Management

Abstract

In this study, data envelopment analysis is applied to 47 dairy cattle farms to estimate their level of efficiency in the utilization of the available resources and to identify the most efficient ones. The analysis is based on technical and economic data collected through a farm management survey. The main structural and financial characteristics of the most efficient farms are presented, revealing the features that make them better than their peers. A comparative financial analysis is applied between the efficient and inefficient farms, highlighting the appropriate farm structure and determining the major cost drivers in modern dairy cattle farming. The results show that there is still room for improvement in intensive dairy farming. Dairy cattle farms must operate with increased variable cost and utilize their infrastructure at full capacity to decrease their fixed cost per cow. Farms should increase their economic resilience and be less risk averse in an environment where margins to lower production costs in highly intensive farms have been narrowed down. The findings of this study verify that dairy cattle farms of entrepreneurial mindset have the potential to rise to the future economic, environmental and social challenges that will affect the survival of the sector.