The impact of milk productivity and morphologic quality in dairy farms economic viability

Abstract

The economic situation of Azores dairy farms is experiencing difficulties due to the liberalization of milk production in Europe. The Azorean cattle raising has to adjust to this changes and the enhancement of knowledge regarding productivity and profitability factors seems to be the priority. This paper presents a multiple linear regression model which relates farm incomes to the technical-economic, productive and morphological, in 2010, of 91 farms of the island of San Miguel.

Based on the developed procedure, a strong correlation was observed and a significant effect milk production between 305 days and the final score resulting from the partial primary descriptive classifications of characters of primiparas (r=0.748). The same is true in the production of fat (r=0.673) and protein (r=0.731) in the same period. The multiple linear regression model with a R² = 0,736 shows that milk sales, feeding, salary and rent expenses, and animal density, all by area unity, have a significant effect in dairy farms profitability. The conclusions pointed that for an increase of milk sales per hectare it is necessary to improve the morphological quality of dairy cows, to enhance milk production, protein and fat.