Implications of changing a Friesian dairy system to a Friesian- Jersey crossbred dairy system

Introduction Investigating and comparing the two systems Comparing some technical efficiency ratios and profit Points to note about the comparison Conclusions References Abstract. In this study, budgets of herd dynamics, feed and energy supply, production and profit of alternative dairy farm systems were used to examine the effects of changing a 230 cow Holstein-Friesian (HF) dairy system to a Holstein-Friesian Jersey (HFJ) crossbred dairy system. In the comparison of the two dairy systems, the energy supplied to the 230 cow HF system was kept the same in the HFJ system. As HFJ cows weighed 90% of HF cows, the equivalent herd size for the HFJ system was 242 cows. If both herds produced milk, fat and protein at the national herd average for their breed, the 242 cow HFJ herd produced $12,000 higher operating profit before tax per annum than the equivalent 230 cow HF herd. The gain in operating profit came from increased fat and protein produced from the farm energy supply as a result of less energy used in maintenance energy costs of the HFJ herd, and a reduced volume penalty. There was also some gain from the HFJ cows having superior reproduction performance that enabled a different herd age structure and thus lower herd depreciation and costs of feeding replacement heifers. If a feed conversion efficiency advantage of 3% existed for the HFJ cows over the HF cows, the gain in operating profit over the HF herd was estimated to be $18,000 before tax per annum. In this study, budgets of herd dynamics, feed and energy supply, production and profit of alternative dairy farm systems were used to examine the effects of changing a 230 cow Holstein-Friesian (HF) dairy system to a Holstein-Friesian Jersey (HFJ) crossbred dairy system. In the comparison of the two dairy systems, the energy supplied to the 230 cow HF system was kept the same in the HFJ system. As HFJ cows weighed 90% of HF cows, the equivalent herd size for the HFJ system was 242 cows. If both herds produced milk, fat and protein at the national herd average for their breed, the 242 cow HFJ herd produced $12,000 higher operating profit before tax per annum than the equivalent 230 cow HF herd. The gain in operating profit came from increased fat and protein produced from the farm energy supply as a result of less energy used in maintenance energy costs of the HFJ herd, and a reduced volume penalty. There was also some gain from the HFJ cows having superior reproduction performance that enabled a different herd age structure and thus lower herd depreciation and costs of feeding replacement heifers. If a feed conversion efficiency advantage of 3% existed for the HFJ cows over the HF cows, the gain in operating profit over the HF herd was estimated to be $18,000 before tax per annum. The results from this investigation suggest that for some dairy farm systems currently operating as HF systems there is likely to be some advantage in changing to HFJ crossbred dairy systems. As well as potential gains in annual operating profit, the scope for further pecuniary and nonpecuniary gains from changes to the farm system that could be brought about by improved reproduction performance of HFJ cows is also likely to be significant for some dairy farmers There seems to also be a reasonable probability that superior feed conversion efficiency of HFJ cows over HF cows would be a sound source of productivity gains that could help maintain or add to profits in some dairy systems across Australia in the face of rising real costs of production and static or falling real milk prices.