The Use of a Break-Even Point in the Milk Production

Borbély, Csaba – Pupos, Cintia – Szabari, Miklós

Keywords: milk production, break-even point, lactation, calving interval, simulation model, Q12

The situation of the milk production is negatively affected by a number of factors: the demand for assets is high, the need for labor is increased, the market situation is unstable and nowadays - like other livestock sectors - the freed feed prices are a serious problem for the producers. In this situation, any tool that plays an analytical, decision-supporting role can be of great help to practitioners. As the first part of our work, we therefore created a production simulation model that analyzes the production, cost, and income situation between the two calvings (lactation and dry period) broken down into feeding days through lactation selected according to a fixed set of criteria. Several scenarios can be analyzed with the model, in this work we examined the applicability of the break-even point in milk production. The work was hampered by the fact that each of the lactations taken from practice shows a hectic run, so it is difficult to determine a point where profitable production becomes unprofitable. We have used several approaches in our work, which are presented in detail. The basis for the application of the break-even point in practice is that dairy cattle are the only farm animal species for which up-to-date, individual production data can be used in farm management decisions.

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