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Economic Value of Dairy Herd Improvement Programs

Department of Animal Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850 and ARS, USDA

ABSTRACT

Farm business records from 5,226 New York dairy farm-years during 1959 to 1968 were used to estimate the value of production testing records. There were 1,172 farm-year records with concurrent Dairy Herd Improvement records, 834 with Owner-Sampler records, and 3,220 without testing.

Regression analysis using both quadratic and logarithmic production functions demonstrated a positive economic value for continuous production testing records for farms with either Dairy Herd Improvement or Owner-Sampler records. Economic return associated with production testing records increased as herd size increased and as the number of continuous years on test increased. Dairy Herd Improvement farms with 40 cows returned $50 profit after 1 yr of production testing records and $449 after 10 consecutive yr of production testing records. Owner-Sampler farms with 40 cows showed $160 to $1,602 profit with 1 to 10 yr of production testing records. Comparable values for a 70 cow Owner-Sampler farm were $418 to $4,181.

¹ Address: Delaware Valley College of Science and Agriculture, Doylestown, PA 18901.

² Address: Department of Animal Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27607.