Production and profitability of dairy farms producing milk with different concentrations of unsaturated fatty acids: a simulation study. Issue 1 (2nd January 2017) - Silva-Villacorta, D.
ABSTRACT: This simulation study investigated the characteristics of farms that produced milk with a high concentration of unsaturated fatty acids (UFA) under New Zealand conditions. A stochastic farm model was used to simulate a population of 1, 820, 000 cows and 5600 dairy farms (AVE farms). From this population, the top 17, 150 cows for UFA concentration in milk fat were segregated into 50 farms (UFA farms). The financial performance of dairy farms was evaluated at a milksolids payout of NZ$5.21/kg milksolids. The simulation was replicated 1000 times and confidence intervals were estimated by bootstrapping. Milk produced by UFA farms had a higher UFA concentration (35.15 vs 30.12 g/100 g fat, P < 0.05), but lower concentrations of fat (3.55% vs 4.33%, P < 0.05) and protein (3.19% vs 3.60%, P < 0.05) than milk produced by AVE farms. The operating profit of UFA farms was NZ$1324/ha lower than that of AVE farms. A premium for UFA concentration is necessary to compensate dairy farmers that invest in herd segregation to supply milk with high UFA concentration in fat.