Economic potential of milk production strategies with restrictive use of concentrated feed—An experiment on 36 family farms in the pre-alpine region

Abstract

The objective of this study was to quantify the economic potential of grass-based milk production strategies with limited use of concentrated feed in the pre-alpine region. We monitored 36 family dairy farms from the pre-alpine region of Switzerland divided in three study groups following one of three defined, voluntarily adopted production strategies: Partial grazing and barn feeding with freshly cut forages, supplementing <500 kg (GBF) and 1,200 kg (GBFplus) of concentrated feed, respectively, and practicing full grazing (FG), supplementing <100 kg of concentrated feed per cow per year. For three years (2014–2016), data were collected on the farms, and experience and ideas were exchanged and evaluated in a participatory process together with local extension services and researchers. Economic success indicators such as cost price and return to labor from each study group were compared with structurally similar control groups derived from the Swiss Farm Accountancy Data Network after completing an interactive standardization process, which largely balanced farm-specific features in the study groups. Compared with the control groups, the cost price (Swiss francs [CHF] per 100 kg milk) of GBF, GBFplus, and FG was significantly reduced by 20%, 20%, and 26%, respectively. Return to labor (CHF per hour) was significantly higher than in the control group for GBF (20.60 versus. 13.80), GBFplus (19.70 versus. 10.20), and FG (29.30 versus. 19.20). The comparison between the study groups also showed that lower milk revenues due to a lower use of concentrate could be economically compensated by a better input efficiency. A consistent implementation of the production strategy as well as personal qualities in terms of cost management seems to play a decisive role.