The Institute of System Researches in the Agro-Industrial Complex of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus

Abstract

 Information of the real cost price of milk and cattle meat production directly affects the accuracy and timeliness of management decisions in agricultural organizations. This led to the main objective of this study - with the help of an inclusive approach of calculating costs, to display the actual situation with costs and efficiency in cattle breeding, to develop a methodology for applying this approach in practice. The second objective of this longitudinal study is to look at the dynamics of the evolution of costs and prices for milk and cattle meat, since their change is closely related to understanding the past and present problems faced by agricultural producers. The paper describes the method developed by the author to distribution of costs in cattle breeding, the scale for determining the residual value of animal has been presented, depending on the period of its useful use. The method is based on a more accurate distribution of the company’s expenses by types of products obtained and complements the current cost price calculation methodology. Approbation of the developed inclusive approach to calculating costs in cattle breeding made it possible to assess the actual situation in the industry: cattle fattening is not that unprofitable (calculations have shown that fattening is effective in one third of the thousand surveyed agricultural organizations), and milk production is not as efficient as it is commonly believed (only a quarter of enterprises receive actual profits from milk sale).