A SHORT COURSE IN DAIRY FARMING IN THE TROPICS 6b.

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS FOR SMALL HOLDER DAIRY FARMS

John Moran DPIV, Tatura Oct 2010

TOPICS COVERED
Making more money
How profitable is your dairy farm?

Diagnosing farm profitability

10 KPIs of profitability
6 for feeding management 4 for herd management

Optimum stocking capacities Forage quality Some dairy herd dynamics

% days milking % productive cows in the adult herd % productive cows in the entire herd

Persistency of milk production Young stock management

MAKING MORE MONEY

Making more money means greater profits Profits = income less costs Generate more income with higher milk production Maximise unit return per kg milk What is your cost of producing each kg milk? How do you calculate your real cost of production? You must include your day to day farm (variable) costs You must include your fixed or overhead costs These also include your imputed wages Because nobody should work for nothing

HOW PROFITABLE IS YOUR FARM?

Profit doesnt just happen; it must be planned for Many good indicators of the profitability of your farm More than half the costs on your farm are feed related Increasing profit and be achieved by:
Reducing these feed costs Improving the efficiency of converting feed to milk Improving herd performance through better feeding

The following 10 questions can be asked on any farm

DIAGNOSING FARM PROFITABILITY 1

Feeding management 1. Stocking capacity: Is the farm carrying too many stock for
the available forage supplies?

2. On-farm forage production: How much of the farms

annual forage requirements must be purchased?

3. Forage quality: Is the forage being harvested or purchased

at its optimal quality for milking cows?

4. Concentrate feeding program: What is the quality of the

concentrates being fed and how much is allocated per milking cow?

5. Total feed costs: Are the forages and concentrates costing

too much per unit of feed energy or protein?
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DIAGNOSING FARM PROFITABILITY 2

6. Milk income over feed costs: How do these compare with those
of other farmers with good feeding management?

Herd management 7. % productive cows: What % adult cows are milking? What % of
milking cows in entire herd?

8. Pattern of milk production: What is the peak milk yield of the herd
and what are their lactation persistencies (rate of decline from peak milk yield)?

9. Reproductive performance: How many days after calving do cows

cycle? What is the submission rate and the conception rate to first insemination?

10. Heifer management: What is the pre weaning calf mortality and the
heifer wastage rate from birth to second lactation? What is the age and live weight at first calving?

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Heifer management Reproductive performance Stocking capacity

Pattern of milk production

On farm forage production Key performance indicators on dairy farms

Forage quality

% milking cows in herd

Milk income less feed costs Total feed costs

Concentrate feeding program

OPTIMUM STOCKING CAPACITIES

OPTIMUM STOCKING CAPACITIES 1

Farmers should consider supplies of home grown forages when determining their optimum number of milking cows Compared to home grown forages, purchased forages are generally more expensive and lower in nutritive value Options for feeding milking cows
Only feed them on home grown forages Purchase additional forages, when required, to feed them Underfeed them on forages; overfeed them on concentrates Underfeed them on both forages and concentrates

Without knowing their optimum stocking capacity, based on forage supplies, long term farm profitability will suffer It is not difficult to assess forage supplies hence optimum stocking capacity
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OPTIMUM STOCKING CAPACITIES 2

To calculate the optimum stocking capacity:
1. Assess farm forage management as poor v typical v good;

10 v 20 v 30 t DM/ha/yr or with 15% DM content, 67 v 130 v 200 t fresh forage/ha/yr 2. Excess forage is conserved for dry season feeding 3. Adult cow milking unit is 1 cow & 20% of replacement heifer 4. 75% adult cows milking at any one time 5. Forage feeding program is Milking cows: 50 kg fresh (7.5 kg DM)/cow/day for 270 d Dry cow: 30 kg fresh (4.5 kg DM)/cow/day for 90 d Heifer: 20 kg fresh (3.0 kg DM)/cow/day for 24 mth 6. Concentrates and purchased forage provide balance for target milk yield, hence not included in calculations

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OPTIMUM STOCKING CAPACITIES 3

Annual forage requirements for each animal type
Milking cow: 13,750 kg fresh or 2.06 t DM (71% of total) Dry cow: 2700 kg fresh or 0.40 t DM (14% of total) Heifer: 2920 kg fresh or 0.44 t DM (15% of total) Adult milking cow unit: 19,3750 kg fresh or 2.91 t DM

Typical farm should run no more than 7 to 8 cows per ha forage

Poor Typical Good

Quality of forage management

Forage yield t DM/ha/yr t fresh/ha/yr Milking units/ha forage Adult cows/ha forage

10 67 3.4 4.0

20 130 6.9 8.1

30 200 10.3 12.1

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FORAGE QUALITY

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CONCENTRATE FEEDING
Forages are generally the cheapest source of nutrients The higher the forage quality, the less concentrates required to achieve particular milk yield targets It is logical to only feed the best quality forages to your milking cows The following table provides a guide to the amount of concentrates require to achieve target milk yields This is for a 400 kg cow, non pregnant with zero live weight change fed concentrates containing 12.2 MJ/kg DM of energy and 24% protein

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CONCENTRATE INTAKES
Required concentrate intakes to achieve target milk yields with varying forage quality Cows can produce 14 L/d of milk with 1 to 6 kg/d of concentrates depending on forage quality
Forage quality (MJ/kg DM of metabolisable energy) 8.2 9.0 0.7 2.5 0.8 4.8 1.1 6.0 3.0 7.7 5.4

Milk yield (L/d) 6 10 14 18 22 7.3 3.2 4.9 6.6 8.2 9.8

9.9 0.3 0.7 1.7

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SOME DAIRY HERD DYNAMICS

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HOW PRODUCTIVE IS THE MILKING HERD?

Cows only generate income when they are milking The target lactation cycle is 300 d milking and 65 d dry, hence 12 m calving interval However this rarely occurs in the tropics It also depends on calving rate (90% is best) % days milking is good guide to herd productivity This is equivalent to 100% calving rate The following table highlights the importance of the number of days cows are lactating compared to being dry

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% DAYS MILKING
% days milking varies with calving interval & number of days milking and dry
Calving interval (d) 365 Dry period (d) 65 90 115 65 100 125 150 65 115 150 175 200 Lactation length (d) 300 275 250 335 300 275 250 385 35 300 275 250 % days milking 82 75 68 84 75 69 62 86 74 67 61 55

400

450

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HOW MANY PRODUCTIVE COWS IN HERD?

Not all stock in any dairy herd generate income
Milking cows generate daily income Dry cows do not & neither do heifers and calves

It is then desirable to have as many milking cows as possible It is quite easy to calculate this % to assess the feeding and breeding management of the dairy herd These tables provide some calculated examples They also provide some guidelines to realistic targets for good herd management
60 to 74% of adult cows should be milking 40 to 48% of stock in the dairy herd should be milking cows

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% MILKING COWS IN ADULT HERD

% of milking cows in adult herd (incl 1st calf heifers) varies with calving rate, calving interval & lactation length
Lactation length (d) 330 300 270 240 330 300 270 240 330 300 270 240 Calving rate (%) 90 Inter calving interval (m) 12 15 65 74 59 67 53 59 47 58 66 53 59 47 53 42 51 58 46 52 41 46 37

80

70

18 54 49 44 39 48 39 35 32 42 38 35 31
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% MILKING COWS IN ENTIRE HERD

% of milking cows in the entire herd herd (incl 1st calf heifers) varies with calf & heifer mortality, age at 1st calving and calving interval
Age at first calving (m) 25 30 35 25 30 35 25 30 35 Calf and heifer mortality (%) 10 Inter calving interval (m) 12 15 44 40 40 36 37 34 47 41 42 37 39 35 48 42 43 40 40 36 18 35 33 31 37 33 31 37 35 32
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15

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% PRODUCTIVE COWS IN HERD

% milking cows in adult herd (inc first calf heifers)
Depends on calving rate, calving interval, lactation length
74%; maximum possible 60-74%; acceptable 50-59%; below average 40- 49%; not good

% milking cows in entire herd (inc calves & growing heifers)

Depends on calf/heifer mortality, age @ 1st calving, calving interval
48%, maximum possible 40-48%; acceptable 35-39%; below average 30-34%; not good

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PERSISTENCY OF MILK PRODUCTION

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PATTERN OF MILK PRODUCTION

The 2 major factors influencing total lactation yield are:
Peak lactation (within 6-8 weeks post calving) Rate of decline from peak (or lactation persistency)

Persistency quantifies average rate of decline in yield

In % per month from peak yield The higher the number the faster the rate of decline So the less milk produced In Asia, 8% per month is achievable on well managed farms But 8-12% is more realistic

For 300 d lactation, total (& average) lactation yields:

15 L/d peak & 8% persistency; 2980 L total (or 9.9 L/d average) 15 L/d peak & 12% persistency; 2330 L total (or 7.8 L/d average) 20 L/d peak & 8% persistency; 3970 L total (or 13.2 L/d average)

See graph of lactation curves on following page

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LACTATION CURVES
Changes in peak yield and persistency
A, 15 L/d peak, 8% persistency (or 1.2 L/d/mth decline) = 2980 L/yr B, 15 L/d peak, 12% persistency (or 1.8 L/d/mth decline) = 2330 L/yr C, 20 L/d peak, 8% persistency (or 1.6 L/d/mth decline) = 3970 L/yr 25

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Milk yield (L/day)

15 15 L/8% 15 L/12% 20 L/8% 10

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Month of lactation

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PERSISTENCY OF LACTATION
Effect of peak yield and persistency on total and average milk yields
Persistency (%/mth) 8 10 12 8 10 12 8 10 12 Monthly milk decline (L/d) 1.2 1.5 1.8 1.6 2.0 2.4 2.0 2.5 3.0 Full lact yield (L) 2980 2650 2330 3970 3540 3110 4960 4420 3885 Average milk yield (L/d) 9.9 8.9 7.8 13.2 11.8 10.4 16.6 14.8 13.0

Peak yield (L/d) 15

20

25

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YOUNG STOCK MANAGEMENT

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MATHEMATICS OF HEIFER REARING

Assuming cows remain in milking herd for 5 years, 20-25% should be replaced every year What are the KPIs to ensure such replacement rate? Depends on:
No of milking cows that conceive Those that produce a live calf Those that are heifers Those that survive until calving Those that conceive as maiden heifers Those suitable for milking cows

Key factors are:

High age at first calving (>30 m) & long inter calving intervals (>15 m) High calf mortality (> 10-15%)
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KPIs FOR HEIFER REARING

Data for two herds with differing performance Herd A supplies 36% heifers
enough for higher culling rates, hence better genetic progress

Herd B supplies only 15% heifers

insufficient to maintain herd numbers, let alone have genetic progress

Herd Calving interval (m) Calving rate (%) Still born calves (%) Calf mortality from 0-24 m (%) Non pregnant heifers (%) Heifer calves born (%)

A 12 85 2 8 5 36

B 18 65 5 20 10 15
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