Adoption of technology, management practices, and production systems in US milk production.

The question may be asked, does new technology adoption, dairy farm structural changes and improved management practices really benefit the dairy farmer?  Dr A.R. Khanal and co-workers investigated the issue by comparing outputs from US dairy farms across the country between 2005 and 2000. More than 50000 farms participated in the study, which makes the investigation rather convincing, doesn’t it?! The results were published in the Journal of Dairy Science in Volume 93 of 2010, pages 6012 to 6022, using the title: Adoption of technology, management practices, and production systems in US milk production. 

The US Dairy Industry has undergone rapid structural changes in recent years, with adjustments occurring at all levels. Dairy farms used to be heavily depended on labour, but have moved away from labour employing technological advances and managerial innovations. Larger, more efficient operations contribute more to the milk production share as small operations exit or expand. This may be inevitable and certainly a clear message to South Africa as well!

As indicators of change in technology, management practices and production systems the following items were studied: holding pen with an udder washer (to wash udders before cows enter the milking parlour), milking units with automatic take-offs (to limit the incidence of mastitis caused by teat damage), breeding technologies as part of genetic selection (examples: AI, sexed semen and embryo transfer), recombinant bST (growth hormone to increase milk yield and prolong lactation), DHIA membership (US milk recording scheme), computerized (automatic) feed delivery systems, computerized milking systems, using a nutritionist to design mixes or purchase feed, three-times-daily milking instead of two times and modern parlour designs. The survey also included information on farm operator, financial characteristics, production costs, farm size and commodities produced, but these are not discussed because of limited space.

Significant changes from 2000 to 2005 occurred in the following items (results in proportion with the year 2000 as 100): number of farms – 73; number of cows – 138; milkers with automatic take-offs – 154; genetic selection – 127; modern parlour – 131; debt to asset ratio – 79, and milk per cow – 108. The results show that the number of farms declined, but herd size increased, the production per cow increased and because new technologies and management innovations were introduced, the overall efficiency and debt improved.                                                                                                         

 The second comparison is between items adopted or non-adopted (non-adopted taken as 100). For that purpose I have combined the results of 2000 and 2005 as the trends were the same. For the holding pen with udder washer category, adopted versus non-adopted results were: number of cows – 600 and milk per cow – 108. In the category milkers with automatic take-offs the results were: number of cows – 379 and milk per cow – 118. In the category genetic selection the results were: number of cows – 147 and milk per cow – 124. In the category introduction of bST the results were: number of cows – 252 and milk per cow – 135. In the category DHIA membership the results were: number of cows – 148 and milk per cow – 126. In the category computerized feeding system the results were: number of cows – 378 and milk per cow – 115. In the category computerized milking system the results were: number of cows – 424 and milk per cow – 114. In the category use of a nutritionist the results were: number of cows – 213 and milk per cow – 132. In the category three-times-daily milking the results were: number of cows – 534 and milk per cow – 136. In the category modern parlour the results were: number of cows – 401 and milk per cow – 105. Overall, the results show that farmers that adopted new technologies and managerial innovations had larger herds and they benefitted from the items investigated by realizing more milk per cow. This also applies if they adopted only one or two items. Farmers that adopted new genetic technologies (124), used bST (135) [not allowed in many countries], used milk recording (126), used a nutritionist (132) and employed three-times-daily milking (136) benefitted proportionally more in milk yield per cow compared to some of the other categories (105 to 115) than farmers that did not adopt these technologies and managerial innovations.

BOTTOMLINE: The results of the study clearly show that adoption of technology and managerial innovations (sometimes associated with alterations in production system) will benefit the dairy operation. What is furthermore implied by the study is that increasing herd size (obviously with equal or superior cows) is equally important as it will benefit income in relation to debt.