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.

中文翻译：

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限制使用浓缩饲料的产奶策略的经济潜力——对前高山地区 36 个家庭农场的试验

本研究的目的是量化草基牛奶生产策略在前高山地区有限使用浓缩饲料的经济潜力。我们监测了来自瑞士前高山地区的 36 个家庭奶牛场，分为三个研究组，遵循三个明确的、自愿采用的生产策略之一：部分放牧和谷仓饲喂新鲜割下的草料，补充 <500 公斤 (GBF) 和 1,200 公斤(GBFplus) 的浓缩饲料，并实行完全放牧 (FG)，每头奶牛每年补充 <100 kg 的浓缩饲料。三年（2014-2016 年），收集了农场的数据，并与当地推广服务和研究人员一起在参与式过程中交流和评估了经验和想法。在完成交互式标准化过程后，每个研究组的成本价格和劳动力回报等经济成功指标与来自瑞士农场会计数据网络的结构相似的对照组进行了比较，该过程在很大程度上平衡了研究组中农场的特定特征。与对照组相比，GBF、GBFplus和FG的成本价格（瑞士法郎[CHF]每100公斤牛奶）分别显着降低了20%、20%和26%。GBF（20.60 对 13.80）、GBFplus（19.70 对 10.20）和 FG（29.30 对 19.20）的劳动回报（每小时 CHF）显着高于对照组。研究组之间的比较还表明，由于使用较少的浓缩物而导致的较低的牛奶收入可以通过更好的投入效率在经济上得到补偿。