Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T10:24:04.831Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dairy expansion: a case study of spring-calving pasture-based dairy production systems in Ireland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2020

G. Ramsbottom Open the ORCID record for G. Ramsbottom [Opens in a new window] ,
B. Horan ,
K. M. Pierce  and
J. R. Roche
G. Ramsbottom*
Affiliation:
Teagasc, Stewards House, Oak Park, Carlow, Ireland
B. Horan
Affiliation:
Animal and Pastureland Research and Innovation Centre, Teagasc, Moorepark, Co. Cork, Ireland
K. M. Pierce
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture and Food Science, UCD, Belfield, Dublin4, Ireland
J. R. Roche
Affiliation:
Department of Primary Industries, Wellington, New Zealand
*
Author for correspondence: G. Ramsbottom, E-mail: george.ramsbottom@teagasc.ie
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Since 1 April 2015, European dairy milk quotas have been removed resulting in the intensification of dairy production within EU countries. The aim of this study was to evaluate the physical and economic impacts of the initial intensification undertaken within Irish grazing dairy systems. Physical and financial data for 868 seasonal calving dairy farmers with records for each of the years 2013–2017 inclusive were used in this analysis. All analyses were undertaken using a mixed-model framework in PROC MIXED. The overall level of fat plus protein productivity of studied farms increased by 51% during the 5-year period through a combination of increased production per cow, increased operational scale and system intensification. Overall farm net profit was highly variable between years and was greatest in 2017 (€133 836) and least in 2016 (€65 176). When farms were characterized into milk production expansion quartiles, farms in Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q4 increased output by +7, +25, +44 and +86%, respectively. Whereas total farm profit (€/farm) declined for Q1 farms between 2013/2014 and 2016/2017 (€−5257; −7%), the greater expansion undertaken in Q2, Q3 and Q4 resulted in increases of €3046 (+4%), €20 810 (+25%) and €51 604 (+62%), respectively. In all strategies studied, farm profit increased due to a combination of increased revenues, increased pasture utilization and a dilution of per unit production costs. Further investigation of the longer term impacts of expansion is merited, not just in terms of economic indicators, but also in terms of environmental and socio-cultural change.

Keywords

Dairy expansionfarm profitintensificationpasture-based
Type
Modelling Animal Systems Research Paper
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 158 , Issue 5 , July 2020 , pp. 406 - 415
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AHDB (2016) Estimated typical milk production costs for Great Britain. Available online at https://dairy.ahdb.org.uk/resources-library/market-information/milkbenchplus/evidence-report-201516/#.XkFjZv4iHVi (Accessed 5 February 2019).Google Scholar
Alvarez, A and Arias, C (2004) Technical efficiency and farm size: a conditional analysis. Agricultural Economics 30, 241–250.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Álvarez, A, del Corral, J, Solís, D and Pérez, JA (2008) Does intensification improve the economic efficiency of dairy farms? Journal of Dairy Science 91, 3693–3698.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brown, PW and Schulte, LA (2011) Agricultural landscape change (1037–2002) in three townships in Iowa, USA. Landscape and Urban Planning 100, 202–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clay, N, Garnett, T and Lorimer, J (2020) Dairy intensification: drivers, impacts and alternatives. Ambio 49, 35–48.Google ScholarPubMed
CSO (2019) Livestock Statbank. Skehard Road, Cork, Ireland: Central Statistics Office. Available online from: https://www.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/Database/eirestat/Livestock/Livestock_statbank.asp (Accessed 5 February 2019).Google Scholar
CSO (2020) AKM01: Intake of Cows Milk by Creameries and Pasteurisers by Month, Domestic or Import Source and Statistic. Skehard Road, Cork, Ireland: Central Statistics Office. Available online at http://www.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/Statire/SelectVarVal/Define.asp?maintable=AKM01&PLanguage=0 (Retrieved 13 January 2020).Google Scholar
DairyNZ (2018) Economic Farm Survey 2017–2018. Hamilton, New Zealand: DairyNZ Ltd.Google Scholar
Delaby, L, Buckley, F, McHugh, N and F, B (2018) Robust animals for grass based production systems. In Horan, B, Hennessy, D, O'Donovan, M, Kennedy, E, McCarthy, B, Finn, JA and O'Brien, B (eds), Sustainable Meat and Milk Production from Grasslands. Cork, Ireland: European Grassland Federation, pp. 389–400.Google Scholar
Dillon, P, Hennessy, T, Shalloo, L, Thorne, F and Horan, B (2008) Future outlook for the Irish dairy industry: a study of international competitiveness, influence of international trade reform and requirement for change. International Journal of Dairy Technology 61, 16–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FAO (2019) FAOSTAT Livestock Primary Data. Available online at http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QL (Retrieved 4 February 2019).Google Scholar
Gonzalez-Mejia, A, Styles, D, Wilson, P and Gibbons, J (2018) Metrics and methods for characterizing dairy farm intensification using farm survey data. PLoS ONE 13, e0195286.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hadley, D (2006) Patterns in technical efficiency and technical change at the farm-level in England and Wales, 1982–2002. Journal of Agricultural Economics 57, 81–100.Google Scholar
Hanrahan, L, McHugh, N, Hennessy, T, Moran, B, Kearney, R, Wallace, M and Shalloo, L (2018) Factors associated with profitability in pasture-based systems of milk production. Journal of Dairy Science 101, 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hennessy, T, O'Dwyer, T, Connolly, K, Ramsbottom, G and Moran, B (2015) Costs of production on dairy farms. TResearch, Teagasc, Carlow, Ireland pp. 38–39. Available online at https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2015/TResearch-Winter2015.pdf (Retrieved 10 February 2020).Google Scholar
Ho, C, Heard, J, Wales, W, Jacobs, J, Doyle, P and Malcolm, B (2018) Evaluating the economics of concentrate feeding decisions in grazing dairy cows. Animal Production Science 58, 1329–1340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ICBF (2020) EBI Update. Available online from https://www.icbf.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Understanding-EBI-PTA-BV-Spring-2020.pdf (Accessed 29 April 2020).Google Scholar
Kelly, E, Shalloo, L, Geary, U, Kinsella, A, Thorne, F and Wallace, M (2012) The associations of management and demographic factors with technical, allocative and economic efficiency of Irish dairy farms. The Journal of Agricultural Science 150, 738–754.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristensen, T, Søegaard, K and Kristensen, IS (2005) Management of grasslands in intensive dairy livestock farming. Livestock Production Science 96, 61–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lapple, D, Hennessy, T and O'Donovan, M (2012) Extended grazing: a detailed analysis of Irish dairy farms. Journal of Dairy Science 95, 188–195.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leddin, CM, Heard, JW, Malcolm, LR, Tarrant, KA, Ho, CKM and Wales, WJ (2011) Evaluating options to increase profitability on a dairy farm in southwest Victoria, Australia. In Proceedings of the 18th International Farm Management Congress. Methven, Canterbury, New Zealand: International Farm Management Association, pp. 214–223.Google Scholar
Ma, W, Renwick, A and Bicknell, K (2018) Higher intensity, higher profit? Empirical evidence from dairy farming in New Zealand. Journal of Agricultural Economics 69, 739–755.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Macdonald, K, Beca, D, Penno, J, Lancaster, J and Roche, J (2011) Effect of stocking rate on the economics of pasture-based dairy farms. Journal of Dairy Science 94, 2581–2586.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Macdonald, KA, Penno, JW, Lancaster, JAS, Bryant, AM, Kidd, JM and Roche, JR (2017) Production and economic responses to intensification of pasture-based dairy production systems. Journal of Dairy Science 100, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCarthy, B, Delaby, L, Pierce, KM, Journot, F and Horan, B (2011) Meta-analysis of the impact of stocking rate on the productivity of pasture-based milk production systems. Animal 5, 784–794.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McCarthy, B, Delaby, L, Pierce, K, Brennan, A and Horan, B (2013) The effect of stocking rate and calving date on milk production of Holstein–Friesian dairy cows. Livestock Science 151, 123–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonald, R, Shalloo, L, Pierce, KM and Horan, B (2013) Evaluating expansion strategies for startup European Union dairy farm businesses. Journal of Dairy Science 96, 4059–4069.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McGregor, A and Houston, D (2018) Cattle in the Anthropocene: four propositions. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 43, 3–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Donnell, S, Shalloo, L, Butler, A and Horan, B (2008) A survey analysis of opportunities and limitations of Irish dairy farmers. Journal of Farm Management 13, 419–434.Google Scholar
O'Donnell, S, Horan, B, Butler, AM and Shalloo, L (2011) A survey of the factors affecting the future intentions of Irish dairy farmers. Journal of Agricultural Science 149, 647–654.Google Scholar
Plantureux, S, Bernués, A, Huguenin-Elie, O, Hovstad, K, Isselstein, J, McCracken, D, Therond, O and Vackar, D (2016) Ecosystem service indicators for grasslands in relation to ecoclimatic regions and land use systems. In Högglind M, Bakken AK, Hovstad KA, Kallioniemi E, Riley H, Steinshamm H, and Østrem L (eds), The Multiple Roles of Grassland in the European Bioeconomy, Proceedings of the 26th General Meeting of the European Grassland Federation, Trondheim, Norway 4–8th September: European Grassland Federation, pp. 524–547.Google Scholar
Rae, AN and Strutt, A (2003) Agricultural trade reform and environmental pollution from livestock in OECD Countries. Paper presented at the 6th annual conference on global economic analysis.Google Scholar
Ramsbottom, G, Horan, B, Berry, DP and Roche, JR (2015) Factors associated with the financial performance of spring-calving pasture-based dairy farms. Journal of Dairy Science 98, 3526–3540.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roche, JR, Berry, DP, Bryant, AM, Burke, CR, Butler, ST, Dillon, PG, Donaghy, DJ, Horan, B, Macdonald, KA and Macmillan, KL (2017) A 100 year review: a century of change in temperate grazing systems. Journal of Dairy Science 100, 10189–10233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salou, T, van der Werf, HM, Levert, F, Forslund, A, Hercule, J and Le Mouël, C (2017) Could EU dairy quota removal favour some dairy production systems over others? The case of French dairy production systems. Agricultural Systems 153, 1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SAS (2005) SAS/STAT User's Guide. Cary, NC: SAS Institute Inc.Google Scholar
Shadbolt, NM, Siddique, MI and Hammond, N (2017) Pastoral dairy farming systems and intensification, challenges in interpretation. In: Proceedings of the 21st International Farm Management Congress, Edinburgh, Scotland.Google Scholar
Shalloo, L, Dillon, P, Rath, M and Wallace, M (2004) The Luxembourg common agricultural policy reform agreement: Irish dairy farmer's development options. Journal of Farm Management 12, 91–104.Google Scholar
Sipilainen, TS, Kumbhakar, C and Lien, G (2014) Performance of dairy farms in Finland and Norway from 1991 to 2008. European Review of Agricultural Economics 41, 63–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Styles, D, Gonzalez-Mejia, A, Moorby, J, Foskolos, A and Gibbons, J (2018) Climate mitigation by dairy intensification depends on intensive use of spared grassland. Global Change Biology 24, 681–693.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Teagasc (2011) eProfit Monitor: Dairy Input Sheet Help Notes. Carlow, Ireland: Teagasc. Available online at https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/rural-economy/farm-management/ePM_User_Manual_External.pdf (Accessed 10 February 2020).Google Scholar
Teagasc (2015) The End of the Quota era: A History of the Dairy Sector and its Future Prospects. Athenry, Galway, Ireland: Teagasc.Google Scholar
Teagasc (2019) National Farm Survey. Oak Park, Carlow, Ireland: Teagasc. Available online at https://www.teagasc.ie/publications/2019/teagasc-national-farm-survey-2018-results.php (Accessed 10 February 2020).Google Scholar
Valdes, A (1994) Agriculture reforms in Chile and New Zealand: a review. Journal of Agricultural Economics 45, 189–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Berkum, S and Hemling, J (2006) European Dairy Policy in the Years to come: Impact of Quota Abolition on the Dairy Sector. The Hague, The Netherlands: Agricultural Economics Research Institute.Google Scholar