Dairy Farm Business Summary, Intensive Grazing Farms, New York, 2003

Abstract

E.B. 2004-14Dairy farm managers throughout New York State have been participating in Cornell Cooperative Extension's farm business summary and analysis program since the early 1950's. Managers of each participating farm business receive a comprehensive summary and analysis of the farm business. This is the eighth year that a study of intensive grazing farms has been done. The farms included in the study are a subset of New York State farms participating in the Dairy Farm Business Summary (DFBS). Thirty farms indicated that they grazed dairy cows at least three months, moving to a fresh paddock at least every three days and more than 30% of the forage consumed during the growing season was from grazing. Operators of these 30 farms were asked to complete a grazing practices survey. Twenty-two of the farms did complete it. The investigators had special interest in practices used on farms with above average profitability. Therefore the study centered on 27 farms which were not organic farms, were not first year grazers and on which at least 40 percent of forage consumed during the grazing season was grazed. Twenty of these 27 farms completed a grazing practices survey. These 20 farms were divided on the basis of net farm income per cow (without appreciation) above and below $600 which was the median for these 20 intensive grazing farms. Ten farms with net farm income per cow above$600 are in the “Above Average” (more profitable) group and ten farms with net farm income per cow below $600 comprise the “Below Average” (less profitable) group