Preliminary Report # 1 – Dairy Farm Business Summary and Analysis Program

As dairy farm businesses across New York analyze their financial performance by utilizing the Dairy Farm Business Summary and Analysis Program that is supported by Cornell University, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and PRO-DAIRY, the change that occurred on farms from 2018 to 2019 can be reviewed. An important function of management is to compare how your farm changed from one year to the next, how this compares to goals, and how this compares to the industry. Understanding what things changed and determining why they changed can help in planning changes for 2020 to improve the business.

The first preliminary progress report for the same farms for both 2018 and 2019 has been released. To view the complete tables, view the 2019 Preliminary Progress Report.

Highlights from this first preliminary report:

• Milk shipped per farm increased by 5%. This was due to primarily to increase in herd size as milk sold per cow increased 1% to 26,268 pounds per cow.
• Labor efficiency increased 3%.
• Average cost per hired worker equivalent increased 2%.
• Total cost of producing cwt. of milk decreased $0.11.
• Total cost of producing cwt. of milk in 2019 ranges from $17.79 to $23.70.
• Gross milk price increased $2.15 per cwt. to $19.57.
• Net farm income per cow without appreciation increased from $41 to $618 per cow.
• Labor and management income per operator returned to positive, averaging $115,103 per owner operator.
• Debt per cow decreased 8% to $4,292 per cow.