Department of Dairy Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706, Spain.
J Dairy Sci. 2010 Jan;93(1):387-93. doi: 10.3168/jds.2009-2307.
The US dairy sector is facing structural changes including a geographical shift in dairy production and a tendency toward the implementation of more intensive production systems. These changes might significantly affect farm efficiency, profitability, and the long-term economic sustainability of the dairy sector, especially in more traditional dairy production areas. Consequently, the goal of this study was to examine the effect of practices commonly used by dairy farmers and the effect of intensification on the performance of the farms. We used a sample of 273 Wisconsin dairy farms to estimate a stochastic production frontier simultaneously with a technical inefficiency model. The empirical analysis showed that at a commercial level the administration of bovine somatotropin hormone to lactating cows increased milk production. In addition, we found that production exhibits constant returns to scale and that farm efficiency is positively related to farm intensification, the level of contribution of family labor in the farm activities, the use of a total mixed ration feeding system, and milking frequency.
美国乳制品行业正面临结构变化，包括乳制品生产的地理转移和向更集约化生产系统的转变。这些变化可能会显著影响农场的效率、盈利能力和乳制品行业的长期经济可持续性，特别是在更传统的乳制品生产地区。因此，本研究的目的是检验奶牛场常用管理实践的效果以及集约化对农场绩效的影响。我们使用威斯康星州 273 个奶牛场的样本，同时使用随机生产前沿和技术无效率模型进行估计。实证分析表明，在商业层面上，给泌乳奶牛施用牛生长激素会增加牛奶产量。此外，我们发现生产具有规模报酬不变的特点，并且农场效率与农场集约化程度、家庭劳动力在农场活动中的贡献程度、使用全混合日粮饲养系统和挤奶频率呈正相关。
