van der Voort M, Van Meensel J, Lauwers L, Van Huylenbroeck G, Charlier J
1Social Sciences Unit,Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO),Burg. Van Gansberghelaan 115,9820 Merelbeke,Belgium.
2Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Bio-Engineering,Ghent University,Coupure Links 653,9000 Gent,Belgium.
Animal. 2016 Feb;10(2):274-82. doi: 10.1017/S1751731115002074. Epub 2015 Oct 26.
Efficiency analysis is used for assessing links between technical efficiency (TE) of livestock farms and animal diseases. However, previous studies often do not make the link with the allocation of inputs and mainly present average effects that ignore the often huge differences among farms. In this paper, we studied the relationship between exposure to gastrointestinal (GI) nematode infections, the TE and the input allocation on dairy farms. Although the traditional cost allocative efficiency (CAE) indicator adequately measures how a given input allocation differs from the cost-minimising input allocation, they do not represent the unique input allocation of farms. Similar CAE scores may be obtained for farms with different input allocations. Therefore, we propose an adjusted allocative efficiency index (AAEI) to measure the unique input allocation of farms. Combining this AAEI with the TE score allows determining the unique input-output position of each farm. The method is illustrated by estimating efficiency scores using data envelopment analysis (DEA) on a sample of 152 dairy farms in Flanders for which both accountancy and parasitic monitoring data were available. Three groups of farms with a different input-output position can be distinguished based on cluster analysis: (1) technically inefficient farms, with a relatively low use of concentrates per 100 l milk and a high exposure to infection, (2) farms with an intermediate TE, relatively high use of concentrates per 100 l milk and a low exposure to infection, (3) farms with the highest TE, relatively low roughage use per 100 l milk and a relatively high exposure to infection. Correlation analysis indicates for each group how the level of exposure to GI nematodes is associated or not with improved economic performance. The results suggest that improving both the economic performance and exposure to infection seems only of interest for highly TE farms. The findings indicate that current farm recommendations regarding GI nematode infections could be improved by also accounting for the allocation of inputs on the farm.
效率分析用于评估畜牧场的技术效率（TE）与动物疾病之间的联系。然而，以往的研究往往没有将其与投入分配联系起来，主要呈现的是平均效应，而忽略了农场之间通常存在的巨大差异。在本文中，我们研究了奶牛场胃肠道（GI）线虫感染暴露、技术效率和投入分配之间的关系。尽管传统的成本配置效率（CAE）指标能够充分衡量给定的投入分配与成本最小化投入分配之间的差异，但它们并不能代表农场独特的投入分配。不同投入分配的农场可能会获得相似的CAE分数。因此，我们提出了一种调整后的配置效率指数（AAEI）来衡量农场独特的投入分配。将这个AAEI与TE分数相结合，可以确定每个农场独特的投入产出位置。通过对弗拉芒地区152个奶牛场的样本使用数据包络分析（DEA）来估计效率分数，对该方法进行了说明，这些奶牛场既有会计数据又有寄生虫监测数据。基于聚类分析，可以区分出具有不同投入产出位置的三组农场：（1）技术效率低下的农场，每100升牛奶中精饲料的使用量相对较低，感染暴露程度高；（2）技术效率中等的农场，每100升牛奶中精饲料的使用量相对较高，感染暴露程度低；（3）技术效率最高的农场，每100升牛奶中粗饲料的使用量相对较低，感染暴露程度相对较高。相关性分析表明，对于每组农场，GI线虫感染暴露水平与经济绩效改善之间是否存在关联。结果表明，提高经济绩效和感染暴露程度似乎仅对技术效率高的农场有意义。研究结果表明，通过考虑农场的投入分配，当前关于GI线虫感染的农场建议可以得到改进。
