Dairy Farm Economics: Milk Yield, Feed Cost per Litre & Herd Replacement

What you'll build

What you will be able to do

Each lab ends with a concrete result that you build yourself and the checker confirms, cell by cell.

• Split the Hollowbrook Dairy herd into its groups, measure how many cows are actually milking and check it against the lactation length and calving interval.
• Turn monthly test-day yields into a 305-day lactation yield, find the peak and draw the lactation curve.
• Calculate the kilograms of butterfat and protein shipped each month, the milk cheque under a component contract and the average price per litre.
• Cost the milking cow ration ingredient by ingredient, see which feeds drive the bill and turn it into feed cost per litre of milk.
• Calculate income over feed cost per cow per day and for the herd each month, find the weakest month and highlight the months below target.
• Cost a heifer from birth to first calving, measure the herd's replacement rate and put a price on replacing cows every year.
• Value the cull cows and calves sold in a year, split the revenue with SUMIF and work out the net cost of replacing cows.
• Turn the farm's annual costs into cost per litre, find the break-even milk price after livestock sales, work out the profit at today's price and chart the cost structure.