Carl Zulauf evaluated USDA’s cost-of-production data to estimate the price to produce 100 pounds of milk among different herd sizes. It’s not fair to say that big farms are bad and small farms are good, or that farms milking more cows are better than those with fewer cows. What we can say, though, is that on average, larger herds are able to produce milk less expensively than smaller ones.
Source: Hoard’s Dairyman, June 5, 2017.
With such vast differences in cost of production and the advantages that come with economies of scale, it may be unfair to lump all farms together when it comes to creating dairy policy. This point is certainly something to be considered as work begins on the new farm bill.