IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i16p9044-d613266.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Whole and the Parts—A New Perspective on Production Diseases and Economic Sustainability in Dairy Farming

Author

Listed:
  • Susanne Hoischen-Taubner

    (Department of Animal Nutrition and Animal Health, University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstraße 1a, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany)

  • Jonas Habel

    (Department of Animal Nutrition and Animal Health, University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstraße 1a, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany)

  • Verena Uhlig

    (Department of Farm Management, University of Kassel, Steinstraße 19, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany)

  • Eva-Marie Schwabenbauer

    (Department of Animal Nutrition and Animal Health, University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstraße 1a, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany)

  • Theresa Rumphorst

    (Department of Animal Nutrition and Animal Health, University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstraße 1a, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany)

  • Lara Ebert

    (Department of Animal Nutrition and Animal Health, University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstraße 1a, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany)

  • Detlev Möller

    (Department of Farm Management, University of Kassel, Steinstraße 19, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany)

  • Albert Sundrum

    (Department of Animal Nutrition and Animal Health, University of Kassel, Nordbahnhofstraße 1a, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany)

Abstract

The levels of production diseases (PD) and the cow replacement rate are high in dairy farming. They indicate excessive production demands on the cow and a poor state of animal welfare. This is the subject of increasing public debate. The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of production diseases on the economic sustainability of dairy farms. The contributions of individual culled cows to the farm’s economic performance were calculated, based on milk recording and accounting data from 32 farms in Germany. Cows were identified as ‘profit cows’ when they reached their individual ‘break-even point’. Data from milk recordings (yield and indicators for PD) were used to cluster farms by means of a principal component and a cluster analysis. The analysis revealed five clusters of farms. The average proportion of profit cows was 57.5%, 55.6%, 44.1%, 29.4% and 19.5%. Clusters characterized by a high proportion of cows with metabolic problems and high culling and mortality rates had lower proportions of profit cows, somewhat irrespective of the average milk-yield per cow. Changing the perception of PD from considering it as collateral damage to a threat to the farms’ economic viability might foster change processes to reduce production diseases.

Suggested Citation

  • Susanne Hoischen-Taubner & Jonas Habel & Verena Uhlig & Eva-Marie Schwabenbauer & Theresa Rumphorst & Lara Ebert & Detlev Möller & Albert Sundrum, 2021. "The Whole and the Parts—A New Perspective on Production Diseases and Economic Sustainability in Dairy Farming," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-20, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9044-:d:613266
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9044/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/16/9044/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Klaas Calker & Paul Berentsen & Gerard Giesen & Ruud Huirne, 2005. "Identifying and ranking attributes that determine sustainability in Dutch dairy farming," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 22(1), pages 53-63, March.
    2. Krieger, Margret & Hoischen-Taubner, Susanne & Emanuelson, Ulf & Blanco-Penedo, Isabel & de Joybert, Manon & Duval, Julie E. & Sjöström, Karin & Jones, Philip J. & Sundrum, Albert, 2017. "Capturing systemic interrelationships by an impact analysis to help reduce production diseases in dairy farms," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 43-52.
    3. Jasper Eshuis & Marian Stuiver, 2005. "Learning in context through conflict and alignment: Farmers and scientists in search of sustainable agriculture," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 22(2), pages 137-148, June.
    4. Blanco-Penedo, Isabel & Sjöström, Karin & Jones, Philip & Krieger, Margret & Duval, Julie & van Soest, Felix & Sundrum, Albert & Emanuelson, Ulf, 2019. "Structural characteristics of organic dairy farms in four European countries and their association with the implementation of animal health plans," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 244-253.
    5. Louis Guttman, 1954. "Some necessary conditions for common-factor analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 19(2), pages 149-161, June.
    6. Kobrich, C. & Rehman, T. & Khan, M., 2003. "Typification of farming systems for constructing representative farm models: two illustrations of the application of multi-variate analyses in Chile and Pakistan," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 141-157, April.
    7. Katarina Arvidsson Segerkvist & Helena Hansson & Ulf Sonesson & Stefan Gunnarsson, 2020. "Research on Environmental, Economic, and Social Sustainability in Dairy Farming: A Systematic Mapping of Current Literature," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(14), pages 1-14, July.
    8. Margret Krieger & Philip J. Jones & Isabel Blanco-Penedo & Julie E. Duval & Ulf Emanuelson & Susanne Hoischen-Taubner & Karin Sjöström & Albert Sundrum, 2020. "Improving Animal Health on Organic Dairy Farms: Stakeholder Views on Policy Options," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-17, April.
    9. Henk Hogeveen & Wilma Steeneveld & Christopher A. Wolf, 2019. "Production Diseases Reduce the Efficiency of Dairy Production: A Review of the Results, Methods, and Approaches Regarding the Economics of Mastitis," Annual Review of Resource Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 289-312, October.
    10. Zhu, Xueqin & Milán Demeter, Róbert, 2012. "Technical efficiency and productivity differentials of dairy farms in three EU countries: the role of CAP subsidies," Agricultural Economics Review, Greek Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 13(1), pages 1-27.
    11. Kevin Maréchal & Hélène Aubaret-Joachain & Jean-Paul Ledant, 2008. "The influence of Economics on agricultural systems: an evolutionary and ecological perspective," Working Papers CEB 08-028.RS, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rajeev Bhat & Jorgelina Di Pasquale & Ferenc Istvan Bánkuti & Tiago Teixeira da Silva Siqueira & Philip Shine & Michael D. Murphy, 2022. "Global Dairy Sector: Trends, Prospects, and Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-7, April.
    2. Vogel, Everton & Dalheimer, Bernhard & Beber, Caetano Luiz & de Mori, Claudia & Palhares, Julio Cesar Pascale & Novo, André Luiz Monteiro, 2023. "Environmental efficiency and methane abatement costs of dairy farms from Minas Gerais, Brazil," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Katarina Arvidsson Segerkvist & Helena Hansson & Ulf Sonesson & Stefan Gunnarsson, 2021. "A Systematic Mapping of Current Literature on Sustainability at Farm-Level in Beef and Lamb Meat Production," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-14, February.
    2. Zhu, Liyun & Schneider, Kevin & Oude Lansink, Alfons, 2023. "Economic, environmental, and social inefficiency assessment of Dutch dairy farms based on the dynamic by-production model," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 311(3), pages 1134-1145.
    3. Shingo Yoshida & Hironori Yagi, 2021. "Long-Term Development of Urban Agriculture: Resilience and Sustainability of Farmers Facing the Covid-19 Pandemic in Japan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-23, April.
    4. GUO-FITOUSSI, Liang, 2013. "A Comparison of the Finite Sample Properties of Selection Rules of Factor Numbers in Large Datasets," MPRA Paper 50005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Louis Guttman, 1955. "A generalized simplex for factor analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 20(3), pages 173-192, September.
    6. Emtage, Nicholas & Herbohn, John, 2012. "Assessing rural landholders diversity in the Wet Tropics region of Queensland, Australia in relation to natural resource management programs: A market segmentation approach," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 107-118.
    7. Nico Migenda & Ralf Möller & Wolfram Schenck, 2021. "Adaptive dimensionality reduction for neural network-based online principal component analysis," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(3), pages 1-32, March.
    8. Anos-Casero, Paloma & Udomsaph, Charles, 2009. "What drives firm productivity growth ?," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4841, The World Bank.
    9. Gerhard Derflinger, 1984. "A loss function for alpha factor analysis," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 49(3), pages 325-330, September.
    10. Taiki Yoshida & Yohei Otaka & Shin Kitamura & Kazuki Ushizawa & Masashi Kumagai & Yuto Kurihara & Jun Yaeda & Rieko Osu, 2022. "Development and validation of new evaluation scale for measuring stroke patients’ motivation for rehabilitation in rehabilitation wards," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(3), pages 1-17, March.
    11. Kate Elizabeth Gannon, Mike Hulme, 2017. "Geoengineering at the ‘edge of the world’: exploring perceptions of ocean fertilization through the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation," GRI Working Papers 280, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    12. Kik, M.C. & Claassen, G.D.H. & Meuwissen, M.P.M. & Smit, A.B. & Saatkamp, H.W., 2021. "Actor analysis for sustainable soil management – A case study from the Netherlands," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    13. Trucíos, Carlos & Mazzeu, João H.G. & Hotta, Luiz K. & Valls Pereira, Pedro L. & Hallin, Marc, 2021. "Robustness and the general dynamic factor model with infinite-dimensional space: Identification, estimation, and forecasting," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1520-1534.
    14. Yoo, Sun-Young & Vonk, M. Elizabeth, 2012. "The development and initial validation of the Immigrant Parental Stress Inventory (IPSI) in a sample of Korean immigrant parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 34(5), pages 989-998.
    15. Eligio Malusà & Ewa M. Furmanczyk & Małgorzata Tartanus & Gerjan Brouwer & Claude-Eric Parveaud & François Warlop & Markus Kelderer & Jutta Kienzle & Evelyne Alcazar Marin & Teun Dekker & Radek Vávra , 2022. "Knowledge Networks in Organic Fruit Production across Europe: A Survey Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Harvey James, 2006. "Sustainable agriculture and free market economics: Finding common ground in Adam Smith," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 23(4), pages 427-438, December.
    17. Oscar Claveria & Enric Monte & Salvador Torra, 2017. "A new approach for the quantification of qualitative measures of economic expectations," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 51(6), pages 2685-2706, November.
    18. Laure Latruffe & Boris E. Bravo-Ureta & Alain Carpentier & Yann Desjeux & Víctor H. Moreira, 2017. "Subsidies and Technical Efficiency in Agriculture: Evidence from European Dairy Farms," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 99(3), pages 783-799.
    19. Kevin Handtke & Lisa Richter-Beuschel & Susanne Bögeholz, 2022. "Self-Efficacy Beliefs of Teaching ESD: A Theory-Driven Instrument and the Effectiveness of ESD in German Teacher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-32, May.
    20. Primrose Madende & Johannes I. F. Henning & Henry Jordaan, 2023. "Accounting for Heterogeneity among Youth: A Missing Link in Enhancing Youth Participation in Agriculture—A South African Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-22, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:16:p:9044-:d:613266. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.