Dairy Farm Management: Business Summary, New York State, 1990

Abstract

This summary and analysis of 395 New York dairy farm businesses demonstrates the use o~ up to date methods of cash and accrual accounting to measure cash flow, farm profitability, and financial growth. Traditional methods of analyzing dairy farm businesses are combined with new evaluation techniques to show the relationship between good management performance and financial success. These farms averaged 107 cows per farm and 17,720 pounds of milk sold per cow in 1990, which are above the average size and management level of all New York dairy farms. Net farm income excluding appreciation, which is the return to the operator's labor, management, capital, and other unpaid family labor, averaged $47,020 per farm. The rate of return to all capital with appreciation invested in the farm business averaged 6.0 percent in 1990.