What to Expect from the Dairy Profit Monitor
How can the Dairy Profit Monitor help me?
As a user you can track past management changes, share reports with key employees and consultants to track business progress in management meetings, and use the reports and use the reports and information to make informed future management decisions. The program focuses on the areas of milk production, herd health, labor efficiency, and feed costs. Net Milk Income over Lactating Feed Costs per Cow Per day is a key measure that in the program. This tracks the performance of your feeding program using both actual and fixed milk price factors. This has the highest correclation with annual profitability in the Cornell Dairy Farm Business Summary than any other measure.
How do I use the Dairy Profit Monitor?
The Dairy Profit Monitor (DPM) is a data collection and analysis tool for farmers to help make management decisions for their business. Data looked at in the program includes herd characteristics, purchased and raised feed components, labor costs, and more. Farmers collect and enter their own data and are able to give nutritionists and consultants access to their account to review or input data as well. Data is entered on a monthly basis via a data calendar and easy to use entry forms.
Once a farm's full dataset is entered for a month, it will turn green on the data calendar. At this point, you will be able to generate reports, such as a 12 month summary with rolling averages and a milk check report. You can also compare your data to other farms via our comparison reports and graphs. You can select criteria such as herd size or milking frequency to, as long as at least 10 other farms meeting those criteria have entered data for the month, to see where your farm falls within a group of farms. If an error message arises, try using a different combination of comparison measures you’d like to view.
When data is entered, it is verified by PRO-DAIRY staff and any questions about the data will be directed towards you to make sure the information is correct. Verification will happen within 2 weeks of your entry and you will see a message from PRO-DAIRY staff if there is any questionable data on the DPM website the next time that you log in. These messages can be viewed from the "messages" tab in the left menu at any time. When a month has a green checkmark, it has been verified. A red X means that our staff has found a problem with some of your numbers.
How is my data used?
The primary purpose of the Dairy Profit Monitor is to provide management information to the participating farms. Our reports allow you to see seasonal and management change trends over time, as well as compare yourself to other farms in the program. Outside of the individual farm’s use, DPM data will only be used in a large combined data set to view trends in the industry. Your data and farm information will never be publicized or shared without your express permission.